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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes March 12, 2025 --------- Page 5 of 8 towards finishing the trail in the flood plains in a reasonable amount of time so it does not end up being a dead-end trail. Commissioner Varty said not to disagree, but does that leave enough money to build a decent playground up on the bluff? Commissioner Goodwin said she thought she understood that the money that is dedicated stay in the parks in this development. Mr. Stremcha said that was the recommendation at the previous Commission meeting. Chair Anderson said that he would recommend that the city just accepts the cash and not designate where it goes. Commissioner Niziolek said that he wants to make sure that when the development is completed, all the amenities would be in. He thinks that will cost at least a million dollars. Commissioner Stewart questioned if they they could split the cash delegation to parks and trails. Mr. Stremcha said they can do whatever the commission recommends for the City Council to make the final decision on, but he suggested that they just accept the cash and then discuss the amenities later. Mr. Stremcha said they could create a wish list based on priorities and as funds become available, they can apply them. Commissioner Niziolek said he is worried they are just adding another million dollars’ worth of amenities they cannot afford. Chair Anderson explained that park dedication is a balance of land and cash. Commissioner Niziolek asked if he could make a request for the HOA to be a player in the development of this park since about 60% of the users of the park will probably be residents of the park. Mr. Stremcha said that is something to be determined in the future but as far as the park it was an all or nothing offer initially. The lowland could either be completely private or completely public. Steve Bona from Capstone joined the discussion at this time. Mr. Stremcha recapped the parking lot discussion that was taking place when Mr. Bona walked into the meeting. Mr. Bona explained that parking is allowed on both sides of the street in this development and these streets are much wider than previous developments they worked with. He explained that in their last development in Ramsey they have parallel parking, and it has worked well. He also said that the park is just shy of two acres and adding a parking lot would really cut into that. Mr. Bona pointed out that the grey shaded box on the slide designated for the bluff park would be shorter by one lot size. Commissioner Loidolt said one of the concerns he has is the on-street parking, garbage, and disturbance to the neighbors. He added that according to the changes Mr. Bona just shared reducing the grey space by one lot, the parking spaces would reduce to 25 from the 40 they originally estimated. Mr. Bona said he does not believe this park will need that much parking since most of the use will be from within the neighborhood. Commissioner Loidolt says he believes that with this park being on the Mississippi it will draw more usage including vehicles. Commissioner Stewart said the other potential users would be trail users and that could add to the parking need. Chair Anderson said he does not believe this would be a major trail head. He also said he likes everything that staff has prepared including the gray shaded park and then with the inclusion of parking but thinks that needs a little more planning. Commissioner Varty asked Mr. Bona if they had an issue selling the lots that are by the parks in Ramsey. Mr. Bona said he did not have any problems with that since some buyers place high value on living by the park. Mr. Bona asked if there was a size in the gray area that they were looking for. Chair Anderson said