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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 9 <br />June 11, 2025 <br /> <br /> <br />park property or amenities that are not currently in the system. Chair Anderson added they don’t have <br />to necessarily keep the money in the neighborhood it is coming from. <br /> <br />Chair Anderson shared they had a lot of park dedication money coming in until 2008, and they spent <br />it far too quickly, and then after the economy crashed it stopped coming in. Chair Anderson said now <br />the park dedication is going down to about $3,000 and it used to be $7,000. Without park dedication <br />there is only the tax money coming in from Elk River residents and there is not a favorable sentiment <br />to raise taxes, so the other option is money from the liquor store fund to maintain everything. <br /> <br />Commissioner Stewart asked if the commission could get the actual estimated dollar amount from <br />park dedications included in the staff report. Mr. Shelby explained that the number can change <br />though. Chair Anderson said they used to be included but because it can change at the time of final <br />plat, they don’t include it anymore. Commissioner Varty asked if they could change the park <br />dedication money from going to only new things to anything. Chair Anderson and Commissioner <br />Niziolek explained that it is state law. Chair Anderson said that someday they will be having a <br />discussion about having too many parks but if parks were taken with park dedication, they can’t be <br />sold. <br /> <br />Commissioner Niziolek said they will have to find some innovative ways to use these spaces. <br />Commissioner Stewart said that even if there are limited amenities there will still be maintenance on <br />the property. Mr. Stremcha shared that it may mean more rain and butterfly gardens and nature play <br />areas. <br /> <br />Commissioner Niziolek asked what they could do down the road to make these spaces interesting and <br />unique, such as food trucks or pop-up events. Commissioner Goodwin said it is an interesting idea <br />but asked what their strategic plan is for what they need to deal with right now. Do they feel like they <br />have the know how to decide what parks to keep and what they are going to do with them? <br /> <br />Commissioner Niziolek said that because the plan is going to cost them $100,000, he thinks they <br />should rely on staff expertise to give them guidance on which playgrounds they are going to close. <br />Commissioner Varty said the city is going to have to put out a public campaign about the budget and <br />that some parks may need to close. It’s no different than not having enough money in your household <br />budget. <br /> <br />Commissioner Goodwin explained that she doesn’t think it is necessarily a horrible thing to close <br />some because they have other great parks to direct people to. They have many beautiful parks in the <br />city that are different than many cities around us. She understands people will be disappointed and <br />upset and complain but they have other options to direct them to. They don’t have the money for <br />everything but can offer other things that can create value in their life. <br /> <br />Mr. Stremcha asked Chair Anderson and the commission how they would feel about a community <br />survey where they asked something like rank your top 10 playground locations in the community with <br />an educational component of there are 16 playground locations over the next 10 years we’re planning <br />on making improvements to the top 10 but with intention that the bottom 6 would no longer be <br />upgraded as things are discontinued. <br /> <br />Page 10 of 31