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Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Page 8 June 11, 2025 Chair Anderson said that he likes the idea of talking to people and canvassing neighborhoods, but there is nothing like traffic counters. He said that he sees people at Woodland Trails Regional Park a lot, but he doesn’t see that many kids at other playgrounds. He asked staff to draw circles on the map in the packet around Orono Park, Lion John Weicht Park, and Trott Brook Park. He pointed out that if they look at Orono, there are 5 playgrounds in that area numbered as 11, 13, 19, 23, and 1 on the park map. He doesn’t know how they are going to be able to afford to maintain that many parks in that quadrant of the city like that. He said that his grandkids would drive by 5 parks to get to Orono in the past. Commissioner Varty said every school has a traditional playground and asked if people could go to those if they wanted to. Commissioner Niziolek said that when they built Lion John Weicht Park Playground, they asked the playground designer to survey the playground equipment at the local school. Some of the playgrounds may just have to be pulled out and then see if people get upset. Commissioner Loidolt said that the small neighborhood amenities and playgrounds are just for the residents in a three to four block area. He asked if there is a way to capture the median age of the people in a neighborhood around where a park is. He said that if a neighborhood has a lot of residents in the 50- to 60-year-old range the neighborhood is going to turn and flip into younger families as they eventually move out. Commissioner Goodwin said that she thinks Sherburne County would probably have that information. Commissioner Loidolt did point out that they had removed a playground before and no one said anything. Chair Anderson asked if there are any amenities they can offer in those locations besides playgrounds that the neighborhood would want. Commissioner Loidolt suggested, for example, a pickleball court. Mr. Shelby said to be careful with that in neighborhoods because there are starting to be noise complaints about that in other cities. Councilmember Cory Grupa shared with the commission that when they do close a park and a playground, the City Council does hear about it, so he warned them to keep that in mind. Commissioner Stewart said they have additional funding that will be needed for future developments coming in. He mentioned that they just talked about Specht Farms as well as the park north of the gravel pit. Commissioner Niziolek said that this leads them into the discussion of the master plan. He shared that he feels they need to have a financial plan and help from the council to know what they can plan for because one of the issues they ran into with the ballfield plan is money. He feels that money will drive what they do, and he thinks that will make this round of master park planning difficult. He thinks they need a financial plan before a master plan. Commissioner Loidolt asked how long the liquor fund has been set at $250,000. Staff said they were not sure. Chair Anderson said he did not think it was that long ago. Commissioner Fermoyle asked where the park dedication money goes. Chair Anderson said that it needs to be used for new installations. Commissioner Niziolek said that for example, with the Specht property all the park dedication money will be gone. He thinks they will have to put more money into it. Councilmember Cory Grupa asked if the park dedication money must be used for new amenities in the development being built. Mr. Stremcha explained that park dedication can be used for any new Page 9 of 31