4.b) Staff Report-Lilleskogen Park Improvements l � � )
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Staff Renort
Date of Meeting: October 9,2012
To: City Council
From: Kristina Handt,City Administrator
Re: Lilleskogen Park Improvements
Agenda Item#: 4.b)
Background:
At the September meeting, the Parks and Recreation Committee made a motion to request
funding($15,000) in the 2013 budget for the grubbing of Lilleskogen Park. A presentation was
made to the City Council on September 18`h and some questions arose as to how much park
funding was available. The council directed staff to have this item on the agenda for the October
work session so questions could be answered about funding and what work would be done.
The Lilleskogen Park Restoration Plan was completed in November 2007. This document
included a phasing implementation plan"to allow for smaller increments of funding to be
secured for the project and to allow for improvements to be completed in a logical sequence."
There was quite a bit of discussion at the Oct. 1 Parks and Recreation Committee meeting about
how to proceed. Ultimately, a majority of those in attendance seemed to agree that the first focus
should be on marking and clearing the trails in the park to make it more usable for residents.
This was consistent with the plan that identified"Phase 1 improvements to include site grading
for installation of the trail system and parking lot as well as the trail boardwalk crossings." The
plan identifies removal of invasive species (i.e. buckthorn) as part of Phase 2. Although the
current proposal from the committee does not complete all of the items identified in Phase 1, it is
consistent in keeping with that sequence of events.
Issue:
No action needed at this time. Members of the Parks and Recreation Committee will be present
on Oct 9`h just to provide an update to the Council.
Proposal Details:
A couple members of the Parks and Recreation Committee will mark the trails and identify trees
to be removed to make the trails usable. They will obtain quotes on getting the tree removal
completed and bring those quotes to the Oct 23 Council Budget Work Session.
Fiscal Impact:
The exact fiscal impact will not be known until the quotes are received later this month.
However, one important point to note is that the Parks and Recreation Committee is requesting
the funding comes from the General Fund, rather than the Parks Capital Improvement Fund.
This is different from the information presented to the City Council at their Sept. 18`h meeting.
The Committee would like to retain the funds in the Park CIP for matching funds for possible
future grants.
If the Council agrees not to use Park CIP funds for this request they will need to cut funding
from another area in the budget for 2013 since the levy can no longer be increased.