Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout2024-02-27 Parks & Recreation Commission Summary MinutesAPPROVED APPROVED 1 1 2 3 MINUTES 4 PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 5 REGULAR MEETING 6 February 27, 2024 7 In-Person & Virtual Conference 8 Palo Alto, California 9 10 Commissioners Present: Chair Amanda Brown, Vice Chair Nellis Freeman, Commissioners 11 Anne Cribbs, Jeff Greenfield, Shani Kleinhaus, Joy Oche, Bing Wei 12 Commissioners Absent: 13 Others Present: Council Member Vicki Veenker 14 Staff Present: Kristen O’Kane, Javod Ghods 15 16 CALL TO ORDER & ROLL CALL 17 Chair Brown called the meeting to order. A roll call was taken with seven present. 18 19 PUBLIC COMMENT 20 Winter D. provided slides discussing the nighttime lighting along Bol Park’s Creek path 21 that are mounted up high and illuminate more than the path. She discussed an alternative 22 that would achieve a balance between needed lighting and biodiversity support. She 23 asked to have the lighting issue addressed to come into compliance with Municipal Code 24 18.40.140. 25 Dolly, Palo Alto student, mentioned the recent suicide of a Gunn student stating that 26 mental health is a huge issue in Palo Alto. She declared that there has not been enough 27 done to support the youth’s mental health and provided information that school 28 counselors were committing breach of privacy. She also indicated a safe place was 29 needed for students to go to outside of school hours to get needed support. She ended 30 that more promotion of awareness is needed to destigmatization this issue. 31 32 APPROVED APPROVED 2 AGENDA CHANGES, ADDITIONS, AND DELETIONS 1 None. 2 3 APPROVAL OF MINUTES 4 1. Approval of Draft Minutes from the January 23rd, 2024, Parks and 5 Recreation Commission Special Meeting 6 Commissioner Kleinhaus commented that the minutes suggest that she said the City 7 Council should have CEQA training. She meant all commissions who work on land use 8 issues. 9 Commissioner Greenfield made a motion to approve the January 23, 2024, minutes with 10 the modification prescribed by Commissioner Kleinhaus seconded by Commissioner 11 Cribbs. The motion passed by a 6-0 roll call vote. Commissioner Freeman abstained. 12 13 CITY OFFICIAL REPORTS 14 2. Department Report 15 Kristen O’Kane, Community Services Director, gave a slide presentation discussing 16 recruitment, upcoming special events, project updates and capital improvement projects. 17 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked for an update on the mitigations for the golf course or to 18 have them added to the list. She also wanted to know of the value engineering for 19 Mitchell Dog Park would impact the trees that are expected to be planted. 20 Ms. O’Kane said she could add mitigations for the golf course to the project list. With 21 regard to Mitchell Park, she did not anticipate that trying to reduce costs would impact 22 tree planting. 23 Commissioner Wei asked if the Art Therapy for Teens is a new program and wanted to 24 know if there was data tracking how many attended and how often it would take place. 25 She would be interested in observing. 26 Ms. O’Kane answered the Art Center has offered art therapy programs before. They did 27 a quick activation of this one in light of recent events in Palo Alto trying to find 28 comfortable places for the youth and teens to go. There is not a plan for this to occur 29 regularly at the time but she would check with Karen at the Art Center and see if they 30 APPROVED APPROVED 3 have plans for additional programming. 1 Commissioner Greenfield requested more granularity on the target date for the turf 2 replacement at El Camino park. He queried if the field stakeholder had been notified 3 about the delay. He continued to be interested in the status of the construction equipment 4 at Arastradero Preserve, why it is there and when it will be removed. 5 Ms. O’Kane agreed to obtain all of that information from Lam Do and would verify that 6 the field users ad-hoc was updated. 7 Commissioner Oche wondered if there would be any information about the history of the 8 May Fete Parade on the website and if not, would it be possible to do something like that 9 commemorating the hundredth year. She asked for clarification on the date of the Teen 10 Advisory Board Escape Room. 11 Ms. O’Kane explained the whole theme of the May Fete Parade was celebrating 100 12 years of the parade. She thought having some historical photos and including people who 13 remember previous parades would be a great idea. She answered that the escape room 14 would be March 1. 15 Commissioner Wei asked how the escape room is advertised. 16 Ms. O’Kane answered they advertise through the teen leadership groups, social media 17 and the coordination with the PTA. 18 Commissioner Cribbs asked about an update on the golf mitigation and wanted to know 19 if there was anything about the letter from the First Tee or the agreement that was 20 supposed to be presented a week after the last meeting. 21 Vice Chair Freeman asked about the status of the meeting that had been scheduled with 22 First Tee that week regarding the agreement between them and the City. 23 Ms. O’Kane stated they are still in conversation with First Tee but have not been able to 24 get to the next step. She did not have a status update regarding the meeting with First 25 Tee. 26 Commissioner Kleinhaus suggested an ad-hoc for golf mitigation might be useful. 27 Vice Chair Freeman thought the plan was that he would continue working with Lam Do 28 as liaison to stay on top of those issues. He stated there has been a new consultant added 29 and they are still in the process of collecting information. 30 Ms. O’Kane assured that they are working diligently and consistently on these issues. 31 APPROVED APPROVED 4 Chair Brown allowed that it was a little gray about what items belong in the department 1 report versus the liaison ad-hoc report. She surmised it fit in the golf course liaison 2 update. 3 Vice Chair Freeman questioned if the synthetic turf delay was regarding the bid or just a 4 general delay. 5 Ms. O’Kane answered it was a delay with the design team contract. 6 Commissioner Greenfield asked if there is anything the ad-hoc could have done to help 7 avoid the situation looking toward the future. He requested an update on how the City 8 and school district are working on plans to add lighting on the pathways at Bol Park and 9 taking into consideration the lighting issues along Matadero Creek regarding what 10 direction they might go in the future. 11 Ms. O’Kane said that was a good topic to think about when talking in depth about their 12 liaisons. She added that City Manager Ed Shikada reported to Council that the City are 13 collaborating closely with the school district Project Safety Net and Momentum for 14 Health to provide mental health first aid training. She asked for time to research the 15 lighting issues and would discuss it the next month. 16 Commissioner Kleinhaus posed questions she would like to be added to that 17 investigation which included when the lights are on, if they are on all night, if the 18 attachments to the trees were according to code and the questions the public speaker had 19 about the kind of lighting they used and whether it could be replaced. 20 21 BUSINESS 22 3. Recreation Wellness Center Update – Kristen O’Kane – Discussion – (60 min) 23 Ms. O’Kane presented slides discussing the Recreation Wellness Center update covering 24 why Palo Alto needs a gym and topics of review. 25 Commissioner Cribbs talked about slides detailing the Friends of the Palo Alto 26 Recreation and Wellness Center including a list of board members. 27 Ms. O’Kane then showed slides about project/partnership goals, steps to achieving the 28 goals, location selection process and approval, initial site review, Cubberley Community 29 Center, current status, current uses at Cubberley, master planning and project next steps. 30 Penny Ellson discussed Cubberley versus Greer for the Wellness Center site. She 31 suggested having a bond measure for both. 32 APPROVED APPROVED 5 Deborah Simon, Chairperson of Friends of Cubberley, declared that the Friends of 1 Cubberley believe strongly that the Wellness Center should be located at Cubberley for 2 all the reasons mentioned by Ms. Ellson in addition to the fact that South Palo Alto is 3 lagging behind the other areas of Palo Alto in terms of resources and facilities. 4 Monica Williams, Cofounder of the Palo Alto Pickleball Club, expressed the club’s 5 support for a Palo Alto Gym and Wellness Center and hoped the project would be 6 prioritized. 7 Commissioner Wei wondered what the process would be for identifying the site and why 8 it was taking so long. She asked for a timeline regarding fundraising. 9 Ms. O’Kane listed reasons to be staff time and the importance in seeing how the 10 Cubberley negotiations go with the school district. She stated the fundraising cannot start 11 until they know what the project is and there is a letter of intent between the Friends and 12 the City. 13 Vice Chair Freeman added the ad-hoc has been very much involved working with the 14 Friends group. He thought Cubberley as a site was still in the mix. He stated the 15 infrastructure planning would add to the timeline. He believed they were getting close to 16 a decision on the site. 17 Commissioner Oche supported the idea of having both Cubberley and Greer Park. She 18 thought clarification was needed on the timeline for the space at Cubberley. 19 Commissioner Cribbs stated the Friends are agnostic about where the site is but were 20 anxious about getting involved with Cubberley if it would be 10 years. 21 Commissioner Kleinhaus discussed the loss of open space if Greer was chosen. She felt 22 Cubberley was the better choice. 23 Commissioner Greenfield thought it would be helpful to understand what the timeframe 24 would be for getting more clarity on the potential for Cubberley in the near term. He also 25 posed the question about the potential vision for a gym and/or gym wellness center at 26 both Cubberley and Greer Park. He hoped a detailed summary report of the feedback 27 from the community meeting could be shared with the full commission soon. Regarding 28 site C, he asked if parking along Amarillo would take park space. He talked about a 29 concern about adding parking geared toward Greer Park Recreation Center being 30 available for Greer Park to use. He questioned if the dog run would be impacted by the 31 plan. He expressed concern about the proximity of the site to residences. 32 Commissioner Cribbs’ understanding was that the parking would use the street and not 33 the park. She stated the dog park is scheduled for renovation soon. She added that the 34 APPROVED APPROVED 6 building they were contemplating is 0.7 acres and the acreage of Greer Park is 22 acres 1 altogether. Adding parking would bring the whole site to about 1.7 acres. They had 2 talked about 8 acres in Cubberley. It was her understanding that the ad-hoc committee 3 from the Council and school district talked about an additional 7 acres being added to the 4 8 acres bringing 15 acres to work with at Cubberley. She thought that was land that has 5 buildings on it and that the grass playing fields at Cubberley needed to be protected in 6 case the school district wants to build a high school in 20 years. She said that having 7 both Cubberley and Greer had been talked about and it was thought that both facilities 8 could be used. 9 Council Member Veenker confirmed they owned the 8 acres and could go forward with 10 those. The needed acreage has not be predetermined and could not be used to affect a 11 decision at this time. 12 Chair Brown advised erring on the side of overcommunicating with the community. She 13 expressed curiosity about the ad-hoc’s views on next steps. She queried if there would be 14 benefit to providing and option A and B and moving forward without a site set in stone. 15 Ms. O’Kane was concerned that Council would not feel like they could make a decision 16 without knowing where the Cubberley negotiations are. She agreed a wellness center 17 could be put on 8 acres. She was going to discuss whether that would be a better path 18 forward. 19 20 4. Recreation Program Review Update – Recreation Programs Liaisons – 21 Discussion – (60 min) 22 Commissioner Wei gave a slide presentation updating the Recreation Program Review to 23 include an executive summary, the overall process for the ad-hoc team and staff, Enjoy 24 programs, comparison of City of Mountain View programs and Menlo Park and Los 25 Altos activity guide, solutions and suggestions and the next steps and action plans. 26 Commissioner Oche added she wanted to find a way to incorporate mentorship between 27 seniors and youth. She believed identifying and getting feedback from the major 28 stakeholders would be the first step to get started. She suggested the possibility of doing 29 a survey. 30 Chair Brown said she looked forward to a report of recommendations and best practices. 31 She wanted to make sure they capture all of the ideas that are specific to programming, 32 who to talk to and how things are done but be mindful that they stay in their lane as a 33 commission of advising on policy general areas. She encouraged looking beyond 34 APPROVED APPROVED 7 geographic neighbors at other communities throughout the state with similar 1 demographics or needs. 2 Vice Chair Freeman was interested in knowing how many youth they had coming in 3 from other cities adding to the waitlist. He suggested also looking at partnerships that 4 can be made with some of the nonprofit clubs. 5 Commissioner Kleinhaus thought the biggest hurdle was how to bring the generations 6 together in a way they would actually want to be together. She suggested doing some 7 speed date games for adults and youth to identify things they have in common. 8 Commissioner Wei thought they could pair retirees and youth for an hour or two at the 9 May Fete after lunch. 10 Commissioner Greenfield discussed the importance of all working together with the 11 same goals to serve the community. He suggested working with existing senior 12 communities putting out feelers to see what resources are available and what interest is 13 there, working with the teen advisory committee, reaching out to other youth 14 organizations and schools and considering reaching out to Youth Community Services. 15 Commissioner Cribbs mentioned adding Canopy on the list of people to convene. 16 Ms. O’Kane stated more research could be done with the partner cities that already have 17 senior centers in place. She commented that the waitlists for a lot of the summer 18 programs are driven by space, staff and budget issues and they are looking at proposing 19 additional funds to support reaching more kids in the community for fiscal year 2025. 20 Commissioner Wei referred to Camp Connection advertised in Palo Alto Weekly and 21 asked if they could collaborate with them to send residents out instead of adding more 22 work for City Staff. 23 Ms. O’Kane answered they are familiar with Camp Connections and have advertised in 24 that in the past. She discussed things that they offer at their camps that are not available 25 in other locations. 26 Commissioner Wei suggested having a QR code upload to include the calendar for Palo 27 Alto activities but also redirect to nearby camps. 28 Commissioner Oche wondered if it would be possible to get more detail on the waitlist 29 so they could look at the trends. She was also careful with the fact that if they want to do 30 partnerships with people who have similar programs that it would not affect their own 31 programming. She asked if the City would provide insurance for people who volunteer. 32 She asked if there are opportunities to consider alternative spaces and scale the same 33 programming in another location, possibly the Friends of the Junior Museum Zoo. 34 APPROVED APPROVED 8 Ms. O’Kane stated she would have to talk to the risk managers about providing 1 insurance. She said they could share the data. She felt like it was getting into the weeds 2 of operations of how the department functions and it takes Staff time to collect the data. 3 She added there are also less popular camps that do not have waitlists. They do outreach 4 to parents offering those options. 5 Commissioner Oche declared that she was never able to get the programs she wanted and 6 was never informed of alternatives. She reiterated if data was available to reflect trends, 7 they could make better choices and decisions going forward. 8 Ms. O’Kane outlined which programs have high waitlists. 9 Commissioner Wei felt the oversubscribing had to do with awareness in knowing where 10 the programs are. 11 Commissioner Greenfield said it would not be feasible to scale up some of the special 12 programs because they have special infrastructure. He thought they need to look at ways 13 to improve the access to signing up. 14 Ms. O’Kane discussed research that is being done to rectify the equity issue in 15 registering online. 16 17 5. Ad Hoc Committees and Liaison Updates – Chair – Discussion – (15 min) 18 Commissioner Greenfield talked about the Playing Field Policy and Projects ad-hoc. 19 They previously focused on helping with the artificial turf selection. For this calendar 20 year, they would focus on a review of the field policy. The tennis courts policy was also 21 associated in the same policy and work is being done to update that to the racquetball 22 policy. There has been talk about potentially looking at both field policy and the tennis 23 court/racquet users policy. They want to focus on the field policy for this cycle and then 24 focus the next cycle on looking at the racquet/tennis court policy. He hoped to bring an 25 update within the next couple of months. 26 Vice Chair Freeman provided a golf update. He is scheduled to meet with Lam Do by the 27 next week regarding the agreement between the City and First Tee. He hoped to have a 28 progress report at the next PRC meeting. Mr. Do had indicated that golf operations have 29 been impacted by the weather. They are working with a different ecologist on the 30 Wetlands strategy on getting back into compliance. Part of that process is reviewing 31 historical documentation and preparing a plan to help the City work with the Water 32 Board. The goal is to get into compliance in the next two to three months and have a 33 written developed plan for the Water Board. He will continue to follow up on that. 34 APPROVED APPROVED 9 Commissioner Kleinhaus asked if a presentation could be agendized to provide visibility 1 of what will be proposed to come into compliance. 2 Ms. O’Kane thought the right time to share that would be when they have a proposal 3 approved by the Water Board. Their goal is to have a plan approved in the next two to 4 three months that will get them into compliance. 5 Commissioner Cribbs queried if there is any way to have a date for when the letter would 6 arrive regarding First Tee. 7 Commissioner Greenfield gave an update on the Tree Ordinance. It originally passed 8 City Council on a 5-2 vote but failed to receive a majority vote at a second reading. It 9 will return to City Council on March 18. He added the next meeting of the Hawthorns 10 Public Area Working Group would be Thursday evening at the Midpen Headquarters on 11 the Los Altos side of El Camino. 12 13 14 COMMISSIONER/BOARD MEMBER QUESTIONS, COMMENTS, 15 ANNOUNCEMENTS, OR FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS 16 17 Commissioner Cribbs announced that March 18 to 24 is the first ever National Senior 18 Games Week in the United States. The Bay Area Senior Games Swim Meet will be held 19 at Rinconada Pool on March 24th and it is open to anyone 50 and older. She hoped the 20 Commission would keep track of the week and go to the swimming meet. 21 22 Commissioner Greenfield expressed desire to get a follow-up summary and feedback 23 from Transportation Staff on the BPTC Plan. He would be happy to get involved in his 24 role as the Safe Routes liaison to work with Staff on understanding the schedule and 25 timeframe for coming back to the Parks Commission and now to better understand how 26 the feedback received had been summarized and how they can build upon that in future 27 meetings. 28 29 Ms. O’Kane offered to talk offline about that. 30 31 Chair Brown stated the timeframe they were shooting for was March. It was her 32 understanding that the first time they went was informational and the next time she 33 hoped they would have more information as well as clear ask on what the Commission’s 34 role is. She discussed having the E-bike ad-hoc providing at least and informational 35 update on where they stand to date for the March agenda. 36 37 APPROVED APPROVED 10 Ms. O’Kane announced that in March there would be a presentation from Stanford 1 having to do with a project at the Quarry Road Transit Center adjacent to El Camino 2 Park. She added there would be some follow-up work related to the E-bikes because 3 there has been some discussion that the Council motion may not necessarily be the same 4 as what the Commission ad-hoc is working on. 5 6 Commissioner Greenfield felt it was important for the ad-hoc to share with the full 7 Commission where they are right now. 8 9 Commissioner Kleinhaus commented they could present what they have done and then 10 wait until Staff comes back with their clarity as to what they should continue with. 11 12 Council Member Veenker agreed it was up to Council and Staff to make sure the ask was 13 being properly communicated and that could be sorted out before the next meeting. She 14 stressed the importance of clarity on what is responsive to the referral and what is not 15 when it is presented. 16 17 Ms. O’Kane stated that the Tower Well Park Dedication is being heard as an action item 18 on March 4. 19 20 Council Member Veenker wanted to make an adjustment to Commissioner Greenfield’s 21 report about the Tree Ordinance in that it was pulled from consent, and it will go back to 22 be addressed in the future. 23 24 25 ADJOURNMENT 26 27 Meeting adjourned at 9:36 P.M 28