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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-08-22 Parks & Recreation Commission Summary MinutesAPPROVED APPROVED 1 1 2 3 MINUTES 4 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 5 REGULAR MEETING 6 August 22, 2023 7 In-Person & Virtual Conference 8 Palo Alto, California 9 10 Commissioners Present: Chair Greenfield, Vice Chair Brown; Commissioners Anne Cribbs, 11 Nellis Freeman, Shani Kleinhaus, Joy Oche 12 Commissioners Absent: Commissioner Bing Wei 13 Others Present: Vice Mayor Stone 14 Staff Present: Daren Anderson, Javod Ghods, Michael Warner, Peter Jensen 15 CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL 16 Chair Greenfield called the meeting to order and asked for a roll call. 17 PUBLIC COMMENT 18 None. 19 AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS 20 None. 21 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 22 1. Approval of Draft Minutes from the June 27, 2023, Parks and Recreation 23 Regular Meeting 24 Commissioner Cribbs questioned the term “bike blender” on page 7. 25 Chair Greenfield and Vice Chair Brown agreed that it was a bicycle-powered kitchen 26 appliance. 27 Commissioner Cribbs suggested that when they get to the reports from the different 28 committees and the ad-hocs at the end of the meeting, that they mention the subject 29 spoken about such as “Golf – Commissioner Freeman”. 30 APPROVED APPROVED 2 Mr. Anderson suggested that during the meeting Mr. Ghods do a marker verbally as each 1 ad-hoc or liaison goes. 2 Vice Chair Brown moved to approve the minutes seconded by Commissioner Cribbs. 3 The motion passed by a 5-0 by a roll call vote with Chair Greenfield abstaining. 4 CITY OFFICIAL REPORTS 5 2. Department Report 6 Daren Anderson, Assistant Director of Community Services, provided a PowerPoint 7 presentation addressing recruitment, recreation programs and events, project and other 8 updates and capital improvement projects updates. 9 Commissioner Freeman asked if there were any numbers to track if the wait list number 10 for the summer programs were going up every year and, if so, were they reaching out to 11 some of the local nonprofits that have tennis or aquatics looking for a partnership. 12 Mr. Anderson answered the numbers have gone up each year. He mentioned part of it 13 was due to folks being double booked in the camp but that did not explain all of it. He 14 did not know if they were looking at other partnerships. He did know Staff mentioned 15 they were going to contact PAUSD about additional space. He had also heard that they 16 were interested in looking to see if it would be feasible to have more volunteers willing 17 to lead camps. 18 Chair Greenfield asked if there was a place for the recreation program review ad-hoc to 19 play a role in working with Staff to further analyze these numbers to come up with 20 potential solutions. 21 Mr. Anderson thought that would be fully appropriate. He said it sounded like they met 22 once with Kayla who is running the Enjoy! process to help the ad-hoc find more 23 innovative solutions. 24 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated a lot of letters had been received by City Council about 25 Cubberley and the land swap. She wondered if the Commission had ever been asked 26 about this. 27 Mr. Anderson answered they were not asked, and it had not been discussed by the 28 Commission. He stated there was a lot of concern about the land swap. He believed it 29 was part of the Council’s thinking that they would defer the closed session on Cubberley 30 for an open session because of how important it was to the Community to weigh in on 31 different options that would be considered. 32 Commissioner Kleinhaus if Council did not look for the Commission’s input in their 33 APPROVED APPROVED 3 discussion the previous night. 1 Mr. Anderson stated that was not mentioned, it was just deferred. 2 Chair Greenfield felt this might be an opportunity to reach out to Vice Mayor Stone to 3 ask for any perspective or direction in terms of what role the Parks and Rec Commission 4 might look to play at this point or in the future waiting for more specific direction from 5 City Council related to development in general at Cubberley and the land swap 6 discussion regarding Terman Park. 7 Vice Mayor Stone thought the Commission would likely have a role to play in the 8 Cubberly discussions at some level. He felt the reason the Commission had not been 9 given the concept of a land swap was that it was too early in the process to start vetting 10 the idea. Council felt like the closed session discussion was premature and they wanted 11 to have a more transparent open session on the various policy options. If a land swap 12 continued to be on the table at that point, it would not surprise him if that were referred 13 to the Commission for further study. 14 Chair Greenfield asked if there were thoughts about attracting more chili cook-off teams 15 or if Staff considered not continuing the event if more teams did not participate. 16 Mr. Anderson stated it was his impression that they fully intend to continue the chili 17 cook-off next year. 18 Commissioner Freeman commented that some of the entrants said it was sort of last 19 minute and he felt maybe people did not have enough time to get organized and a couple 20 of teams were from other cities. He felt they might do a better job putting the word out 21 earlier. 22 Mr. Anderson stated he would get more information on that. 23 Commissioner Cribbs opined that the low participation on the chili cook-off could be an 24 effect from coming out of COVID and she felt there would be a bigger uptake next year. 25 She thought the Parks and Recreation Commission should enter a team for next year. 26 Mr. Anderson answered he would investigate that. 27 Chair Greenfield wondered about the thought of park rangers versus preserve rangers 28 since the rangers are patrolling preserves instead of parks. 29 Mr. Anderson stated the park ranger title was long held and has history to it. He was 30 reluctant to give it up. 31 Mr. Warner agreed with Mr. Anderson that park ranger was a long-held term and added 32 APPROVED APPROVED 4 it was codified in the State of California’s laws and regulations. He suggested open space 1 ranger would be more appropriate. 2 Chair Greenfield asked if open space ranger were something they would consider. 3 Mr. Anderson stated he would not budge on the term park ranger. 4 Chair Greenfield asked for a review of the action note regarding the skate park. 5 Mr. Anderson answered that was the contract to do the parking analysis. 6 Commissioner Freeman wondered if there was or could be signage showing what the 7 park improvements are and the timing that would be involved in that process. 8 Mr. Anderson said that there is usually a fact sheet. 9 BUSINESS 10 3. Foothills Nature Preserve Draft Improvement Plan – Daren Anderson & Peter 11 Jensen - Discussion 12 Mr. Anderson gave a presentation starting with the purpose behind this improvement 13 plan. Next, he showed a slide giving details of the planned improvements. 14 Peter Jensen, Public Works Landscape Architect, began presenting slides discussing the 15 goals of the plan but asked for a break. 16 Mr. Anderson took up where Mr. Jensen left off discussing the goals of the plan and 17 overall access improvements. 18 Mr. Jensen returned to present slides discussing the proposed Vista Hill improvements, 19 proposed Boronda Lake Parking improvements and improvement amenities. 20 Mr. Anderson presented a slide to discuss the project’s next steps. 21 Chair Greenfield asked if the PIO timing would be in the next one to three months. 22 Mr. Anderson clarified he would love to meet with the liaisons to talk through this but 23 needed a couple more check-ins with planning. He did not want the ARB review to alter 24 what was done at the PRC. The planner he spoke with said they could run concurrently. 25 Ms. Oche wanted to find out how often they did these access improvements and when 26 the last one was done. 27 APPROVED APPROVED 5 Mr. Anderson answered it has been routine maintenance. The last significant capital 1 investment was repaving the roadway. The last improvements were before his time. 2 Ms. Oche thought it might be helpful to see trends of capital improvement projects that 3 had happened over the years. She suggested a link on the website where residents could 4 access that information. 5 Mr. Anderson stated he could find links to the Staff reports and post them. 6 Foothills Nature Preserve Park Ranger Michael Warner thought they could post the 7 project information sheets on the website as they move forward with projects. 8 Commissioner Kleinhaus questioned if he said stop signs or stop lights at the crossroads. 9 She wanted to know what the ARB were reviewing and if he had done any CEQA on 10 this. 11 Mr. Anderson answered that it was signs. He added the ARB would look at this plan, 12 particularly parking and fencing. He included what he had received from the planner in 13 the Staff report regarding CEQA and it is exempt from CEQA. The one part he thought 14 needed additional environmental assessment was the new trail that goes from Boronda. 15 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated if no CEQA was needed, how would they make sure 16 there was no impact to a sensitive species. 17 Mr. Anderson answered the only natural area where they would be going off trail would 18 get an assessment. 19 Chair Greenfield asked if they would be able to move forward with a PIO 20 recommendation before that assessment had been completed. 21 Mr. Anderson believed they would, but he needed to consult with Claire Raybould, 22 Senior Planner. 23 Commissioner Kleinhaus felt the work itself could cause temporary disturbance and she 24 did not know if they were looking at that. 25 Mr. Anderson stated they wanted to time any work to avoid nesting species, wildlife 26 migrations or whatever else was going on. 27 Chair Greenfield asked for clarification on making sure all I’s are dotted and T’s are 28 crossed regarding environmental requirements, particularly for the new trail area before 29 something was put in front of them to make recommendation on and if it was necessary 30 to split that out as a separate item for expediency then he wanted to consider a parallel 31 path. 32 APPROVED APPROVED 6 Commissioner Cribbs inquired if they had any thoughts about the difficulty of going 1 through the bidding process, if there was anything to be done to make that go faster, 2 about when the improvements would be starting and if there was any thought about 3 improvements or changes to the Interpretive Center an any partnerships with the local 4 environmental groups that have interest. 5 Mr. Anderson stated the two challenge points he could foresee were the bidding process 6 and Staff capacity to do the construction drawings. His colleagues advised him they were 7 at capacity with current projects, and they needed to be hiring a consultant to do that 8 part. He thought he would have a better-informed guess as to when the improvements 9 would start at the next meeting. He added improvements or changes to the Interpretive 10 Center were on the long-term list. 11 Chair Greenfield requested Mike Warner’s thoughts about the Interpretive Center being 12 outdated. 13 Mike Warner, Foothills Supervising Ranger, answered it was on their radar for this year 14 coming up but there were no solid plans yet. 15 Chair Greenfield encouraged that they avoid being too constrained in the potential vision 16 they are thinking about to reshape it. He added putting some handicap parking on the 17 roadside by the lake edge might be worth more discussion and suggested putting together 18 some means for a turnaround. He mentioned there was discussion about potential bus 19 parking at Vista Hill, but that idea was not pursued. He was interested in hearing more 20 specific details about the bike parking that would be provided. 21 Commissioner Freeman asked how they came up with the number for new parking 22 spaces that would be added and how it was determined where speed bumps and stop 23 signs would be. 24 Mr. Anderson stated the parking changes. Baronda was the most popular parking area 25 closely followed by Orchard Glenn on the weekend. This was being increased by six 26 spots. They were keeping an eye on the net increase for the entire preserve. It was being 27 increased where it made the most sense and not impact the habitat. He stated the speed 28 bumps and stop signs were tools to address a longstanding speeding problem and 29 strategically targeted in areas where there are long straightaways often heading downhill. 30 Vice Chair Brown was struck by the balance of adding clarity and convenience while 31 maintaining the natural environment of the preserve. She suggested doing time limits for 32 parking in high-traffic areas. 33 Mr. Anderson stated they were interested in exploring time-limit parking spots. 34 APPROVED APPROVED 7 Chair Greenfield questioned if the reverse traditional flow on Vista Hill parking was new 1 resulting in cars encouraged to drive on the opposite side of the road that they normally 2 operate on which he felt was problematic. 3 Mr. Jensen stated it still exists, just angles the other way and it would be studied with 4 Transportation. 5 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked why the loop was planned in the opposite direction. 6 Mr. Anderson did not know why. 7 Mr. Jensen believed it was probably two lanes that got changed into a one-way. 8 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated any place it was possible to narrow the road would be 9 good because it is the best way to control traffic and speeding. 10 Chair Greenfield wanted to confirm that all this plan would go to City Council for PIO 11 and there were no aspects of the plan that Staff would take on without City Council 12 approval. 13 Mr. Anderson confirmed this. 14 Chair Greenfield asked if there was further discussion or ideas about how to potentially 15 handle a turnaround by the lake. 16 Mr. Anderson answered there are, and they had hoped to have the exhibit as a backup but 17 did not get there yet so he thought they would have to wait until they get together as the 18 liaisons and would be ready for that in a couple of days. 19 Chair Greenfield suggested Mr. Anderson to reach out to the stakeholders group. 20 Mr. Anderson stated they could invite them to the next liaison meeting. 21 22 4. Detailed Ad Hoc and Liaison Status Updates and Planning, Process, and 23 Reporting – Chair Greenfield - Discussion 24 Chair Greenfield mentioned that he and Vice Chair were looking to have a meeting with 25 the director and assistant director of Community Services to check the resources 26 available from Staff based on the action plan commitments they have given changes in 27 staffing available in the department. 28 Bicycle/E-Bike Access Policy Ad-Hoc (Commissioners Freeman and Kleinhaus) – 29 Commissioner Freeman stated they were meeting every other week. They have a 30 APPROVED APPROVED 8 walkthrough scheduled for the following week but there was not a lot of traction on this 1 at this time. They have had two meetings since the last PRC meeting. Commissioner 2 Kleinhaus added they brought up the issue of bicycle parking with the Foothills Park 3 plans. They are waiting for the following week’s visit to the Baylands and other things 4 and to receive information from Staff about recommendations for trails at Arastradero 5 and whether some of them should be limited to some uses. 6 Chair Greenfield asked for clarification on the feedback they were looking for from 7 Staff. 8 Commissioner Kleinhaus said the direction was to look at narrow trails at Arastradero 9 and see if bicycles and/or horses should not be able to use them. They had no opinion on 10 that and are waiting for Staff to give them some of the impression of the rangers and 11 others as to whether some of those trails should be closed to some of those uses. 12 Mr. Anderson added they have been working to identify the parking areas both at 13 Arastradero and Baylands. This tour would help fine-tune that. On the discussion about 14 allowing bicycles and horses on the narrow trails, the rangers are already thinking there 15 are spots in both Baylands and Arastradero that may not be appropriate for certain uses 16 like bikes and horses. He will have a more thoughtful discussion with the Staff and then 17 pull on the ad-hoc and work on that together. 18 Chair Greenfield asked when it would be appropriate to share potential findings or 19 recommendations with the full Commission for Staff to provide feedback the ad-hoc is 20 looking for and for the ad-hoc to fully develop this. 21 Mr. Anderson thought they would be wrapping up the bike parking element in two to 22 three weeks pending the tour. He wanted to dig deeper into the other question of trails 23 that are no longer appropriate for certain uses, and he thought maybe another month on 24 that for Staff to have an opinion. 25 Mr. Warner said it would take time to get the full Staff opinion on it. He wanted to make 26 sure they were aware that Arastradero has the trail maintenance and management plan 27 that was created in 2001. Any changes to the Arastradero Preserves Trails must be in line 28 with that plan. If they want to go down that route in the future, he highly suggested they 29 re-evaluate conducting a new plan, so a bigger discussion was the reworking of that plan 30 or getting more public opinion on that plan. 31 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated they were looking to map a direction for Council to look 32 at some trails and see whether they should be limited for horse and bicycle use. She was 33 not sure they wanted to recommend opening that plan unless they had major changes that 34 would not be consistent with it. She asked Mr. Anderson to send her the plan. 35 APPROVED APPROVED 9 Chair Greenfield requested Mr. Anderson forward the plan to the full Commission. He 1 added some national parks have some plans where class 2 E-bikes must be pedaled and 2 while there are a lot of things about E-bikes that are difficult to enforce, this would be 3 very straightforward to enforce. He thought this was a commonsense guideline that 4 would be useful for the ad-hoc to consider for future policy updates. He asked if there 5 was a target date range for presenting a discussion to the Commission. 6 Mr. Anderson answered there was not yet a date, but it was conceivable that they would 7 have this before the end of the year. 8 Grant Opportunities Ad-Hoc – Commissioner Cribbs stated due to vacations, 9 schedules, and the budget, they had not yet been able to meet with their Staff Liaison, 10 Kristen O’Kane, but they would do that on Thursday at 1 o’clock. The purpose of the 11 meeting for Commissioner Wei and her would be to understand the history in terms of 12 the department grants that have been obtained in the past and what would be possible to 13 go after now given the current staffing levels and how the Commission could help. She 14 did not think they would be ready until the end of the year. She felt like there would be 15 more to comment after the meeting. 16 Commissioner Kleinhaus wondered if there was any chance that Staff would consider 17 trying to get funds for the Buckeye Creek restoration. 18 Mr. Anderson answered that had not been done yet. He could foresee the regular 19 maintenance plan the rangers are working on dominating the open space focus for the 20 next six months or longer. He agreed that it deserves attention, but it was a matter of 21 having the resources to do so. 22 Chair Greenfield asked for a comment about the ongoing increasing need for dealing 23 with some of the problems on Buckeye Creek they had outlined a number of years ago, 24 to what extent they had gotten worse and if the urgency was increasing. 25 Mr. Anderson stated the urgency is not increasing from his perspective, but it has the 26 potential to become a very serious problem. 27 Chair Greenfield felt there could potentially be a discussion update in November or 28 December or may not be something that rises beyond a normal ad-hoc update. 29 Commissioner Cribbs believed that was probably true, but she thought they would know 30 more after the meeting on Thursday. She added she agreed about Buckeye Creek. 31 Chair Greenfield stated they would look forward to an update next month. 32 Master Plan Review – Vice Chair Brown said they met 1 time doing an inventory and 33 beginning the effort to look at the Master Plan and work with Staff to determine what is 34 APPROVED APPROVED 10 done and relevant and looking at adding to that discussion some prioritization because it 1 is a lengthy list. She thought they would need a little bit more work to get something that 2 could be brought back to the full Commission in terms of a status update and more of a 3 progress report on where they are with the inventory of projects from the Master Plan. 4 The agenda topic would be a report back on the status of those projects maybe in a 5 summary level of items in the plan. She thought December at the earliest for a formal 6 report back and potentially pushing that out to spring if they cannot get through the full 7 list. 8 Chair Greenfield asked for her thoughts on aiming for a discussion item of general status 9 to bring the full Commission up to date in the October timeframe. 10 Vice Chair Brown believed they could make a commitment to bring a discussion item 11 with the progress so far back every other month. 12 Chair Greenfield said they would aim tentatively for October but could push it to 13 November. 14 Mr. Anderson commented that will be a challenge as there is a lot of cross-referencing 15 with other Staff on where they are at with different things and what has been 16 accomplished. They would need to pick and choose which ones they want to get done at 17 what time. He would be glad to work on that and do his best to make the October 18 timeframe work. 19 Chair Greenfield thought one important discussion they had was being mindful about 20 taking on efforts and putting together summaries that would be useful and actionable. 21 Park Dedication FY24 – Vice Chair Brown stated they have met several times to go 22 over the list of previously discussed park dedication opportunities and prioritized these 23 successfully. She thought they could bring something back to the Commission for 24 consideration for some of the top priority park dedication initiatives in November or 25 December pending Staff availability. She did not know if they wanted to include 26 discussion on the feature sites or leave that as part of the regular update process or 27 background. 28 Chair Greenfield thought they could share the target sites that were recommended by 29 Staff as the best options to pursue. He shared they are looking at the Water Well Park, 30 across the street from El Camino Park soccer field, and Rinconada Community Gardens, 31 and discussed concerns about these. 32 Mr. Anderson thought November was a realistic option for bringing this to the 33 Commission. 34 APPROVED APPROVED 11 Chair Greenfield thought they would have a discussion first and then a recommendation 1 a month or two later. 2 Playing Field Policy and Projects Ad-Hoc (Commissioners Cribbs and Freeman and 3 Chair Greenfield) – Commissioner Cribbs stated they had met several times. They had 4 made some contacts with some important experts in the field both at Stanford and the 5 City and County of San Francisco who has extensive turf playing fields and a special 6 crew of maintenance people who only do turf fields. Next up for them will be a tour to 7 look at some of the sites. The goal is to avoid some of the issues they have had in the 8 past with different vendors. The business of artificial turf is described as the Wild West 9 with people coming and going. They have created a list of questions to ask vendors and 10 received the list of questions from San Francisco they use when they go out to bid and 11 information on environmental concerns and disposal of the materials when they have to 12 be replaced. 13 Commissioner Freeman stated part of this was to make sure it was done right, look at 14 some of the long-term maintenance that will be involved and tapping into some of the 15 institutional knowledge that exists in their surrounding areas. 16 Chair Greenfield commented the focus and work plan goals of this ad-hoc were two-fold 17 and separate. The first task was working with Staff on a recommendation for how to 18 move forward with the next generation of synthetic turf field updates. They have 19 financing for that this fiscal year for El Camino Park. They are working with Staff on a 20 Staff decision and helping them make recommendations. Beyond ad-hoc updates, he did 21 not believe they needed to come to the Commission with this as a discussion item. There 22 would be no plan for this ad-hoc to present this calendar year. When they get into the 23 field policy review and potential updates, that will be appropriate to present to the full 24 Commission to weigh in on. That would happen in March or April. 25 Recreation Program Review Ad-Hoc – Commissioner Oche spoke on behalf of herself 26 and Commissioner Wei. They had a one-on-one meeting and met with the City Staff in 27 charge. They had discussions with Kayla to discuss how to best close the gaps that were 28 identified during their meeting and make the Community more inclusive because they 29 believe that part of the deliverables ad-hoc comes up with would also serve as a resource 30 for the Master Plan Ad-Hoc. They also discussed leveraging on untapped resources and 31 opportunities and find how they could make a stakeholder list and collate list of 32 volunteers to find ways to provide free and almost free programs to feel the gaps. They 33 identified a couple of target volunteers they thought would be helpful to provide skills or 34 things to help fill the gap. Part of the desired outcome from that meeting was to start an 35 analysis of what they currently have as vendors, corresponding services that are currently 36 provided and their target audience and try to see how they can fill the gaps they can see 37 from their analysis and prepare a handover doc of all the findings to the Master Plan Ad-38 APPROVED APPROVED 12 Hoc team. Their next steps will be working with Kayla to do a deeper dive. They have 1 developed a walk-back schedule. There will be more updates in the meeting next month. 2 She believed they would present the plans in November or December. 3 Chair Greenfield asked if they are looking at a single update every deliverable or if a 4 discussion item with the full Commission with the direction, they are going would be 5 appropriate. 6 Commissioner Oche expressed that she would like to circle back on that with 7 Commissioner Wei. Speaking just for herself, she thought it might help to prepare a 8 summary doc that would be an agenda item. 9 Chair Greenfield asked if the October to November timeframe at the same time the 10 Master Plan update would be happening. 11 Commissioner Oche was not sure if they had agreed on the dates for the Master Plan Ad-12 Hoc updates. 13 Chair Greenfield stated he would like to do it in October or maybe November. 14 Vice Chair Brown did not think that means this needs to present in September so they 15 could have the initial discussion update and then have the summary document from this 16 ad-hoc following that to help inform future discussion items for the Master Plan Ad-Hoc. 17 Chair Greenfield thought they were talking about multiple discussions agendized at 18 multiple meetings. 19 Commissioner Kleinhaus wanted explanation as to why volunteers needed to provide 20 their own insurance. 21 Commissioner Oche stated City Staff confirmed the volunteers had to provide their own 22 insurance and go through a vetting process set up by the City. 23 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated that put a huge hurdle in terms of doing the programs 24 they were hoping to do and was there any way the City could provide insurance for some 25 of the professionals wanting to volunteer in their own scope. 26 Commissioner Oche stated she could talk to Cayla Koga to see if it could be worked 27 around at their next meeting. 28 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated the nonprofit she works for has insurance they provide 29 for volunteers and most places require $2M or more and a person just trying to provide a 30 yoga class in the park would not have that kind of insurance and the City should find a 31 way to sponsor those things. 32 APPROVED APPROVED 13 Recreation Wellness Center Ad-Hoc – Commissioner Cribbs stated they were able to 1 schedule a meeting on July 18 with Director Kristen O’Kane who invited Peter Jensen to 2 go with her. Mr. Jensen had put together a draft discussion about criteria but also about 3 siting for the Wellness Center. Based on the conversation with Commissioners Oche and 4 Freeman and her, he went back to the drawing board overnight and brought that 5 presentation their meeting the next day. Everyone was happy with the work he had done. 6 In terms of next steps, he will be checking with a couple of people but looking forward 7 to a Zoom on September 6 at 7 p.m. for the Community and a walking tour of the site on 8 September 9 to get Community input. Based on that, it was their hope that they would 9 come back to the full Commission at the September meeting and have a discussion 10 where the goal would be to get the Commission and any Community who wants to speak 11 and get a unanimous approval to go to the Council with that goal to be to formalize the 12 agreement between the City and the Friends group. 13 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked if they were still looking at Greer Park. 14 Commissioner Cribbs answered it was various locations in Greer Park in the draft 15 presentation. If there were to be another place that pops up, they would love to look at 16 that. 17 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked how this would be advertised. 18 Mr. Anderson answered the typical notification process was through websites, updates 19 through the City Manager’s office, signage in the park and mailers to the surrounding 20 community. 21 Mr. Jensen stated the mailing area would encompass all the neighborhoods around the 22 park and they would reach out to all the neighborhood community reps to have an email 23 sent out about the meeting. 24 Chair Greenfield felt it would be appropriate to include all sports groups in the outreach 25 list. 26 Commissioner Cribbs clarified the dates she provided were draft dates. 27 Mr. Jensen answered the potential locations in Greer Park were being reviewed to make 28 sure they were 100% potential locations. He said he would have more information back 29 that week to solidify the dates. He stated the dates were a little aggressive and may slip 30 one week but the meeting would happen sometime at the beginning of September. 31 Chair Greenfield asked to hear from any liaison who would like to try to get their group 32 on a Parks and Rec Commission agenda this calendar year. 33 APPROVED APPROVED 14 Aquatics Update – Commissioner Cribbs stated they typically have an aquatics report in 1 December or January that comes from the Staff and Tim Sheeper. Mr. Sheeper reported 2 for the summer they had great success in filling the Lifeguard Camp Counselor and 3 Customer Service roles. Training the swimming instructors is the biggest challenge 4 because it requires a very special skill. He feels like there will be a bigger base of swim 5 instructors next year. He wants to do more lessons in the future and both pool space and 6 qualified instructors are limiting factors. She stated there is discussion in the Community 7 about a need for another pool in South Palo Alto. Mr. Sheeper added the Rinconada 8 Camp Level for 5 to 7-year-olds that was very popular. Through Beyond Barriers 9 Athletic Foundation, they provided a record number of scholarships for kids who could 10 not afford the price of swimming lessons. She added there is new plaster on the big pool 11 and the play pool. 12 Dog Parks Update – Vice Chair Brown gave an update on dog parks. They have been 13 meeting with multiple stakeholder groups and having conversations with the North Palo 14 Alto group on potential locations as well as conversations with Barron Park stakeholders 15 about strong Community interest in a dog park in that neighborhood. They are looking at 16 bringing back a discussion for the full Commission in September, pending Staff 17 availability to help summarize where they are at, for a recommendation from the ad-hoc 18 in terms of next steps and offer opportunity for the stakeholder groups to speak directly 19 to the Commission on their interest and clarification on the City process for getting a dog 20 park in their neighborhood. 21 Mr. Anderson said it would be helpful for Staff and liaisons to talk through that and Mr. 22 Jensen offered to participate, as well. 23 Racquet Sports Update – Commissioner Freeman gave an update on pickleball and 24 tennis evaluation. He felt pickleball seemed happy with the space at Mitchell as the 25 courts were typically very full. No individual feedback had been received from 26 individual tennis community members. They were looking at doing a survey in a month 27 or so. More tennis teams were requesting to play in Palo Alto, so they needed to possibly 28 look at a policy to require a Palo Alto resident requirement or provide the residents a 29 window to reserve prior to non-residents. That would require more information. With 30 Mitchell Park out of the equation for USTA Match Play, there were not enough tennis 31 courts to fulfill some of the USTA requests for tournaments. They have made more 32 requests for Rinconada and Cubberley but there are no bathrooms at Gunn or Paly on the 33 weekends or evenings, so they have to steer clear of those locations. Noise complaints 34 had been received from neighbors around Rinconada Park where there appears to be 35 drop-in pickleball play on some of the tennis courts and he felt they needed to come up 36 with a resolution about that. They would be surveying court usage for the next couple of 37 months and then can go over that information in the public meetings which would allow 38 APPROVED APPROVED 15 for public input. He felt they might reach out to more of the private clubs that might have 1 pickleball facilities available they might be able to use as a resource. 2 Commissioner Cribbs asked if there would be a way to work with the districts at the 3 Gunn and Paly tennis courts to either open bathrooms or provide Porta Potties. She also 4 wondered about the possibility of finding out some projected cost for lighting at 5 Cubberley of the six tennis courts and then working with the tennis community to help 6 raise the money to cover the cost of lights. 7 Golf Update – Commissioner Freeman stated it came up at the last meeting about 8 golfers not paying attention where they were walking. Golfers were being reminded to 9 either check in depending on Staff availability at the Wetland Habitat and to follow the 10 local course rule on scoring when playing is impacted by the Wetlands. Although there 11 are ropes and fencing throughout the course to aid golfers in identifying Wetland 12 Habitats, they have installed 40 signs in the last week advising of the sensitive areas to 13 keep people out. They indicated additional fencing is being added, as well. 14 Commissioner Kleinhaus inquired about the negotiations with the Water Board. 15 Commissioner Freeman answered the Water Board wants them to stay with the original 16 plan. They are trying to negotiate with the Water Board to adjust as there has been 17 additional vegetation that has grown. 18 Mr. Anderson added the request they had sent to the Water Board with their consultants’ 19 recommendations was not considered. The next step would be to sit down with Water 20 Board staff and give them what they want and show them the game plan they have. 21 Commissioner Kleinhaus inquired what is being done about the paspalum that is 22 invading the Wetlands. 23 Mr. Anderson answered that is part of what must be done in the analysis by the 24 consultant. He understood that the consultant did not find that encroachment. 25 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked if there would be any replacement or additional 26 irrigation for the trees that were planted there. 27 Mr. Anderson stated there were some replacement trees. He stated the trees never thrived 28 there because of salty soil and it has always been a challenge. He did know they had 29 adjusted some heads to irrigate trees they thought they could encourage to survive. 30 Commissioner Kleinhaus stated some of the oaks that were planted as part of the 31 reconfiguration were planted on soil that was imported but they did not seem to have 32 grown. She wondered if giving them more water would work. She did not see that the 33 canopy goal was being met. 34 APPROVED APPROVED 16 Mr. Anderson stated they continued to strive for that and taking better care of the trees 1 they have was one step and adding more where they have irrigation made sense. 2 Youth Liaison Update – Commissioner Oche updated that Commissioner Wei and she 3 had a one-on-one and met with Christopher Sanchez. They talked about the processes 4 involved and priorities for the youth. Part of what was identified was the fact that they 5 may have an area of opportunity to increase public awareness. On average, they receive 6 30 applications for the Youth Council or Teenager Advisory Board positions, but they 7 have between 2000 to 3000 high schoolers in Palo Alto. They feel that is a great 8 reflection of how many youths may not be aware or completely informed or involved. 9 They also think there is an area of opportunity to increase the diversity ratio of the youth 10 leaders. They also do not have a limit to the tenure that students can apply which puts a 11 restriction to people who are not already involved to be able to serve on the boards. They 12 put up the recommendations that using the youth might be an opportunity to fill the 13 Recreation and Summer Programs and to find a way to link the Youth Council with the 14 Age-Friendly liaison because there is a mentorship opportunity. Their next steps will be 15 to further discuss with Mr. Sanchez how they can best fill those gaps. Another area of 16 opportunity is to investigate revising the Youth Master Plan. 17 Urban Forestry Update – Chair Greenfield stated they were looking to come to the 18 Parks Commission with a review of the tree ordinance updates as had been directed by 19 City Council. The current working plan was to go to the Planning and Transportation 20 Commission in September and the Parks and Rec Commission in October. The 21 Hawthorns Stakeholder Group has been formed including 13 community members. The 22 initial meeting was last month and there is a tour on the following Saturday at the 23 Hawthorn site. The general focus is to recommend siting for trails, parking, and other 24 access points in conjunction with the Community. 25 Age Friendly Liaison Update – Commissioner Oche had a meeting with Minka van der 26 Zwaag, the Senior Community Services Manager and Adam Howard to discuss the 27 efforts that had been made so far. Since the pandemic hit, nothing concrete has been 28 done. She is hoping to get feedback from City Staff on the next steps to revive the 29 Community and make the city more age friendly. 30 Cubberley Update – Commissioner Freeman stated there were three different 31 invitations for bids for the remediation work and floor repair on the Cubberley gyms. 32 The first closed on July 28 and the bids are being reviewed. The second will go out late 33 August. The floor repair will be last. That is expected to take approximately nine months 34 to complete the work; however, even when the work is done, there will be no heat in the 35 gyms until the HVAC system is replaced. The City Council approved the project for this 36 fiscal year to replace the system but there is no timeframe on it. It will be nine months to 37 a year before Gym A and B will be available. 38 APPROVED APPROVED 17 Funding Partners Recreation Foundation Update – Commissioner Cribbs stated they 1 did not meet this summer and would meet in September. They are supporting Adam 2 Howard’s programs and providing funds as requested for the Chili Cook-Off and May 3 Fete Parade and traditional things they have done in the past. 4 Friends of the Park Update – Commissioner Cribbs stated according to Roger Smith, 5 they were looking forward to hearing about when they might open a bucket for funding 6 for the Skate Park. The thought was to wait until after the traffic parking study was done. 7 Mr. Smith was anxious to get it done because the young man who came to them with the 8 plans is now a senior at Paly and would like to see something happen before he goes off 9 to college. Mr. Smith wanted her to tell the Commission that the Friends of the Park 10 board went to the MSC Open House and thought it was terrific. 11 Sustainability Liaison Update – Commissioner Oche stated to promote sustainability 12 and help the capital improvement projects be more sustainable, resilient, and equitable, 13 she started a conversation with the Institute of Sustainability Infrastructure. She was 14 going to drop a link in case anyone wanted to find out more about them. They are 15 nonprofit and have a criteria list that most projects go through to preassess themselves. 16 She sees it as a win-win for the City because they will be able to get free training for 17 City Staff and get global awards for their projects if they qualify. She met with Jeanette 18 Serna, and they were able to review the preassessment criteria list. They discussed that it 19 was something they could leverage on. They identified good candidates for getting 20 awards. The next step would go through the preassessment checklist to see the top three 21 projects that might qualify and find out if the City is involved in progressing that further. 22 She started conversations with the ISI and Envision Team before and they were happy to 23 give a free presentation. As they are on the East Coast, she was not sure if a regular 24 monthly meeting would be appropriate. Once they would be able to give potential dates, 25 she would send that on and find a preferred time and get more information about the 26 awards. She also had a meeting with Christine Long to discuss what the City had been 27 doing about sustainability. She shared some of the priorities with her and the plan was 28 for them to have a follow-up meeting to see how she can best support the priorities and 29 see how they could add corresponding timelines to see how that could be progressed 30 forward. 31 Chair Greenfield asked if they should schedule the Youth Liaison in sometime this fall or 32 aim for next spring. 33 Mr. Anderson stated he reached out to Adam Howard to ask if they would be available 34 this October and he was open to that and would get back to them soon. 35 36 APPROVED APPROVED 18 COMMISSIONER/BOARD MEMBER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, 1 ANNOUNCEMENTS, OR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 2 3 Mr. Anderson said that potential items for September could be the Foothills Nature 4 Preserve improvements coming back for discussion and the dog park. 5 6 Chair Greenfield asked if the Wellness Center might be a potential item. 7 8 Mr. Anderson stated the Wellness Center might be but would be cutting it tight 9 depending on when the public meeting happens, but it was worthy to aim for it. 10 11 Commissioner Cribbs stated if the meetings were not early and needed to be pushed 12 back, she did not think they would have enough information to do the September 13 meeting. 14 15 Mr. Anderson also mentioned pushing for the park dedication as one with the least 16 obstacles. 17 18 ADJOURNMENT 19 20 Meeting adjourned at 9:43 P.M. 21