2006 Parks, Trails and Open Space Plan - City of Lakeville

Passive
Picnic accommodations for small groups
Park benches
Walking trails and trail connections to neighborhood and community trail system
Support Elements
Trash containers
Landscaping with native plant materials
Identification sign/regulatory signs
Off-street parking, disability accessible (20 car standard)
Park shelter for principal neighborhood parks (15 acres and larger that are
geographically distributed throughout the City)
Other Comments
Active area should be oriented away from residential edges
Parcels should not be fragmented in layout
Summer programming optional where park shelter is available
Outdoor hockey rinks with lighting and free skating rinks may be located in
neighborhood parks where a park shelter is located. Additional parking
amounting to 20-30 spaces should be provided adjacent to hockey rinks.
Potential park dedication credits may be considered for private area greenspace,
play areas or other recreational amenities where impacts to community wide
system are satisfactorily addressed.
Mini-Parks (also known as Tot Lots or Pocket Parks)
Mini-parks are intended to service special neighborhoods due to geographic limitations.
They have insufficient size to fulfill the needs of a complete neighborhood park. The
sites usually have less than five acres of usable land and therefore only allow for play
equipment, multiuse hardcourts and possibly substandard ball fields (suitable for
informal recreation). These areas are highly individual neighborhood facilities based
upon the nature of the site and the needs of the immediate adjacent population.
In general, mini-parks should be limited to those residential neighborhoods which
cannot be adequately served by a neighborhood park due to physical limitations or
access constraints. Their use may increase as social concerns regarding child security
become more apparent. For example, a mini-park may be considered for a small
neighborhood which is one-quarter to one-half of a mile from other park facilities and
perhaps isolated by major streets or highways. Mini-parks tend to pose operation and
maintenance problems due to their small size and inefficient maintenance requirements.
Lakeville could require, in unusual circumstances, that developers own and operate
mini-parks to serve their projects if the neighborhood is of medium to high density
residential and not in close proximity to a neighborhood or community park.
Credits may be given to developers when they opt to incorporate private area green
space, playgrounds or other recreational amenities into their development, but only
when such private facilities are in addition to community wide system requirements.
City of Lakeville, Minnesota
Chapter Three
2006 Comprehensive Parks, Trails, & Open Space Plan Page 38