Eagan Advisory Parks Commission Meeting - August 17, 2026
Eagan Advisory Parks Commission Meeting - August 17, 2026
The Advisory Parks Commission of Eagan, Minnesota, met on August 17, 2026, at 6:00 P.M. at Moonshine Park. The meeting featured a detailed facilities presentation by Superintendent Mark Vaughan, a discussion of the 2027-2031 Capital Improvement Program (CIP) led by Director Andrew Pimental, commissioner round-table comments, and staff reports. The Commission supported moving the five-year CIP forward to the City Council.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Agenda: Motion made, seconded, and approved unanimously.
- Approval of Minutes: Minutes from the May 18, 2026 meeting were approved unanimously without changes.
Presentations
- Civic Arena Update (Mark Vaughan): Vaughan reported on skate school enrollment (275 in summer, 657 in spring), a skating camp (52 participants, August 3–6), and the purchase of a new electric ice resurfacer ($170,000, replacing a 1995 model). He highlighted a 14-year agreement with the Eagan Hockey Association for a training center, the success of ice bumper cars for birthday parties, and the arena’s March conversion to indoor turf for lacrosse, softball, and shows. Vaughan noted that Eagan and Eastview Hockey Associations remain steady users, and the figure skating club skates year-round, providing crucial off-season ice rental.
- Cascade Bay Aquatics (Mark Vaughan): Vaughan described the water park’s operations, including Cardio Bay (morning and evening aerobic sessions), public sessions, and private rentals (sold out for Sundays and Thursdays, expanding to Fridays and Saturdays). Attendance statistics showed approximately 50,000 visitors each July (2026 finishing at 26,000). Peak usage is 7:30–9:30 a.m., with evening numbers rising. Chemical costs and staffing (160 employees hired in 2026, 75% return rate) are major expenses, totaling nearly $1 million for salaries and chemicals over the three-month season. Vaughan also noted investments in mobile interactive water features, variable frequency drives for energy efficiency, and marketing (e.g., a photo chair, MVTA bus ads) to increase awareness.
- Government Buildings (Mark Vaughan): Vaughan highlighted the challenges of maintaining 24/7 facilities (police and fire stations) and high-usage recreation centers. The small crew often works overnight to clean and set up spaces, with summer heat causing equipment strain. He emphasized the crew’s pride in maintaining clean facilities, particularly the Eagan Community Center.
Discussion Items
- Capital Improvement Program 2027-2031 (Andrew Pimental): Pimental presented the five-year CIP, noting a transition from three large recreation facility projects (Community Center, Art House, Goat Hill) to a focus on maintenance and value-add improvements. The 2027 CIP is $810,000, a decrease from recent years. Key elements include:
- 4R Program: Repair, Replace, Remove, and Reinvent. The Commission discussed how aging infrastructure (playgrounds, tennis courts, benches) from the 1980s expansion requires strategic replacement.
- 2027 Projects: Small park shelters (shade), professional services for future projects, playground replacements (Meadowlands, South Oaks, and a partnership with Eagan Hills Church on Diffley), and ongoing public art funding.
- Funding Sources: Park development fund (from developer fees and general levy), partnership dollars, and grants.
- Partnerships: The church partnership would provide park access to an underserved area (within a 10-minute walk standard, currently at 88%).
- Commissioner Questions: In response to Commissioner Soldrome, Pimental and Flewellen discussed playground durability, playability, and sustainability; they acknowledged that modern materials resist UV better but lifespan (20–25 years) is uncertain. On partnerships, Pimental clarified that county design changes mean the Lakeside playground may not need relocation.
- Round Table: Commissioners expressed appreciation for the presentations. One commissioner praised Cardio Bay and the reuse of facilities. Another highlighted the Eagan Art Block (Sep. 12–26). A third noted positive feedback on summer camps and joked about combining art and benches, leading to discussion of the functional art bench program (20 art benches installed).
Key Outcomes
- The Commission supported moving the 2027-2031 Capital Improvement Program forward to the City Council for consideration during their September meeting. No formal vote was required; consensus was reached.
- The meeting adjourned at approximately 7:30 P.M. (estimated).
Staff Reports
- Jared Flewellen, Assistant Director of Parks and Recreation: Announced a sustainability film screening (“Rooted”) with 40 attendees; welcomed new facilities coordinator Ali Benda; reported fall registration increased 8% in person and 1% online (web growth leveling after years of 25% increases); noted 1,000 July admissions to the indoor playground at the Eagan Community Center (high for a summer month). Flewellen also announced that the Eagan Art House will receive awards from the League of Minnesota Cities and the Minnesota Recreation and Parks Association.
Meeting Transcript
Hello, I'd like to call the Egan Advisory Parks and Recreation Meeting for August 2026 to order. Please stand for the Pledge of Allegiance. One nation on our individual liberty and justice for all. All right. Any updates to the agenda as it was printed? No, sir. All right. Do I have would someone move to approve the agenda? I make a motion to approve the agenda. We have a second. I'll second. All those in favor? Aye. All those opposed. Agenda's approved. On to minutes. Any changes to the minutes that were printed? Seeing no changes. Do I have a motion for the minutes? I make a motion to approve the meeting. All right. We have a second. I second. All those in favor? Aye. Opposed. All right. Minutes for the last meeting approved. Visitors to be heard not on the agenda. Not seeing any. We will move along to presentations. Thank you very much, Chair. Tonight we have our facilities superintendent, Mark Vaughn, who oversees the Civic Arena, Cascade Bay, and the government buildings division. All right, Mark, you should be all set in two seconds. There you go. Thank you, Chair and Commission. He just took my first slide. As Jared mentioned, we take care of the arena, the water park, and then also government buildings, which I'll talk about later is a lot of buildings. But I'll do I'll talk about the three and then I'll pause in between if there's any questions, or just hold your questions to the end about that. But we're going to start with the Civic Arena. It's our core because we teach people how to skate, and our goal is to feed our partners, and we're trying to make lifelong sports activities for people to do. A lot of people may leave our skate school and go into the hockey program. They may go into the figure skating program. Or they may just come to public skaters. Hopefully, skate for the rest of their life. Anything to do with skating at the Civic Arena. So open skate, or really the core is the skate school. You can see our numbers there, and those are uh eight-week commitment by the register. So when they come and register for that class, they're committing for eight weeks to take that class with us. Um, as you can see in the summer, we had 275 people.
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