Background

As part of the Park, Trails and Recreation Master Plan, Quarry Lake Park was identified as community park in need of upgrades to its amenities. The park is currently home to the Shakopee Prior Lake Water Ski Association and the future home of the Xcel Energy Mountain Bike Course.  With the future connection over Hwy 169, this park is on pace to be a year round regional attraction for many types of users.

Using the master plan as a guide, staff and the city's consultants have developed two concepts that are tailored to expanding the park experience for all users and especially for water ski and mountain bike users. Staff is asking for Council's approval to move forward with Concept 2. 

Community Engagement

Community engagement for this park was done in a variety of ways: 

• Residents in the Southbridge neighborhood were notified by mail about an online survey and virtual open house.
• Nearby businesses including Emerson, Amazon, Cameron's Coffee, were contacted via email about the survey and the virtual open house.
• A virtual open house to discuss the concepts and gather resident feedback was held on Nov. 19, 2020 at 6pm. Several residents came to hear about the park design concepts and were interested about the future pedestrian bridge. 
• Residents throughout the city were notified of the survey and open house via the GovDelivery email platform and social media. 

173 surveys were filled out, and 80% of respondents preferred Concept 2, which has a more nature inspired design. Respondents also indicated that beach access, an accessible canoe and kayak launch and more informal seating areas were the most desired amenities. A copy of the survey feedback is attached to this report. 

Concepts

The first concept, which was not preferred, is a more traditional, formal design with the idea that it could be used for larger group functions and many activities used by users in the same large group. This design retains the existing lawn area but adds many new amenities, such as a single sloped-picnic pavilion with picnic tables and grills, a sand volleyball course and a rope-based playground. New access to the water would be created to allow for walk-in kayak, canoe and other non-motorized boat launching via a gravel beach with amphitheater seating.

The second concept is a more informal design, which still has a picnic shelter with benches and grills, a rope-based climbing playground and an open lawn. This design is different in that the uses are slightly more separated and isolated from one another, allowing for many separate activities to happen without being interconnected. This design also has a beach with access for walk-in launching of kayaks, canoes and non-motorized boats. It includes an ADA kayak ramp. This design also features a small pump track to compliment the mountain biking course to the south of the park.

Next Steps 

Staff is asking for approval of the proposed concept plan #2 for Quarry Lake Park. Following approval, staff will work with the consultant to develop construction documents.. Public Works will manage the projects through construction and completion in Spring 2022 and 2023.