Becker Community Center staff and members of HKGI (Hoisington Koegler Group, Inc.) in Minneapolis, presented city’s plans on developing the area’s parks, trails and athletic facilities last Thursday. The event took place at the BCC gym and featured easels of design elements and concepts for public viewing.

 

Kevin Clarke of HKGI gave the presentation and answered questions. From there he met with the 12-15 guests in attendance at the boards to further discuss the projects and hear input.

 

One concept board described the city’s parks, trail and athletic facility needs, including networking of trails and expansions as well as locating new trail and park locations. Another board identified the goals and initiatives for the community parks, trail connectivity, recreational programming, neighborhood parks, operations and maintenance and caring for natural resources.

 

Snuffy’s Landing had a concept board that identified the needs for lean-to shelters for paddle in and walking campsites along the Mississippi River. The concepts also included locating seasonal fishing piers out of the main current, coordinating with Xcel Energy to develop natural surface trails and to connect Snuffy’s Landing to the rest of Becker via the paved trails.

 

Oak Savannah and Becker City Park had ideas to connect the paved trails and build a boardwalk to the island on Clitty Lake. It also featured an expanded deck/patio on the existing building, staging areas with additional berming for informal seating and events, building picnic shelters, creating an informal ice skating area and provide reinforced turf for overflow parking.

 

Autumn Ridge Park has parking space needs as well as a shelter near the playground. It would also be ideal to connect the park to the trailheads with kiosks and signage.

 

For Pleasant Valley Park, there is a need to relocate the playground to improve visibility and proximity to parking. A shelter would be proposed as well as trail loops and connections as well as relocating and improving the basketball area.

 

River’s Edge Park would need its playground moved as well and provide accessible playground features as well as creating a walking loop while in the park.

 

Kolbinger Park is in need of an expanded parking lot. HKGI also proposes  to develop a “skate loop” that can be used for ice skating in the winter and roller blading, skateboarding, walking, biking in the summer. The playground would need to be relocated and updated and an area possibly paved to add pickleball courts inside the ice rink for summer use.

 

The Carl E. Johnson Park needs a walking trail loop and connectivity to the trail system as well as replacing the playground equipment when needed. The park needs tree and prairie planting to help delineate the park from neighbors’ backyards. A picnic shelter near the playground would be ideal as well as providing a fenced-in area for off-leash dogs.

 

The BCC was designed to include a splash pad with shelter and a connection to aquatics in the center. A playground is proposed for the west side as well as pickleball courts and additional parking. An alternative concept includes an idea to attach a senior center to the building with plaza space.

 

 

Clarke said his organization met with staff and representatives to  go over issues and opportunities, needs, visit sites and develop concepts. They also issued a survey and received 659 responses. Three hundred and ninety of the responses were from residents while 228 responders were from outside the Becker city area, but in the school district. Fifty-six of the responders were students, 156 have jobs in Becker and 476 have children in Becker schools.

 

When asked “How often do you or other members of your household visit Becker Parks?”, the majority (42%) said “at least once per week”. Twenty-nine percent said, “at least once a month” and 14% said, “less than once per month.”

 

When polled on what people have done in the last three years in regards to the parks and facilities, nearly 80% responded by saying they’ve visited the playgrounds. Sixty-three percent said they went for walks or hikes or went swimming. Fifty percent said they went for a picnic. The other uses were for bicycling, organized sports, utilizing the indoor courts or gym, jogging or running, golfing, using the fitness room, visiting nature areas, celebrating birthdays, skating/hockey or renting the facility.

 

The reasons for not using certain parks facilities included, “not enough time (35%)”, “not aware they existed (34%)” and “not interested (17%) were at the top of the list.

 

When asked, “what facilities do you feel are lacking?”, 65% said a splash pad while others said outdoor basketball, an outdoor pool, indoor rink, field lights, pickleball and a dog park (38%).

 

Ninety percent of the people polled said they’ve been satisfied with the school gymnasium facilities, the school pool and the school fieldhouse. Eighty percent said they were satisfied with Pebble Creek Golf Course, park maintenance, weightroom at the BCC, recreation programs for kids aged 6-12, the weight room at the school and the active parks.

 

Seventy percent said they were satisfied with the BCC pool, recreation programs for seniors and children under six, school athletic fields and the passive parks.

Sixty percent were satisfied with the school outdoor courts, recreation programs for teens and adults, the city athletic fields and the trails.

Fifty percent were satisfied with special events including music and festivals.

 

Clarke said for Becker parks, the needs identified were for additional recreational basketball and pickleball courts; an off-leash dog park; camping options and an outdoor splash pad and/or pool. Clarke also says the city should emphasize the unique assets that the park system includes such as Pebble Creek, the BCC, rivers and equestrian trails.

 

He also said approximately nine additional neighborhood parks and two additional community parks will be needed as the city grows, primarily on the east side of the Elk River.

 

Clarke says trail connections to key destinations is needed as well as improved pedestrian and bicycle infrastructure to improve safety and recreational value. He also says the city lacks trail loops of all distances from short walking loops in parks to longer bicycle/running/hiking options. He also said Becker would benefit from additional; connectivity to the Elk and Mississippi rivers.

 

Clarke says the city needs to continue to work together with the school and athletic programs to realize efficiencies, coordinate capital and maintenance costs and meet the needs of all athletes in the community. Additional field space and capital is needed, especially rectangle fields (football, soccer, lacrosse). He also mentioned the community would benefit from an artificial turf field space and there is a shortage of lighted fields in Becker.

 

BCC Administrative Assistant Josh Kuha says the concepts are just that and to have any, some or all implemented could take years of funding and planning.