The Lake Elmo Parks Commission voted Nov. 17 to recommend a set of changes to the citys parks reservation policy and to forward the revised policy to the city council.

Staff presented the draft changes and told commissioners the revisions reflect prior review in June and follow concerns about pickleball noise. "Our current policy states reservations for ball fields, shelters, the Lions Park shelter, and the courts," Speaker 3, a parks staff member, said, then described proposed daily and seasonal fees and nonrefundable light charges designed to recoup operating costs. Staff also announced the reservation system will move online, with reservations opening in January 2026 (around Jan. 13).

Among the specific recommendations the commission endorsed: keep a priority order for users (city, affiliated school districts, adult/youth athletic or civic organizations, then nonresident groups); maintain a $50/day or $500/season option for VFW/Lions field use and set $20/day (or $250/season) for other reservable fields; set individual court reservations at $20 for up to three hours and limit reservable courts to 50% of courts at each site so some capacity remains open for drop-in play. Staff recommended making many park shelters and pavilions reservable with full-day and half-day pricing ($100/$50) and suggested a $100 security deposit for shelters to cover cleanup costs.

Commission discussion flagged several clarifications for staff to include when the packet goes to council: add volleyball courts to the courts category, clarify which fees are nonrefundable (staff said lights and some shelter deposits would be nonrefundable), correct inconsistent fee text in the draft, and add form fields to capture priority level and resident/nonresident status once the system is online. "I would just add that as a box item under courts," Speaker 3 said when commissioners asked about volleyball.

Speaker 2 moved to recommend the policy to the city council "as presented by staff with these additional changes," Speaker 4 seconded, and the motion passed. The approval included the clarifications on nonrefundability, the $100 security deposit for park shelters/pavilions, adding volleyball to the reservable courts section, reservable-court limits, and the $20/day charge for certain ball fields.

Next steps: staff will finalize the packet and forward the recommended policy to city council for its consideration; the commission requested staff correct typos and include clearer form definitions and residency/prioritization fields prior to submission.