6/20/2007 1:10:00 PM Park Partners given green light for amended
playground plan
Chatfield Councilor Russ Smith shows Mayor Curt Sorenson a new footprint for the Park Partners playground project. In the background is the Tuper's Goose statue.
By Iris Clark Neumann
The Chatfield City Council has helped create and has accepted a new footprint for the Park Partners playground project downtown.
Before the June 11 Chatfield Council meeting, the Park and Recreation Committee went on a walking tour of City Park to scope out an acceptable site for the proposed playground.
Later that evening during the regular council meeting, the committee presented its recommendations to Park Partners. Councilors Russ Smith and Paul Novotny serve on the Park and Rec Committee.
During the tour, Smith stepped off distances as he walked through City Park. He used paces to measure approximate footage in the park as he proposed using a wedge-shaped footprint for the play area.
This, he said, would not distract from sight lines toward Tuper's Goose at any diagonal in the park. He felt that Leather's and Associates, the playground designers, would appreciate having an exact area laid out in which they could place the elements of the playground.
The wedge shape, which Smith - an engineer - had drawn on a site map, was more aesthetically pleasing, he said, in fitting into the site and only blocking a view of the school.
In Smith's plans, the depth of the play area would be reduced, the distance between Tuper's Goose and the beginning of the play area would be greater, and its length along Fourth Street would be longer. It also would be pulled back from Highway 52, to allow a sight line to Tuper's Goose beginning from the corner of the block.
After visiting the site, adjustments to this proposed idea were made, which were subsequently presented at the council meeting.
Although the Park Partners playground project had been initially considered an agenda item for the June 4 Planning and Zoning Committee meeting, it was removed from the agenda when P and Z members realized there were no final drawings for them to view. They recognized that Park Partners members were ready to answer questions and could provide them with a significant amount of information, but without detailed plans with elevations, they could not recommend approval to the council.
During the council meeting Mayor Curt Sorenson told the council that he wanted to clear up rumors and innuendos concerning the approval of the Park Partners project. He noted that as early as Feb. 13, 2006, a Park Partners presentation had been made during a council meeting. He said it was not true that it was his "pet project" or that he had pushed the project through.
Clerk Joel Young noted the group was at a critical point as it was time for a check for $20,000 to be sent to the architect, so detailed plans could be drawn up. (Apparently, the check had not yet been sent, as reported in an earlier CN story.)
The wedge-shaped plan was offered at the council meeting to Park Partner representatives, along with the explanation that their design should fit within the designated 7,200 to 7,300 square feet of the wedge. Their entrance as initially proposed could use space outside of the wedge and recommended square footage, extending from the corner of the block.
The distance from Tuper's Goose would be approximately 54 feet. In the recommended area there would be few trees for them to contend with and a storm-damaged silver maple was slated for removal.
Accepting the recommendation of the Park and Rec Committee, council members moved their site directives into a passing motion.
City Attorney Fred Suhler cautioned that they could not agree to anything they haven't seen. He advised the city council that it needs to be in a position to have the final say on the plans.
Sorenson told the Park Partners group they had a green light.
They voiced a concern that in using donated funds to create the detailed plan, they couldn't proceed through the next step and end up being told no. Smith assured them that by sticking with the site they'd been offered, they would eliminate a potential "no." He stated, "With that area, we are great, we are cool..."
Sorenson assured them, the elements they are using have been scrutinized and "now we need to know where they are going to go." He added, "I understand your position."
A document supplied by Park Partners for the council to view showed a progression of changes its plans have undergone thus far. Three site drawings show pulling the plan progressively closer to Highway 52, as seemed to be recommended, and in response for a request to move the tot lot away from Tuper's Goose.
However, in shifting the tot lot away from the goose, the staked-out layout - which the council viewed during its May 29 meeting - positioned the tot lot within 7 feet of the sidewalk along Highway 52.
Novotny had noted he felt this was too close and wondered why it might not be shifted entirely, so it was in an area adjacent to Fourth Street, where the play elements for older age children were shown as ending.
To comply with the council's requests, some basic changes in configuration would need to be made to fit a shape that is somewhat different than the shape architect John Dean created for Park Partners.
It also was noted in the handout that through a survey completed by Peter Fryer, P.E., it was discovered the current play areas covered by pea gravel cover 10,222 square feet. The new playground, in comparison, will cover less square footage and some of this rock will be returned to grassy green space.
Other changes have been submitted to John Dean during recent weeks. Park Partners requested an overall natural theme, such as changing the Dragon Slide to the Root River Rapids. They have asked that a maze be removed and an Oliver Tractor be put in its place. They would like the addition of two "stand and spins," bouncy horses in the tot lot for a rodeo/Western Days feel, a fire truck, more swings, mural/elements to the rock climbing wall to make it look like bluffs, balancing rocks in the tot lot, and built-in benches along the tot lot fence.
Their overall goal is to create a playground that's entirely unique in comparison to other Chatfield playgrounds.
Editor's note: The Chatfield City Council portion of this story was reported from the streaming video of the June 11 meeting, available here: http://chatfield.granicus.com/ViewPublisher.php?view_id=5
