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Elk River Recreation Needs : <br /> 1. Money: Significant dollars will be needed for our many <br /> needs. Even if 1000 new lots were platted and developed <br /> annually, we would need much more revenue for park <br /> acquisition and development than we would realize from the <br /> • developer fee now paid. Funding options need to be studied <br /> carefully. . .among the suggestions` I 'd make are the <br /> following. <br /> * levy a recreation levy. I believe the city can <br /> legally do this, and such revenues would then be available <br /> every year. $100,00-200,000 per year is not an unrealistic <br /> figure for the city to be needing considering the needs to <br /> purchase and develop significant park areas. <br /> * go for a park acquisition referendum. (Witness the <br /> success of the fire truck vote. ) My sense is that very few <br /> votes ( less than 1000) would be needed to pass such a <br /> referendum, and that the Recreation Board could easily <br /> mobilize a large number of positive voters to come to the <br /> polls. <br /> * LAWCON grants. Go for it! However put your LAWCON <br /> efforts into the purchase of a new park space rather than <br /> developing a currently owned property. (see #2 below) <br /> * collect a tax on RDF garbage. Maybe we really <br /> can't do this, but I 'm not sure that its really been <br /> investigated--I feel that since the RDF will have a negative <br /> impact on quality of life, that a . 50/ton tax would help <br /> assure that we could alleviate the damage with an excellent <br /> park system. (Poetic justice? ) <br /> 2. Buy. Houlton' s Farm is my first choice. It ' s perfect <br /> • for multiple recreational use, its on the flood plane, its <br /> relatively flat, it has an overhead irrigation system on <br /> site, its proximity to the rivers provides for water access, <br /> camping, fishing, etc. Try to buy it all, using any or all <br /> of the means listed above. I think this site would be ideal <br /> for a LAWCON purchase, and a subsequent LAWCON grant to <br /> develop it. <br /> 3. Hire. We need to figure out just what we need in the <br /> way of additional staff for recreation and parks. Input is <br /> needed from youth athletic groups as well, and the Youth <br /> Athletic Assn. idea needs to be massaged as part of this <br /> discussion. The joint powers agreement comes into play here <br /> as well--possible financial participation from Otsego, <br /> Rogers and Zimmerman may be sought. <br /> 4. Plan. I feel this is a given, and maybe should be <br /> higher on the list, but the real urgency is to buy land I <br /> feel. No dollars should be spent on any park without direct <br /> input from the recreation board. We need a set of outside <br /> eyes to examine currently owned park areas and assess <br /> possible new acquisition sites. <br /> • <br /> 7 <br />