Advisory Parks Commission Meeting – November 17, 2025
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Advisory Parks Commission Meeting – November 17, 2025
The Advisory Parks Commission met on November 17, 2025, at Moonshine Park, with the meeting called to order at 6:00 PM. The agenda included presentations from the Sustainability and Recreation divisions, along with routine approvals, round-table comments, and staff reports. No public comments were made, and no old or new business was discussed.
Consent Calendar
- Agenda approved unanimously.
- Minutes from the September 15, 2025 meeting approved unanimously.
Presentations
- Sustainability Division Presentation – Sustainability Coordinator Gillian Catano presented the Sustainable Eagan initiative and the newly adopted Climate Action Plan. She reported that 88% of survey respondents have noticed climate change, 80% feel personally impacted, 84% expressed some level of concern, and approximately 76% want the city to take action. The plan aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions 55% by 2035 and achieve net zero by 2050, aligned with Minnesota's Climate Action Framework. Catano highlighted key data: municipal emissions are highest from facilities and electricity; community-wide emissions are highest from electricity and gas. She noted that summer temperatures in Eagan could be 10.5°F warmer by the end of the century, akin to Oklahoma's current climate. Current projects include Earth Week (653 participants, 92 volunteers, 24 partners), Sustainable Eagan Academy (12 adults and 8 students certified), a business outreach pilot visiting 78 businesses, and fleet electrification with 8 EVs and 14 charging ports. An electric mower is planned for 2027.
- Recreation Division Presentation – Recreation Superintendent Tanya Mozingo and supervisors Holly Champlin, Mike Ramirez, and Nikki Hoseman (newest team member, four weeks on the job) presented program highlights. Preschool enrollments include 60 preschoolers and 84 parent-child participants. Camp Run served 20 children using CDBG grant funds. The teen planning committee held 11 meetings, planned 8 events, and engaged over 274 teens. The farmers market drew over 25,000 attendees with an average of 2,200 per week; the fall market at Goat Hill Park averaged 733 attendees per night. Special events from May 18 to October 7 drew over 12,000 attendees, including Big Rig Rally (1,400), Food Truck Festival (6,000), and theater in the park (525). Tennis camps grew to 201 participants (up from 158 in 2024). The Eagan Art House, opened June 16, hosted 177 classes and camps with 1,000 students in its first quarter; the Art Block celebration drew 700 people. Upcoming events include the Winter Art Sale on November 22 and summer 2026 registration opening February 5.
Round Table
- Commissioners shared positive feedback on the Art House, Harvest Festival, and the breadth of recreation programs. One commissioner noted the quality of parks and recreation opportunities after getting a puppy, praising city staff. Another appreciated youth programs similar to the former Eagan Teen Advisory Board.
Staff Reports
- Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation Jared Flewellen reported on the Quarry Park (also referred to as Cory Park in the transcript) shelter building open house held before the meeting, which was lightly attended. A survey was also promoted via neighborhood letters and social media. Questions included sustainability options for the building. The building will remain in use through next summer before renovation begins. He also reminded the commission of the Winter Art Sale on November 22 and indoor markets at the ECC every other Wednesday starting November 19.
Key Outcomes
- Agenda approved unanimously.
- Minutes approved unanimously.
- No old or new business was brought forward.
- No formal votes were taken on presentations or staff reports.
- Meeting adjourned unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
Excitement though. All right, I'd like to call the advisory parks commission meeting for November 2025 to order. Let's rise for the plush leaders. We've got an agenda. Any corrections to that was posted? No, Chair. All right. Do we have an approval of the agenda or motion to approve? All right. Agenda's approved. Last minutes from September 15th. I believe those were updated and reposted. So I think they're all correct. Any further updates? If not, I'll take a motion for those as well. I was in here, so I'm not gonna pressure up. All right. All right. All those in favor. All right. Minutes approved. Visitors to be heard not on the agenda. Seeing none, we'll go on to presentations. Thank you, Chair. Our first presentation tonight is from our sustainability division, uh, led by our sustainability coordinator Gillian Catano. Um let me pull up your presentation here, Jillian. There you go. Now let her take it from here. Good evening, Chair and Commission. Thank you for having me here tonight. My name is Gillian Catano, and I'm the city's sustainability coordinator. I'm here tonight to talk about our sustainable Egan initiative. Um I'll start with a quick introduction. Like I said, my name is Gillian Catano, and this is our our small but mighty sustainability team. Uh we welcomed Kelsey Barajas to our team earlier this year, and towards the second half of my presentation, I'll get into some of the work that she does for our team and for the city. Uh so tonight um I'll be discussing uh an overview of Egan Sustainability Initiative, some of the history of how we got here and uh the work that that we do. Um we'll jump into talking about Egan's Climate Action Plan, one of the uh biggest uh pieces of our initiative that drives our work, um, and then share with you our current and upcoming projects. Uh so with that, we'll jump right into looking at um the sustainable Egan Initiative. The vision for sustainability in the city of Egan is that Egan is a resilient community that values natural living spaces and environmental stewardship. We really appreciate the work of this commission and um supporting that vision and um all of the parks and green spaces in Egan. Um that's been a value of this community for a long time, and our sustainability work hopes to enhance that and and collaborate with uh the works the work of our parks department and um support this commission as well. Uh for many years, uh the city of Egan has been participating in sustainability programs across the state, um, one of which is the Minnesota Green Step Cities program. Egan was one of the first city cities to join this program. Um Egan has been participating in this program since 2010, which is the first year the program launched. Um in this graphic, um, you can see some of our our key highlights from certified green buildings in the community to electric vehicle charging ports, um, new trees that are being planted, um, renewable generation, uh, renewable energy generation in Egan, uh city uh city acres of open space and tree canopy cover. So we're really proud of participating in this program, and we hope to continue doing so. Um, a new part of this program that launched in 2024 was the uh Green Leaf uh Gold Leaf Program, uh, which is a program that supports uh climate action. Uh so EGAN decided to join this program as we've been participants in the Green Step Cities program for many years. Um and last year we were awarded five leaves, which is kind of a silly way to just uh participate in the program, but it just shows that we've um been a part of starting our climate action journey and addressing climate change here in Egan. Uh so that's something that we've been participating in.
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