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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2023-11-28 Parks & Recreation Commission Summary MinutesDRAFT DRAFT 1 1 2 3 MINUTES 4 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 5 REGULAR MEETING 6 November 28, 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, Bing Wei 12 Commissioners Absent: 13 Others Present: 14 Staff Present: Daren Anderson, Javod Ghods 15 16 CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL 17 Chair Greenfield called the meeting to order and asked for a roll call with seven present.18 19 PUBLIC COMMENT 20 None. 21 AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS 22 None. 23 CITY OFFICIAL REPORTS 24 1. Department Report 25 Daren Anderson, Assistant Director of Community Services, gave a slide presentation 26 providing updates regarding recruitment updates, the Enjoy! – catalog registration, 27 recreation programs and events, Grassroot Ecology programs, Environmental Volunteers 28 events, project updates, Capital Improvement projects and Nature Notes – Western 29 Fence Lizard. He announced that he would be retiring from the City and shared a slide 30 presentation highlighting some of the projects he had been involved with. 31 DRAFT DRAFT 2 Commissioner Kleinhaus thought the fact that the Western Fence Lizard is not found in 1 the parks might mean the parks are over manicured. 2 BUSINESS 3 2. Palo Alto Historical Association (PAHA) Update – Steve Staiger – Discussion – 4 (40 min) 5 Steve Staiger, City Historian, started with a history of the Palo Alto Historical 6 Association and the services it provides. He discussed plans for the museum including 7 the bathroom that would serve Heritage Park. He talked about the role of the Historical 8 Association in naming parks and streets. He stated the Historical Association consists of 9 a couple of hundred paying members, two staff members and a board of 15 or 16 10 volunteers with a generous budget allowing them to do publications when a need comes 11 up. 12 Commissioner Wei was curious how the Historical Museum works with the Palo Alto 13 Youth Council to educate the youth of Palo Alto history. 14 Mr. Staiger answered they have their own youth group they share stories with. 15 Commissioner Wei wondered if this program could be put in the Enjoy! – catalog. 16 Mr. Staiger said there is another organization called Palo Alto Stanford Heritage whose 17 interest is in the physical presence and history of buildings and houses that does a series 18 of walking tours of the Stanford Campus and communities in Palo Alto. 19 Commissioner Kleinhaus wanted to know if there were any photographs of Palo Alto at 20 night. She was interested in when street lights started spreading. She asked if they also 21 collected City documents such as planning documents and environmental impact reports. 22 Mr. Staiger said they have some with the helicopter flying around during Mediterranean 23 Fruit Fly spraying in the ‘80s. He did not know when street lights were installed. He 24 stated they accept any photograph that can be identified as Palo Alto and they are all 25 cataloged on the website. He said they do collect some City documents with special 26 historical significance. 27 Commissioner Oche was curious to know if they keep a track of the number of visitors 28 they have and if he had noticed any trends. She wondered if there is something they 29 could do to acknowledge and celebrate the celebrities that were from Palo Alto. She 30 wanted to see if there is an opportunity to publicize the work they are doing to residents. 31 She asked if they have documentaries or short clips of people who have lived there or 32 major events. 33 DRAFT DRAFT 3 Mr. Staiger said the four to five years ago the Board said they did not need that anymore 1 so they do not but he felt it would be useful. He said if there was an opportunity that 2 someone who was from Palo Alto was returning, they could find out information about 3 them. He stated they film their Sunday afternoon program and it is shown on one of the 4 cable stations and a copy goes into the archives. They are working with the children’s 5 theater and archiving videos of their old plays from the ‘30s and up. 6 Chair Greenfield asked Mr. Staiger if he could highlight a few of the interesting items 7 included in the archives. He asked how the Commission could help with a revision of the 8 Parks of Palo Alto Handbook. 9 Mr. Staiger described a couple of items stating there is a difference between the archives 10 and the museum. They collect archival material such as photographs, maps and books. 11 The museum is beginning to collect things. He described some things they have in the 12 collection. 13 Mr. Anderson said he would happily volunteer to help with a revision of the Parks of 14 Palo Alto Handbook and suggested the possibility of forming an ad-hoc and having the 15 Commission get involved. 16 Chair Greenfield asked if Mr. Staiger could give more information about where they are 17 at Cubberley and their hours. 18 Mr. Staiger described their location and the hours they are open. 19 Commissioner Freeman questioned how to go about collecting historical information 20 from individuals. He wanted to know if the History Museum would be free admission. 21 Mr. Staiger answered they get material from the Friends of the Library, donations from 22 individuals, etc. He stated the City required admission to the History Museum to be free. 23 24 3. Park Dedication of the Historic Water Well Site – Daren Anderson – Action – (40 25 min) 26 Daren Anderson, Assistant Director of Community Services, presented an action item to 27 recommend that City Council adopt a park dedication ordinance for the Tower Well site 28 and to approve the proposed name, Tower Well Park. He provided a presentation with a 29 reminder of what the Park Dedication Ordinance does, the Tower Well site location and 30 amenities of the park with pictures. He described the PRC park dedication discussion 31 from October 24, the costs that would entail and the existing cost of maintenance of the 32 site. He discussed the process of naming the park. He described the next steps in the 33 process being bringing it to Council in January or February. 34 DRAFT DRAFT 4 Commissioner Oche wanted to know if an assessment of the area had been done. 1 Mr. Anderson said the facilities have worked on it in the past. The base building adjacent 2 to the tower needs restoration work, the roof in particular. Whether it is dedicated or not, 3 City Staff will work on that. 4 Commissioner Wei discussed the possibility of restoration of the park and the 5 significance of the planned name. She had an idea of making it a meditative space with a 6 water fountain. She thought it would be interesting to get public comments and ideas. 7 Mr. Anderson answered that money for rehabilitation would depend on the nature and 8 cost and described different scenarios. He added there are no renovation plans in place at 9 this time but the Commission could suggest it. He discussed how the name was chosen. 10 Commissioner Freeman asked if an environmental study has been conducted on that 11 property. 12 Mr. Anderson was not aware of an environmental study. The amenities had been added 13 in 2000 to make it more attractive. He thought they would want to honor the historical 14 nature of the site and his suggestion was that any improvements done would be 15 respectful and consistent with that. He thought the landscaping is ready for a refresh to 16 be made more attractive. He said that would be a separate conversation from dedication 17 that Commission would bring to Staff who would do a Community meeting to see what 18 interest they would have. 19 Chair Greenfield asked how the refresh would be considered if it were not dedicated park 20 land and he supposed Parks and Recreation Commission would not have purview to 21 recommend a refresh if not. 22 Mr. Anderson stated they would welcome any feedback from the Commission and that 23 would be a conversation between Community Services and the Utilities Department. 24 Chair Greenfield made a motion to move forward with recommending that City Council 25 adopt a Park Dedication Ordinance for the Tower Well site, 0.19 acres of land (8,437 26 square feet) at 201 Alma Street and approve the proposed name, “Tower Well Park”. 27 Commissioner Freeman seconded the motion. The motion passed by a 7-0 roll call vote. 28 29 4. Update on Review of Park Master Plan Chapter 4 and 5: Priorities and 30 Implementation of Programs and Projects– Master Plan Ad Hoc – Discussion – (60 31 min) 32 DRAFT DRAFT 5 Vice Chair Brown provided a status update via slide presentation on the efforts to review 1 the Master Plan Document. Slides included an overview of the document, ad-hoc 2 committee goals, process, action plan spreadsheet review, prioritization of 3 implementation, status dashboard of projects, examples of project buckets and the next 4 steps. 5 Chair Greenfield further discussed the process in preparing the Master Plan priorities and 6 projects. 7 Commissioner Cribbs asked if there is money in the budget to hire consultants or is this 8 just being taken on by the Commission. 9 Chair Greenfield was not aware of any funds earmarked for assistance with it. 10 Mr. Anderson stated funds might be obtained through the Capital Program or Operating 11 Fund Request for a given program they wanted to highlight and push forward. 12 Commissioner Freeman wondered if they could be more specific on the status update. 13 Chair Greenfield discussed what was meant by ongoing and they could look to see what 14 other status they could use in addition to ongoing. He suggested adding columns for 15 work that has been completed and other projects that are planned or pending. 16 Commissioner Kleinhaus added a lot of things do not have a distinct measuring point and 17 they needed to think about how to make it clearer. 18 Commissioner Freeman agreed there should be a project start date and end date 19 associated with it. 20 Commissioner Kleinhaus made a point that what was decided on in 2017 maybe not be 21 as important currently. 22 Commissioner Cribbs wondered if something should be added to the Master Plan about 23 the housing element that is coming to all the cities and would need recreation facilities. 24 She asked if there is a column that could be used for successes achieved to date. 25 Commissioner Oche talked about tracking project management in order to have a holistic 26 picture of the goals being met and the expected outcomes. 27 Chair Greenfield thought it would be helpful to compile a list of best practices associated 28 with the various buckets and share it with outside departments. 29 Commissioner Oche wondered how they would get feedback from the Community or 30 residents and create more awareness when they decide to adopt any changes. 31 DRAFT DRAFT 6 Chair Greenfield stated they need to understand what changes they would be looking to 1 make and what the process would be, as well, before asking for Community feedback. 2 Commissioner Wei wanted part of the Master Plan to be using parks as a relaxing, 3 meditation and healing place for the youth. 4 Commissioner Cribbs wanted clarification on how an individual should provide 5 comments to the ad-hoc with regard to the Brown Act. 6 Chair Greenfield said they would need to be shared at a meeting. 7 8 5. Ad Hoc Committees and Liaison Updates – Chair Greenfield – Discussion (15 9 min) 10 Commissioner Oche talked about the Recreation Programs where they started a journey 11 to review the Enjoy! – catalog for 2023. They were hoping to work with Cayla Koga to 12 be able to check what trends are and bring a presentation to the Commission in January 13 with a presentation. 14 Commissioner Wei stated they were looking at existing programs and resources they 15 could leverage to enhance the Recreation Program and discussed some of their plans for 16 the program and the Enjoy! – catalog. 17 Commissioner Kleinhaus talked about bicycles. She said they looked for locations for 18 parking in the Baylands and Arastradero and they would come back with recommended 19 additional parking for bicycles. She stated some of the places in Arastradero are remote 20 and people do not like to leave expensive bikes unattended in remote areas. At City 21 Council’s direction, they looked at some of the narrow trails at Arastradero to determine 22 if they should limit access to bicycles and horses but they felt there was no reason to do 23 that. She said they were still waiting for feedback from Staff on a few things but are 24 close to being done. 25 Chair Greenfield asked if they had done any outreach with PABAC. 26 Commissioner Kleinhaus answered they could figure out how to do that before coming 27 back. 28 Mr. Anderson stated so far they had just focused on Staff and the ad-hoc. They could 29 reach out to Transportation Staff who could connect them with the appropriate people in 30 PABAC. 31 DRAFT DRAFT 7 Commissioner Kleinhaus added from discussion with Staff regarding restrictions on 1 electric bikes, there did not seem to be a problem with people trying to ride their electric 2 bikes on the trails. 3 Commissioner Freeman stated they hoped to be able to present something to the 4 Commission in the February timeframe. 5 Commssioner Cribbs gave an update for the ad-hoc for Recreation and Wellness Facility. 6 The goal is to have a Community meeting in January on the 17th or 18th followed by a 7 report to the Commission for the Commission meeting in January. Questions still remain 8 about whether it will be in person or by Zoom, where it will be or if it could be a joint 9 program. She discussed extending the pilot program for pickleball and reviewing it in the 10 next couple of months. There is a question about Fletcher Middle School and whether 11 they can move to paint pickleball lines on the courts there. They will be working with 12 Adam on the outreach for the joint tennis and pickleball Community Committee that 13 should start being formed next January or February. She talked about grants stating that 14 they had chosen three projects to share with the Silicon Valley Community Foundation 15 about which projects they would identify if they were to find money and gave them a 16 couple of possibilities to include the Interpretive Center at Foothill Preserve, Buckeye 17 Creek restoration and the possibility of enhancing the bathrooms at the Magical Bridge 18 and the pickleball courts in Mitchell Park. They are finding out how much time it takes 19 to write the grants and have the Staff to follow them up and do reports on grants. They 20 continue to look for possibilities. She did not think they were close to having a 21 presentation for the full Commission yet. 22 Commissioner Wei expressed curiosity if they could get information from the consultant 23 that works with the City so there is no duplication. 24 Mr. Anderson stated he had checked with Director Kristen O’Kane who shared some 25 feedback that he had passed on but he did not get a master spreadsheet from them. He 26 would ask again and see if it is there. 27 Commissioner Cribbs added Palo Alto Recreation Foundation and the Friends of the 28 Parks are working to see how the skatepark turns out and seeing if they can help with 29 some of the activities on Cal Ave. 30 Chair Greenfield mentioned the work Staff has completed in terms of moving forward 31 with a plan for turf replacement at El Camino Park. They have a direction and timeline 32 of March through May timeframe for El Camino and July-August-September for 33 Mayfield. 34 Commissioner Cribbs stated they did not know much about any progress with the First 35 Tee agreements between the golf course. 36 DRAFT DRAFT 8 Commissioner Freeman reported Lam had indicated the hold up was a lack of resources 1 on their end and committed to trying to work that back into the queue so they would 2 hopefully be able to provide more progress at the next meeting. Regarding playing fields, 3 he added Mark Ribeiro has done a good job reaching out to the baseball community and 4 working with them on what their needs are and being proactive. 5 Chair Greenfield commented on the Hawthorns and Midpen Open Space planning. There 6 have been ongoing meetings with the public access working group working toward 7 coming up with plans that will include what type of access and what type of trails to 8 develop. One of their main goals is related to trail interconnectivity with the Palo Alto 9 Open Space areas. That is way down the line due to access issues. 10 11 12 COMMISSIONER/BOARD MEMBER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, 13 ANNOUNCEMENTS, OR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 14 15 Commissioner Freeman suggested having a member of the Children’s Museum present 16 to them about some of the challenges they are faced with so they could provide support 17 to them and possibly be a liaison for them. 18 19 Mr. Anderson stated the Junior Museum and Zoo has traditionally been outside of their 20 purview. He stated he could follow up with the JMZ director and do more research to see 21 what level of involvement they could have. He said for the December meeting they will 22 have the Capital Improvement Plan presentation by Lam Do, who would meet with the 23 ad-hoc from the Parks Master Plan in advance. E-bike might not be ready if they plan to 24 incorporate PABAC’s feedback but they could try. He would be glad to have the 25 supervising rangers. 26 27 Commissioner Kleinhaus said she could try to call in but she preferred not to have the 28 meeting until January or February. 29 30 Commissioner Freeman said they were thinking more February. 31 32 Chair Greenfield thought they should look to see if they could get aquatics and golf in 33 for December. 34 35 Commissioner Cribbs questioned if they could specifically ask about golf programs for 36 the Community for seniors and kids and also the plans for replacing trees and doing 37 whatever they need to do with Valley Water along with the budget. 38 39 DRAFT DRAFT 9 Mr. Anderson answered he would be glad to check with Staff in charge of golf and 1 aquatics and see if that is something they can do. 2 3 Commissioner Kleinhaus requested an update on the status of the mitigations and if they 4 can plant more trees. 5 6 Chair Greenfield asked if that would be a separate agenda item from the golf update and 7 programs. 8 9 Mr. Anderson stated it would potentially be separate. 10 11 Chair Greenfield wondered about First Tee. 12 13 Mr. Anderson answered he would be surprised if First Tee and all the golf things they 14 have described would be ready for December 19 but he would check. He thought 15 aquatics would be more likely to be on the December agenda. 16 17 Commissioner Freeman has had some update on the State Water Board and the wetlands 18 but they could use communication regarding the timeline. He also mentioned the 19 removal of nonnative weeds. They are seeking the services of the Conservation Corps to 20 help with that so part of that would be the timeline and what specific services being 21 requested. 22 23 Mr. Anderson stated he would check to see if golf would be feasible but he did not think 24 it would. He added he would be glad to have one of his colleagues meet with the Chair 25 and Vice Chair to do advanced agenda planning. 26 27 Chair Greenfield said they should get on that the next week since it is a short cycle. 28 29 Commissioner Cribbs added there is always dogs and restrooms in different places. She 30 continued to wonder if somehow the Commission could have a discussion between the 31 kind of use of shared facilities between the school district, the City and Stanford. She 32 thought trying to maximize the use of the resources they have would be good. 33 34 Chair Greenfield thought pulling that into the December meeting might be a tall ask. He 35 asked Mr. Anderson if that could happen as part of a Staff report at some point in the 36 future or some sort of ad-hoc focus working with Staff in the background. 37 38 Mr. Anderson thought maybe between the Staff reports including discussions, potential 39 connections on that issue and an ad-hoc forming to focus in what the highest priorities 40 could be for a realistic partnership with PAUSD. 41 42 DRAFT DRAFT 10 Chair Greenfield thought a good starting point might be a presentation to the 1 Commission on the current partnerships and successes. 2 3 Commissioner Cribbs thought it would be great to hear what they are currently doing and 4 if there are possibilities in the future around swimming pools and the use of tennis 5 courts, trying to extend the hours by adding Porta Potties. She added she would love to 6 see them be able to hire a consultant to do a gender equity study of their programs for 7 boys and girls in the sports programs facilities. 8 9 Chair Greenfield asked Mr. Anderson if Adam would be able to present something on 10 existing partnerships along with the aquatics presentation next month. 11 12 Mr. Anderson said other areas within CSD partner with the school district in different 13 ways and programs. He did not know if he could have that ready for December but he 14 could do outreach to understand the basics of it. 15 16 ADJOURNMENT 17 18 Meeting adjourned at 9:55 P.M. 19