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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-01-24 Parks & Recreation Commission Summary MinutesAPPROVED Approved 1 1 2 3 MINUTES 4 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 5 REGULAR MEETING 6 JANUARY 24, 2023 7 In-Person & Virtual Conference 8 Palo Alto, California 9 10 Commissioners Present: Chair Greenfield; Vice Chair LaMere; Commissioners 11 Amanda Brown, Anne Cribbs, Nellis Freeman, Shani 12 Kleinhaus, and Joy Oche 13 Commissioners Absent: 14 Others Present: Council Liaison: Vice Mayor Greer Stone 15 Staff Present: Daren Anderson, Lam Do, Javod Ghods 16 CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL 17 18 BUSINESS 19 1. Adoption of a Resolution Authorizing Use of Teleconferencing for 20 Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting During COVID-19 State 21 of Emergency 22 Commissioner Cribbs moved to adopt the Resolution. Seconded by 23 Commissioner Oche, the motion passed, 6-0, by roll call vote. 24 PUBLIC COMMENT 25 Herb Borock spoke about a couple of trees that had been marked to be cut 26 down last fall at Magic Forest. A two-week notice had been given at that 27 time but the trees have yet to be cut down. Mr. Borock asked the staff to 28 look into this. 29 Monica Williams gave an update on the Palo Alto Pickleball Club. The club 30 now has over 500 members who are Palo Alto residents. The pilot program 31 for court usage priority on the temporary pickleball courts has created the 32 opportunity to grow the youth pickleball program. 33 APPROVED Approved 2 1 Yudy Deng, Palo Alto resident, announced her intention to apply for a 2 position on the Board in March-April. 3 AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS 4 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 5 2. Approval of Draft Minutes from the November 22, 2022, Parks and 6 Recreation Commission Meeting 7 Commissioner Freeman moved to approve the minutes of the November 22, 8 2022, Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting. Seconded by 9 Commissioner Cribbs, the motion passed, 6-0 by roll call vote. 10 3. Approval of Draft Minutes from the December 13, 2022, Parks and 11 Recreation Commission Meeting 12 Commissioner Cribbs moved to approve the minutes of the December 13, 13 2022, Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting. Seconded by 14 Commissioner Oche, the motion passed, 6-0 by roll call vote. 15 CITY OFFICIAL REPORTS 16 4. Department Report 17 Daren Anderson, Community Services Department, gave updates on 18 impacts of the recent storm. There were flooding issues, landslides, trail 19 washouts and downed trees and limbs. In the Foothills, all trails are 20 currently open after having to be closed on multiple occasions for safety 21 reasons except for the eastern portion of Fern Loop Trail, which will remain 22 closed until the trail contractor determines needed repairs. In Pearson-23 Arastradero Preserve, all trails are now open except for the seasonal trails 24 due to the recent rain. The rangers will reanalyze them every three to four 25 days to determine when they can reopen. In the urban parks, a lot of tree 26 limbs and about 10 full trees came down in various locations. There were 27 flooding issues in several sites mostly due to clogged drains. Another impact 28 from the storm was a portion of fence blown over at the Cubberley Tennis 29 Courts. The repair is pending cost estimates in the next day or two and the 30 turf drying out in order to allow the heavy vehicles that will be needed for 31 the repairs. The infill replacement project at Mayfield Soccer Complex was 32 completed. The fields opened on December 20. The restrooms at Mitchell 33 Park near the tennis courts have been closed due to significant blockage in 34 APPROVED Approved 3 the line but had been repaired the night before the meeting. The one-day 1 art project that was designed to engage the community about sea-level rise 2 at the Baylands was held on January 21. It was recently discovered that a 3 housing development at 2850 West Bayshore is needing to encroach into 4 Greer Park to connect their property’s new housing to the sanitary sewer 5 line. An easement was obtained to do so. The encroachment into the park 6 will impact the users of Greer Field 3. Planning, Public Works, Utilities and 7 the property owner are working on arranging the timing to minimize the 8 impact to the leagues using that field. Mr. Anderson shared the results of 9 the Annual Community Survey Report that had been presented at the City 10 Council meeting the night before. The Parks and Recreation Commission e-11 bike recommendation that was scheduled for the last City Council meeting 12 has been tentatively rescheduled for February 27. The Parks and Recreation 13 Commission recruitment deadline has changed to February 28. They are still 14 recruiting for a park maintenance position and will be interviewing for three 15 open space park technicians and a budget analyst. A new vendor, World Cup 16 Soccer Clinics and Camps, is coming in spring and will offer clinics to youth 17 ages 4-6 and 7-9 at Greer Park. The contract with Kids Love Soccer still 18 exists but another contractor was needed to alleviate the long waitlist. New 19 adult Salsa and ballroom dancing classes and street dancing for teens and 20 adults with disabilities will be held in the evenings at Lucie Stern Ballroom. 21 Descriptions of the classes can be found on the Enjoy! website. 22 Chair Greenfield questioned how the timing will be decided regarding the 23 encroachment into Greer 3 Playing Field. 24 Mr. Anderson answered that Planning will do the liaison work with the owner 25 and will reach out to multiple departments in order to understand 26 constraints. The timing will be built into the permit, which is still being 27 defined. 28 BUSINESS 29 5. Cubberley Community Center Playfields Restroom Addition 30 Project – Peter Jensen – Discussion 31 Peter Jensen, Public Works Engineering Landscape Architect, discussed the 32 Cubberley Field Restroom. The project has been ongoing since 2018. There 33 was a pause in the project due to COVID. He asked for input from the 34 Commission concerning the location of the restroom. He detailed the 35 proposed design and layout and the three possible locations along with their 36 pros and cons. He stated that a pump lift station would potentially be 37 required for locations one or three because they could not be tied into the 38 existing Cubberley sewer line. An online community survey was held 39 APPROVED Approved 4 regarding the location of bathroom and the majority of the residents 1 preferred location one. There is consideration of increasing the size to a 4-2 stall restroom. The goal is to have the restroom installed by summer 2024. 3 Commissioner Freeman asked if the pump will be a different structure and if 4 there is a noise factor or environmental factor associated with it. 5 Mr. Jensen answered it is basically a 4 x 4, 6-8 feet deep pit next to the 6 restroom with a steel grate over it. There are no environmental factors 7 unless it fails or overflows and the noise is minimal. 8 Commissioner Kleinhaus questioned if there will be a way to lock the 9 restroom doors automatically in in the event of an outage shutting off power 10 to the pump and wanted to know where people currently go to use the 11 restroom. 12 Mr. Jensen stated automatic locks would probably be the preferred method 13 and there will be the option of having backup battery systems for the pump. 14 He answered the majority of people use the restroom in the central building 15 in Cubberley, a portable bathroom next to the track and field and at times 16 people use the perimeter of the field and bushes, which is another reason 17 for building a new bathroom. 18 Commissioner Freeman questioned if doubling the size of the restroom to 19 four stalls will increase the size of the pump and what the track record on 20 reliability of other cities using the pump. 21 Mr. Jensen explained the pump usually lasts between 5 to 15 years and the 22 pump will be larger if the size of the bathroom is increased. 23 Chair Greenfield asked about the budget implications for a four-stall 24 restroom and if the delivery and installation time would be extended. He 25 questioned if there is any other option on the Cubberley site besides the 26 proposed second location where a lift station would not be needed. 27 Mr. Jensen stated the construction and delivery would take the same 28 amount of time as a two-stall restroom. The cost of the four-stall restroom 29 will be roughly 50% more than a two-stall. He said there is currently no 30 other option within the Cubberley site where a lift station would not be 31 needed besides location two. 32 Ken Knox, President of the Greenmeadow Community Association, 33 summarized that the Greenmeadow residents support the construction of 34 the restroom but at a location further away from Nelson due to concerns 35 APPROVED Approved 5 with location number two being very close to their homes causing additional 1 traffic and potential odor. He suggested locations closer to the parking lot 2 and asked that city engineers investigate those suggested locations. 3 Sonya Bradski, resident on Nelson next to Cubberley, expressed concern 4 that location two would attract homeless people to her neighborhood. She 5 suggested the location of the current Porta Potty would be more convenient 6 for the soccer people. She concluded that the sewer line in her 7 neighborhood is old and troublesome and would not be ideal for the new 8 bathroom. 9 Gary Bradski concurred that he is not happy with location two. He believed 10 the survey was biased and should be disregarded. He stated the current 11 Cubberley bathroom location is adequate. He said there are already issues 12 with homeless people in their neighborhood and expressed concern that the 13 location two bathroom would increase that. 14 Heidi Voltmer, Greenmeadow resident, believed location one would be the 15 most convenient spot for the bathroom because that is where the soccer 16 field users park. 17 Elizabeth Alexis, Greenmeadow resident, questioned the possibility of 18 connecting location three the Cubberley sewage similar to the facility the 19 school district just put into the parking lot. She wondered if an arrangement 20 could be made with the school district to open that facility on the weekend 21 during the time of the construction of the new bathroom since the teachers 22 would not be using it at that time. She objected to site number two because 23 the pathway to that location is extremely dark at night and would have to 24 be lighted adding to the cost. 25 Penny Ellson, Greenmeadow resident, expressed that long-term neglect of 26 Cubberley has led to expensive, suboptimal, one-off repeated solutions to 27 problems. She agreed with the suggestion to lift the building to eliminate 28 the need for a pump and wanted to hear from staff regarding this. She had 29 concern about location two attracting traffic to the neighborhood school 30 route. She agreed having the bathroom near the parking area would be 31 most convenient. She questioned how many trees would have to be taken 32 out to fit the four-toilet facility next to Nelson Drive and asked staff to 33 reconsider the location to location one. 34 Rebecca Marasco, Greenmeadow resident, highlighted there is already 35 excessive traffic on Nelson and felt putting the restroom closer to Nelson 36 would encourage more people to park there. She suggested putting the 37 APPROVED Approved 6 restroom closer to the parking lot would encourage people to park there 1 instead. 2 Samuel Kempton emphasized the raised platform idea eliminating the need 3 for a pump making future maintenance easier and achieve the desired 4 location closer to the field entry. He was also in favor of the 4 x 4 5 bathrooms. 6 Commissioner Cribbs commented she was in favor of the location of the 7 current Porta Potty. She suggested keeping the bathrooms at the Pavilion 8 open on the weekend, pulling in more Porta Potties or doing a deal with the 9 school district to use theirs could alleviate the situation in the meantime. 10 Commissioner Oche wondered if increasing the frequency of cleaning or 11 adding more portable restrooms in the meantime would add or alleviate the 12 problem they are facing of people using the bushes. She did not support the 13 Nelson Drive location due to the residents’ concerns. 14 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated she did not support the Nelson Drive 15 location and asked for more information about creating an elevation to avoid 16 a pump. 17 Mr. Jensen answered that lifting the structure would not be a viable option. 18 Commissioner Freeman supported the four-stall bathroom and location one. 19 He asked for more detail about the maintenance requirements with the four 20 stalls and if the proposed $250K more cost would cover the increased size of 21 the pumps. He asked how successful locking the doors automatically at 10 22 p.m. have been in other locations and if the locks would be tamper proof. 23 He asked how much city staff involvement would be required for the 24 maintenance. 25 Mr. Jensen stated that the majority of the $250K is the cost of the larger 26 structure itself and would range between $20K to $30K more for the design 27 and implementation for the larger restroom. The portable restroom is rented 28 from someone who is responsible for the cleaning. The park restrooms are 29 cleaned every evening. He said that the locks have proven to be successful. 30 The lighting on the inside comes on if someone goes in the bathroom. The 31 restrooms would be cleaned every night. 32 Commissioner Brown expressed her support for the four-stall option away 33 from the residential neighborhood. 34 APPROVED Approved 7 Vice Chair LaMere inquired about problems that have been experienced with 1 restrooms at other neighborhood parks. 2 Mr. Anderson answered there have been issues including vandalism or 3 extreme damage in some of the public restrooms and that it is location 4 dependent. 5 Vice Chair LaMere supported a four-stall restroom at location one. He 6 echoed the comment made about the suboptimal and inefficient solutions 7 that result from inability of the city and school district to get together on 8 solutions for Cubberley. 9 Chair Greenfield questioned if the situation would be much different if the 10 city and school district had been able to move forward with a redevelopment 11 plan for Cubberley given the field areas would not be redeveloped as part of 12 the plan and inquired about the time horizon of the pump situation. 13 Mr. Jensen answered that an extensive renovation of the Cubberley site will 14 be implemented in the future including upgrades of all the utilities on site 15 and possibly rerouting the sewer system to connect to the new 16 infrastructure eliminating the pump and possibly removing the restroom 17 itself and having a restroom in a building. 18 Chair Greenfield commented he would appreciate the Commission getting 19 more directly looped into the process moving forward. He believed everyone 20 agreed that a less expensive, lower maintenance gravity flow solution would 21 be preferred but the site near Nelson is not appropriate. He was in favor of 22 location number one. He asked for clarification on the budget implications 23 with respect to timing on moving forward with the four-stall option or if that 24 will result in a delay. He inquired about any downsides going with the four-25 unit restroom voicing support of the larger bathroom if it does not change 26 the timeline. 27 Mr. Jensen stated he would have to get back to him on the budget 28 implications. The requested additional $250K had been requested in the 29 next fiscal year budget but has not been approved yet. He did not think 30 there would be a delay. He did not know of any downsides going with the 31 four-unit restroom and that the capacity of the field warrants the extra cost 32 of the larger restroom. 33 Commissioner Freeman added the bigger facility would be better because 34 the visitor capacity is potentially going to grow because they are 35 encouraging the residents to take advantage of the facility. 36 APPROVED Approved 8 6. Aquatics Annual Report – Sharon Eva – Discussion 1 Tim Sheeper, Tim Sheeper, Inc. and Palo Alto Swim and Sport, gave the 2 Aquatics Annual Report in Sharon Eva’s place. He described 2022 as a 3 rebuilding to baseline year. They had high satisfactions from the patrons as 4 far as baseline operations such as safety, administration, communications, 5 water quality and facility cleanliness. They had great success returning to 6 baseline in the lap swimming program and summer camps. They had 7 moderate success returning to baseline with open swim and masters 8 swimming. They had minimal success returning to baseline with youth swim 9 lessons. The goals in 2023 will be focused on increasing staff numbers. 10 Increasing lifeguard staff numbers will relate to increasing the amount of 11 open swim hours they can have during spring, summer and early fall. 12 Focusing on swim instructor numbers will translate into increasing swim 13 lesson offerings. They have hired new leadership staff, restructured 14 programming and content and are training instructors for the spring when 15 the pool will be refurbished and reopened, focusing on a strong summer 16 offering. 17 Commissioner Cribbs asked if scholarships will be needed for any children or 18 adults who want swim lessons and about the cost of senior lap swim. She 19 inquired if there is opportunity to shave a couple of inches off the pool while 20 it is closed for renovation. The touch pads of the pool make the pool too 21 short for the new equipment U.S. Swimming requires to break a record. 22 Correcting this would bring more swim meets to the pool. 23 Mr. Sheeper answered there is a foundation in place to cover any swim 24 scholarships needed in the community. Their challenge is in finding the 25 instructors to give the lessons. Increasing their pay has allowed them to 26 round of a team of instructors. Senior fees for lap swimming will be reduced 27 in the monthly membership for the resident senior lap swimmers. He stated 28 the walls have already been shaved and any more would destruct the 29 integrity of the wall. 30 Commissioner Brown asked for details about staffing and recruitment efforts 31 that have been made. 32 Mr. Sheeper answered raising entry-level salary for all lifeguards and swim 33 instructors has allowed them to provide the needed staff. They are sending 34 them through a training program. Lessons will be given year round. They 35 are going to share the swim instructors with Rinconada pool when they open 36 in spring and summer. They have increased the entry compensation for 37 lifeguards, as well. 38 APPROVED Approved 9 Vice Chair LaMere asked for information about the Masters swim program. 1 Mr. Sheeper stated the issue in the past was increasing the safety aspects 2 of the Rinconada Masters and introducing safety factors that were void 3 which raised issues with the team. The leadership of that program retired 4 leaving them the responsibility of hiring training coaches and operating the 5 program. During the pandemic, the team expanded up to a little over 100 6 swimmers because they took over a lot of swimmers who were at Stanford 7 and their pool was not operational. As Stanford came back online, swimmers 8 went back to their home pool and they ended up with 50 to 60 swimmers. 9 They have had a number of coaching changes as they attempt to find the 10 right mix of coaching staff. They have been able to share pool time with the 11 lap swimmers in the mornings and afternoons rather than have blocked 12 swim time just for Masters or just for lap swimmers. The shared time will 13 allow the program to expand. 14 Commissioner Oche asks what the number of respondents were for page 4 15 and what the residents responded to on page 7. 16 Mr. Sheeper answered the total respondents was 196. The residents want 17 more time, more space and time in the evening. The two obstacles with 18 these requests are the youth swimming program use the pool from 4 p.m. 19 until the evening and the requirement of a whole new staff in the evening. 20 Chair Greenfield inquired what the impact to the pool staff will be during the 21 renovation time and if it is common to close this long for a renovation. He 22 asked for elaboration on the fee structure modifications and what the 23 percentage of the difference will be in rate for residents versus 24 nonresidents. 25 Mr. Sheeper answered the 45-day minimum closure is tough on the staff 26 and the operation and is not common but the repairs are mandatory. Some 27 of the staff will be able to move over to the pool in Menlo Park but they are 28 not able to provide hours for the entire staff. They are in discussions with 29 city staff for options. They will be returning to the pre-pandemic fee 30 structure. There will be a reduced fee for resident seniors for lap swimming. 31 The difference in rates for residents versus nonresidents will be in the 20% 32 range. 33 7. Golf Annual Report– Lam Do – Discussion 34 Lam Do, Superintendent for Open Space Parks and Golf, gave a brief 35 presentation to supplement the staff report on the financial and operations 36 performance on the golf course. The former Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course 37 APPROVED Approved 10 closed in fiscal year 2017 and 2018 for course reconfiguration. The redesign 1 encompassed all 18 holes. The course reopened in May 2018 as the 2 Baylands Golf Links. The redesign was initiated for environmental flood 3 control needs. Seven acres of the former Palo Alto Municipal Golf Course 4 was transferred to the Joint Powers Authority implementing the flood control 5 measures. Improvements were focused on course play addressing turf, 6 drainage and irrigation needs. The grass chosen for the fairway turf allowed 7 for use of recycled water addressing environmental needs. At the time of 8 reopening, a service agreement was entered into with OB Sports to be a full 9 service course management company focusing on customer and player 10 experience providing practice facilities, course maintenance, merchandise 11 sales and food and beverage. Previously there were three vendors and it 12 was difficult to coordinate services. With a single operator, the golf course is 13 doing well financially. The first full fiscal year showed an equilibrium 14 between revenue and expenses. They were able to reattract prior players 15 and bring new players in. In fiscal year 2020, there were setbacks. At the 16 end of 2019, there was wildfire impact on air quality impacting golf play. In 17 the spring, the COVID-19 shelter-in-place order shut down the golf course 18 resulting in loss of revenue. In the past two years, the course has exceeded 19 $5m in revenue with $4m expenses. Annual rounds of golf play continues to 20 increase. This is reflective of demand during the COVID-19 pandemic and 21 the quality of the course play and customer experience the course operator 22 provides. When the course reopened, they wanted to attract players from 23 Palo Alto and ensure the golf course success by attracting players regionally. 24 The past three years, Palo Alto resident players has increased from 29% to 25 39% and about 46% of the players are from other parts of Santa Clara 26 County and San Mateo County. They increased overall Palo Alto residency 27 play and attracted regional players because Palo Alto support alone could 28 not support the golf course. He shared some awards and recognitions the 29 course has received over the years. He addressed updates on 30 communication with the State Water Board who have given direction to be 31 in compliance with mitigation monitoring. An inventory was sent to them of 32 the current conditions and are awaiting their review. They will then work on 33 initiating and continuing mitigation monitoring of the golf course. 34 Chair Greenfield queried about the appropriateness of speaking about 35 mitigations to the natural environment that are part of the golf course. 36 Mr. Do answered it is best to discuss the operational and financial 37 performance of the golf course. General overall questions about the 38 environment and mitigation monitoring could be answered on a cursory 39 level. For a detailed discussion, it should be added to the agenda. 40 APPROVED Approved 11 Commissioner Kleinhaus understood there has been no response from the 1 Water Board but mitigation costs money and will affect the finances next 2 year. She thought this report should include the environmental issues of the 3 golf course, how the mitigations are advancing and how much they are 4 going to cost. She stated the mitigation issue needed to be addressed in the 5 reports in the future as it was a legal requirement to have been done five 6 years ago and separating it from the costs they are being given makes the 7 presentation inaccurate. She expressed confusion why mitigation goes to 8 capital rather than the golf course budget. 9 Mr. Do stated the cost of the mitigation would be brought up as part of the 10 budget process for the future fiscal years presented to Council to be 11 reviewed and adopted. The mitigation and monitoring is presently funded 12 through a capital improvement project for which the funding is requested 13 annually. He agreed the mitigation needs to be done and that the capital 14 improvement project is the mechanism to request and receive funding. 15 Commissioner Freeman asked for background information about the 16 increase in revenue and the number of Palo Alto residents using the facility. 17 Mr. Do answered the overall rounds of golf play have gone up after the lull 18 from the COVID shutdown. Golf professionals predict there will be a slight 19 downturn but that most of the uptick will remain. 20 David Hall agreed that COVID and a combination of the excitement of the 21 renovations caused the uptick in golf play. He states it is expected to come 22 down a little bit. 23 Commissioner Cribbs asked if there will be conversation about programs for 24 youth and the progress on the First Tee in the future. She inquired if there 25 has been discussion among them about improvements to the clubhouse and 26 restaurant facility. 27 Mr. Hall noted there will be a second stage in the master plan to upgrade 28 the food and beverage and the offices. 29 Mr. Do commented that the improvements will need to be considered by the 30 city and he has had some discussions with the city’s facilities team about 31 the improvements. A near future expansion is not on the horizon at this 32 time due to availability of funds but may be considered in future years. He 33 added the First Tee program uses the golf course as a teaching facility and 34 there is a youth program. They have an agreement in process with First Tee 35 to work on establishing and finalizing a long-term partnership where they 36 will facilitate and raise funds to improve practice facilities. 37 APPROVED Approved 12 Mr. Hall commented the Youth on Course program is administered by the 1 Northern California Golf Association. It provides discounted rates for junior 2 golfers. In 2022, there were 1100 rounds generated from the program. In 3 addition to that, there were another 2500 rounds paying the junior rate so 4 there were about 3600 rounds of junior play. They also had the First Tee of 5 Silicon Valley which were eight-week programs in each season for a total of 6 258 participants. There were five separate one-week session of junior golf 7 camps with a total of 100 kids. A spring break junior golf camp is planned 8 April 3 through 7. Individual golf lessons with 3400 hours of instruction were 9 provided in the past year. 10 Vice Chair LaMere asked for an update on the performance of the golf shop 11 and restaurant. 12 Mr. Do commented the first full FY19, the golf shop revenue lost was not 13 from lack of golf play but from lack of sales from the pro shop. This was due 14 to competition from online retailers. OB Sports has branded itself at 15 Baylands Golf Links to address sales of soft goods to create loyalty to garner 16 retail sales at the pro shop which has produced some success but continues 17 to be a struggle. 18 Mr. Hall agreed that the retail sales continue to be a struggle. He stated 19 their success is more in golf balls, gloves and headwear. Equipment and 20 clothing sales are a struggle. They are moving away from stocking hard 21 goods and moving more toward fitting days where 90% of those being fit 22 purchase equipment. The restaurant has been a break even due to lack of 23 activity. 24 Vice Chair LaMere inquired about the net fiscal impact for the city in terms 25 of direct revenue from golf play and sales and what the general fund paid in 26 the last fiscal year. 27 Mr. Do answered the revenue is one side of the equation and the other side 28 is what the city pays to operate the golf course and for the payments the 29 city make annually for taking on debt to renovate the golf course. The last 30 two years they have operated in the black. The golf course is part of the 31 general fund which benefits if the golf course operates in the black or 32 absorbs the loss if not. The last fiscal year, $5.3M went to the general fund 33 and $4.2M in expenses came from the general fund. There was a net profit 34 of $1.1M to the general fund. The compensation to OB Sports is within the 35 expense category. 36 APPROVED Approved 13 Vice Chair LaMere asked what high schools the course has relationships with 1 in terms of their golf teams using the course and what fees they pay to use 2 the course. 3 Mr. Do answered they have active participation with Gunn High School and 4 Palo Alto High School. A large percentage of them are part of Youth on 5 Course program and pay $5 and the others pay $10. 6 Commissioner Oche questioned where the information could be found for 7 the spring young golfers program that was mentioned as she did not see it 8 in the Enjoy! Catalog. 9 Mr. Do stated seasonal courses are offered through the First Tee of Silicon 10 Valley who facilitates their own program. The golf course provides the 11 facility for them; however, they do the marketing, advertising and 12 registrations of the participants. The website for First Tee is 13 firstteesiliconvalley.org. 14 Mr. Hall stated once the plans for the spring break camp have been 15 complete it will be in the city communication. 16 Chair Greenfield commented that the report indicated that the actual 17 revenue of $5.3M was 32% above the target revenue. A year ago in FY21, 18 the actual revenue was $5.1M. He asked why the target revenue was so 19 much lower than the preceding year’s actual revenue and what the target 20 revenue is for FY23. He asked if there is an impact of having a budget 21 projection that is off by 32%. He recommended considering not including 22 outlier data years to reduce the impact. He asked how much of the golf 23 course’s budget is made transparent and what percentage of the overall 24 expense is the debt service. 25 Mr. Do stated the city’s combination of projections, budgeting and funding 26 are multiple factors in play. It is a discussion with the course operator, OB 27 Sports, a third party financial portfolio performed for the golf course to get 28 future year projections and internal discussions looking beyond the 29 performer and recommendation with OB Sports. The city preferred to look 30 at three-year trends instead of assuming an uptick will be in place. He has 31 been in discussions with their budget office manager on how to project the 32 future fiscal year. They have not finalized what that revenue target will be. 33 He stated that the actual revenue being 30% higher than the projection, 34 perhaps the projection needs to be adjusted but the final number of the 35 actuals is more important in regard to what the projection is compared to 36 the actual expenses. He agreed there would be a benefit in tightening up 37 and having a golf projection closer to what the actuals have been. He 38 APPROVED Approved 14 further agreed with the recommendation to not include outlier years for 1 COVID. He explained the golf course’s budget is reviewed as it’s own page 2 in the department proposal, which includes the date from the previous four 3 fiscal years. The percentage of the debt service in FY22 was $4.2M in 4 expenses and $370K+ was debt service. The debt service changes annually 5 based on the payment schedule but is fairly consistent. 6 Chair Greenfield expressed disappointment in the lack of details in the 7 annual report. He requested a follow up summary of the numbers of the 8 youth program provided by Mr. Hall for their records. He added the bigger 9 picture in terms of environment mitigations of the golf course should be 10 discussed. He encouraged staff to work directly with the Commission Golf 11 Liaison and the Golf Liaison to review the information going into the report 12 before it gets agendized to provide feedback to make sure a more complete 13 story is being provided to the Commission. He requested to prioritize getting 14 the natural environment mitigations to the Commission as a separate item 15 in the early part of this year and including an annual follow-up on that at 16 the same time as the business and financial operations report. 17 8. Ad Hoc Committees and Liaison Updates – Discussion 18 Commissioner Freeman addressed a meeting scheduled the following 19 Thursday morning to go over concerns regarding the condition of the Hoover 20 baseball field. City staff will meet with stakeholders in the baseball 21 community to determine short-term solutions and look at long-term 22 solutions going forward. He reported the soccer fields are back in operation 23 and he will be reaching out to be sure the fields are being maintained. 24 Commissioner Cribbs expressed appreciation of pushing off the discussion 25 on the Recreation Wellness Center allowing time to gather more information 26 and do more research. A presentation will be made in March. 27 Chair Greenfield stated the e-bike recommendation will be taken up by City 28 Council in late February. He thought it was appropriate for the e-bike Ad 29 Hoc to wait for a response from City Council and asked if there is a need for 30 that group to convene. 31 Mr. Anderson answered reconvening and preparing the presentation and 32 helpful key points is a good next step. 33 Commissioner Brown commented on ongoing conversations with the group 34 from Barron Park on dog parks and continuing to work with staff on the 35 North Palo Alto options there. She pointed out that the Pearce Dog Park has 36 a bunch of mulch and fared well with the storm. She stated the 37 APPROVED Approved 15 superintendent sent out a weekly email update noting that conversations 1 are resuming between the city and the school district on Cubberley. 2 Chair Greenfield inquired if the action the Commission took regarding the 3 Mitchell Park Dog Park has gone to City Council for approval yet. 4 Mr. Anderson answered it has gone to Council, was approved and is now in 5 the purchasing process to go out to bid. There has been a backlog of 6 projects and it is in the queue. 7 COMMISSIONER/BOARD MEMBER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, 8 ANNOUNCEMENTS OR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 9 10 Vice Mayor Stone stated there a retreat will be held at Mitchell Park Library 11 at 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. the following Saturday to discuss goals and priorities for 12 the year and encouraged the Commissioners to. 13 14 Mr. Anderson brought up the Commission Attendance Policy to be addressed 15 in February. 16 17 Chair Greenfield stated the Wellness Center Gym is on the agenda for 18 March. City Council has asked them to review the update to the Tree 19 Ordinance six or nine months after it was passed. He asked about the status 20 of the natural environment mitigations for the golf course and when it is 21 appropriate for that to come to the Commission. 22 23 Mr. Anderson stated the next step is hearing back from the State Water 24 Board who needs more time to review it. 25 26 ADJOURNMENT 27 28 Meeting adjourned at 10:20 P.M. 29