Laserfiche WebLink
Page 2 <br />these facilities must also be considered. Not shown on the map or listed on <br />the exhibit, are two golf courses, Elk River Country Club, an 18 hole course, <br />and Pinewood Golf Course, an executive course. <br />Neighborhood Parhs <br />Elk River is a growing community and therefore has a young population. <br />Neighborhood parks provide open space that is needed with the development <br />of smaller lots in the urban service area. Typical amenities found in a <br />neighborhood park include, an open play area, back-stop, hard-court, <br />playground equipment, and trails. Examples of optional amenities include, a <br />sliding hill, skating, tennis courts, archery, etc. <br />The City's current Master Park Plan calls for neighborhood parks of 5 to 25 <br />acres in size that would serve approximately 3,000 to 5,000 people. The <br />current plan identifies 14 park service areas which are proposed to be served <br />by neighborhood parks. These park service areas include the rural areas of <br />Elk River. The urban service area of Elk River is situated in only 6 of these <br />park service areas, so only 6 neighborhood parks are currently planned to <br />serve the entire urban area of Elk River. <br />The Park and Recreation Commission has redefined the park service areas <br />that would require neighborhood parks. The redefined park service areas are <br />only situated in the urban service area of Elk River where the smaller lots <br />exist. The Park and Recreation Commission's rationale is that the larger lots <br />in the rural areas have their own open space associated with them to serve <br />needs that would have to be accommodated by neighborhood parks in the <br />urban area of Elk River. <br />The revised park service areas are defined by physical barriers such as Lake <br />Orono or Highway 10, an optimum walking distance of 1/2 mile fi•om all <br />locations of a park service area to a neighborhood park, and a maximum <br />population density that would be served by the neighborhood park. To meet <br />the demand to have more neighborhood parks serving more areas, and to <br />lessen the burden on landowners or developers that dedicate park land <br />versus fees, it was decided that 2 to 4 acre neighborhood parks, serving <br />approximately 1,000 people would be more desirable than the larger <br />neighborhood parks. <br />Map #3 shows 24 proposed park service areas in the urban service district of <br />the City. The symbol NP on that map, identifies the location of the new <br />neighborhood parks that need to be created to serve various park service <br />areas. Park service areas that have existing facilities that can serve <br />:t <br />PP-sr/6z <br />