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I I I Council Meeting Minutes June 10, 1996 Page 4 Council Business. continued Karen Madden, 3080 Bent Tree Hills Dr., is a Crime Watch Block Captain and said neighbors should contact the police when they see suspicious behavior at the park. Jim Cashin, 3151 Bent Tree Hills Dr., said his property will border the trail. He noted a safety concern where the trail elevation near the pond limits visibility which could cause collisions between rollerbladers, skateboarders, walkers, and bikers. He suggested striping to divide the traffic. Anderson said the City builds 8 ft. trails to provide for safety, and it is felt that a narrower path is unsafe. Normally, a trail is not marked to separate traffic because people generally stay to the right. Cashin said people using the soccer field will park on Bent Tree Hills Dr. and access the park through the trail which will increase traffic. Cashin feels three park accesses are sufticient and an additional access in his backyard is unneeded. Anderson noted the park's parking lot, and does not feel people attending an athletic event would park further away and access the park through the trail. He believes people would park at McDonalds before parking on Bent Tree Hills Dr. Benke said City parks which do not have parking lots experience on-street parking, but this park should discourage on-street parking. Jane Hastings, 3089 Bent Tree Hills Dr., supports Burleson's comments, and feels the neighborhood voices have not been heard. She noted safety concerns, and truly feels the homeowners were misrepresented at the time of purchase. Benke said several meetings with the Park Board and Council have occurred, and Council has listened and allowed public comment. The question is whether Council feels the issue should be reopened, or should the original authorization persevere with the installation of the trail. There was no motion to deter the installation of an asphalt trail within Innsbruck Park. Fulton said moditications to the park's stormwater drainage plan were approved last year. At that time, Council requested Harstad to perform moditications to the central ponding area which involved dredging, removing materials, and relocating the eastern trail. The City urged Harstad to perform this work in the winter. However, the City is now working on a diligent basis to get the work completed as agreed upon. He said Kathy Harstad is now the lead on the project and said the work will begin this week. One resident asked if rock material could be placed around the pond. Benke said they previously discussed rock and found it to be cost prohibitive and there were maintenance issues. Anderson agreed the grassy material allows for easier maintenance. One resident asked how close could the trail be built to her property, and if a homeowner can become liable if someone is hurt on the trail and falls onto her property. Anderson said the narrowest easement area is 16 ft. which involves an 8 ft. trail with 4 ft. on either side of the property line. Anderson said if someone was injured using the trail, the first question would be if the trail's design caused the injury or was there any landscape feature on private property which was hazardous. He acknowledged that when a lawsuit is filed it seems everyone is named as a defendant. There is no way the City can grant any homeowner immunity from a lawsuit. Fulton said the City Attorney's previous response to this question, was that unless the homeowner has taken some type of action on their own part which has caused part of the injury, the primary party responsible for that claim would be the City. Benke said normal landscaping would most likely not cause injury, unless a landscape feature was installed which could be hazardous to park users. Council Business Innsbruck Trail Report 96-125