NEW ULM — The New Ulm Park and Recreation Commission discussed the criteria for developing new parks at its meeting Wednesday.

The subject of park development has been a topic of discussion in the city. Recently land became available for purchase in the Upper Cottonwood Street/Dacotah West addition that could be used for a neighborhood park. However, other neighborhoods are underserved by parks. This has led to talks with staff and the commission on how the creation of new parks is prioritized.

The city does have a list of criteria for prioritizing parks. The list has 15 questions:

• Is the park in the city’s comprehensive plan?

• Does the city own appropriate land?

• How many household units are in the service area?

• How many future household units are estimated in the area?

• Estimated children in the area

• Estimated number of future children

• How many linear feet of sidewalk/developed street from the center of neighborhood to nearest developed park?

• Topographic elevation differences

• Is it safe to walk or bicycle to the nearest developed park?

• Are residents requesting development?

• Does the neighborhood have health challenges?

• Does the area have socio-economic challenges?

• Has the neighborhood paid into the Parkland Dedication Fund?

• What is the overall expense of the park?

• Is private funding or donations available for development?

Other considerations on the list included whether it is cost-effective to build a trail or sidewalk to a developed park and whether nearby private park areas were available.

Park and Recreation staff believes six areas in New Ulm could potentially be developed soon. These six areas are the Lakeside Village at 2315 Lake Ave; Maplewood at 1321 Maplewood Drive; Pfaender Park at 1601 Seventh N. Street; South Goosetown; North Broadway at 2228 N. Broadway; and Upper Cottonwood Street/ Dacotah West.

Staff also listed three locations that are not ready for park development. This includes North Highland at 1300 N. Highland Ave.; South Market at 1415 S. German Street and North Highland Ave. & Garden Street.

In reviewing the criteria Commissioner Carisa Buegler suggested private park consideration be removed from the criteria. Buegler was concerned that it was an unfair consideration if not applied throughout the community. Two of the mobile home parks have private playgrounds and is cited as a reason not to develop new parks for mobile homes.

Buegler said the city does not count private playgrounds in backyards before determining if a park goes into neighborhoods and she thought it unfair to ask this question of mobile home parks.

Buegler also had questions about expense criteria. She believes the overall expense of the park was a subjective question.

“What does expensive mean,” she asked. “Maybe that should instead read, ‘what is the cost to develop an average park?'”

Commissioner David Christian said he wanted the expense question taken off the list because it could cause problems later. He said as a city councilor he saw the city put millions into premier parks and felt it was unfair to say another neighborhood park was too expensive.

Buegler was also concerned about emphasizing more affluent neighborhoods. Number 12 in criteria asked if there were socio-economic challenges in the area, but part of the criteria for evaluating available land depending on donations from the public.

“How much weight should we put on donations being received?” she asked.

Commission Chair Christopher Vorwerk said some of the criteria needed to be weighted. He believed safety needed to be rated higher.

Commissioner Bob Skillings asked how they could define if an area has health challenges?

Park and Recreation Director Tom Schmitz said the only way it could be done is through cooperating with New Ulm Medical Center.

Buegler said there is a document showing which New Ulm neighborhoods have a higher prevalence of chronic illnesses. She said this data is not perfect, but is updated and covers the majority of the city.

Commissioner Jim Bastian suggested surveying the neighborhood about a possible park could be beneficial.

Commissioner Laura Evans also questioned how the city is weighing public interest. Is the city actively seeking input on new parks are waiting for people to come forward?

Commissioner Leroy Flor said a survey might be the best idea to make sure neighborhoods want a park.

Dacotah West resident Traci Windschitl spoke during the meeting. Windschitl has addressed the commission in the past in support of a park in Upper Cottonwood Street/Dacotah West. She said the expense criteria were unfair because as taxpayer she paid into other parks, but a park in her neighborhood was too expensive. She was also had concerned that many neighborhoods did not have the money to donate to a public park.

Windschitl was also concerned about the distance to the nearest parks and wanted the commission to consider this when making a decision.

The commission agreed to continue this discussion at a future work session before bringing an official recommendation to the city council.

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The commission accepted a $100,000 cash donation for the German Park Amphitheater. This was an anonymous donation honoring Janet and Terry Dempsey and was part of a matching pledge. The $100,000 was officially received for the project.

The commission also recommending accepting $3,000 from the New Ulm Izaak Walton League for the Riverside Park Environmental Learning Center Materials and Programming.