HomeMy WebLinkAbout2018-06-26 Parks & Recreation Agenda PacketADA. The City of Palo Alto does not discriminate against individuals with disabilities. To request accommodations, auxiliary aids or services to access City facilities, services or programs, to participate at public meetings, or to learn about the City's compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990, may contact 650-329-2550 (voice), or e-mail ada@cityofpaloalto.org This agenda is posted in accordance with government code section 54954.2(a) or section 54956. Members of the public are welcome to attend this public meeting.
AGENDA IS POSTED IN ACCORDANCE
WITH GOVERNMENT CODE SECTION
54954.2(a) OR SECTION 54956 PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION Regular Meeting June 26th, 2018 AGENDA
City Hall Chambers
250 Hamilton 7pm *In accordance with SB 343 materials related to an item on this Agenda submitted to the Commission after distribution of the agenda packet are available for public inspection at the Lucie Stern Community Center at 1305 Middlefield Road during normal business hours. Please call 650-463-4912.
Attention Speakers: If you wish to address the Commission during oral communications or on an item on the agenda,
please complete a speaker’s card and give it to City staff. By submitting the speaker’s card, the Chair will recognize you at
the appropriate time.
I.ROLL CALL
II.AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, DELETIONS
III.ORAL COMMUNICATIONS
Members of the public may address the Commission on any subject not on the agenda. A reasonable time restriction may be imposed at the discretion of the Chair. The Commission reserves the right to limit oral communications period to 3 minutes.
IV.DEPARTMENT REPORT
V.BUSINESS
1.Approval of Draft Minutes from the April 24th, 2018 Parks and Recreation Commission
Meeting – PRC Chair McDougall – Action (5 min) ATTACHMENT
2.Renzel Pond Project Update – Karin North – Discussion (30 min) ATTACHMENT
3.Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan – Daren Anderson – Discussion (45 min)
ATTACHMENT
4.Boulware Park Update – Peter Jensen – Discussion (30 min) ATTACHMENT
5.Other Ad Hoc Committee and Liaison Updates – Chair - Discussion (15 min)
VI.COMMENTS AND ANNOUCEMENTS
VII.TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR JULY 24, 2018 MEETING
VIII.ADJOURNMENT
DRAFT
Draft Minutes 1
1
2
3
4
MINUTES 5
PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION 6
REGULAR MEETING 7
April 24, 2018 8
CITY HALL 9 250 Hamilton Avenue 10 Palo Alto, California 11 12 Commissioners Present: Anne Cribbs, Jeff Greenfield, Jeff LaMere, Ryan McCauley (arrived 13
at 8:29 p.m.), Don McDougall, David Moss, and Keith Reckdahl 14
Commissioners Absent: 15
Others Present: 16
Staff Present: Daren Anderson, Kristen O'Kane, Natalie Khwaja 17
I. ROLL CALL 18
II. AGENDA CHANGES, REQUESTS, and DELETIONS 19
Chair McDougall: Are there any changes, additions, comments on the agenda? Kristen. 20
Kristen O'Kane: The only comment I wanted to make is under Number 7, the tentative 21
agenda for May 29th. That should be May 22nd. 22
III. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 23
Chair McDougall: The next thing is Oral Communications. Oral Communications are 24
topics that are not on the agenda this evening. I have two cards, one talking about airplane 25 noise, one talking about the tennis courts. If Mark Shull is here. 26
Male: (inaudible) 27
Chair McDougall: I think we would conceded that airplane noise is something we have 28
little or no influence over in the Parks Department. Thank you. Robin Cook, would you 29
like to speak now? Are tennis courts on the—yes, Item Number 5. We'll do this later then. 30
Thank you. 31
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IV. DEPARTMENT REPORT 1
Chair McDougall: The next thing, Department Report. 2
Ms. O'Kane: Chair McDougall, if I could comment. Since we do have people here to talk 3
about the pickleball and tennis courts, do we want to keep the agenda as is? 4
Chair McDougall: I would be quite happy to adjust the agenda and move the pickleball 5
discussion up. I'm sure Adam wouldn't mind either. We should have the comments first 6 and then the discussion? 7
Ms. O'Kane: I don't think we should move it right away only because there could be some 8
people that are still coming. Maybe we could move it before the temporary lighting at 9
Cubberley. 10
Chair McDougall: Make 5, 4 and just change the two of them. Thank you for that 11
suggestion. Department Report. 12
Mr. Anderson: Good evening. Daren Anderson with Open Space, Parks, and Golf. I've 13
got a few brief updates for you. We mentioned at the last Commission meeting that we're 14
working on the Cubberley bleachers. That repair has moved on. That was done almost 15
entirely with in-house staff. We saved quite a bit of money over replacing the entire 16
bleachers; we swapped out all the hardware and all the wood, painted it ourselves, and 17
replaced the fencing on it. That's the next step. It'll be completed and open to the public 18
on May 4th is our game plan for that. The Peers Park dog park, we're excited about that 19
one. We started construction last week, and it's moving forward. We anticipate about 4 20
more weeks, and we should have the first new dog park in Palo Alto in about 25 years. 21
Commissioner Cribbs: Could I ask a question about that now? 22
Chair McDougall: Yes, please. 23
Commissioner Cribbs: Thank you. Daren, what's the crew like that's working on that? 24
How many people do we use and utilize? 25
Mr. Anderson: This one's a contract running—it's a contractor named Loza Construction 26 that's doing the project. It varies per day on how many people they've got out. When 27 they're setting posts—I think I saw a three-person crew the other day. 28
Commissioner Cribbs: They're on a timeline to be finished? 29
Mr. Anderson: Yeah, in about 4 weeks we anticipate. 30
Commissioner Cribbs: Thank you. 31
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Mr. Anderson: Some of that is not necessarily them doing construction. Some of the delay 1
is waiting for the materials to come in. The amenities is usually one of the portions of our 2
wait time. We ordered it as soon as the money was available and the plan was approved, 3
but sometimes there's a little wait associated with that. By that, I mean drinking fountains 4
and that kind of stuff. 5
Commissioner Cribbs: Would we open before the amenities are here? 6
Mr. Anderson: No, we'll wait until everything's installed. 7
Commissioner Cribbs: It's going to be all done-done? 8
Mr. Anderson: Yeah. A little update … 9
Chair McDougall: If I can continue on that just for one second. I assume there's some sort 10
of communications plan to let dog owners and everybody know about that. 11
Mr. Anderson: Yes. 12
Chair McDougall: I don't think we need to understand that now. 13
Mr. Anderson: Through our, gosh, almost a decade now, of reaching out to dog owners, 14
I've got a pretty good distribution list along with Howard Hoffman, who's been a great 15
partner. He's the president of the Palo Alto Dog Owners Association. We rely on him 16
quite a bit for spreading the word. 17
Commissioner Cribbs: I think we should have a celebration … 18
Mr. Anderson: I love that idea. 19
Commissioner Cribbs: … with dog biscuits. 20
Mr. Anderson: That's a great idea. Another project, this one is not a CSD-led project, but 21
it definitely affects us. This is the Highway 101 bike and pedestrian bridge project. Sixty-22
five percent design was recently completed. They're just starting efforts on the 90 percent-23
level design. They're working with Caltrans. They anticipate by the end of the year they'll 24
have bid documents, so it can go out to bid. They were hesitant to give me an estimate on 25 when they could start construction because there's a lot of variables. Hopefully they'll 26 come back with that information shortly. The Baylands Boardwalk project … 27
Commissioner Moss: Question about the bridge. I noticed that the other bridge that's going 28
up right now, the one north of Embarcadero or north of the other … 29
Commissioner Cribbs: It's the East Palo Alto bridge coming into the shopping center. 30
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Commissioner Moss: Yeah, the East Palo Alto bridge is also going up. That one's going 1
up real fast. 2
Mr. Anderson: I'm envious of how quickly they got that going. I can't speak to why ours 3
is a longer process unfortunately. I'm sorry. We'll do everything we can to make it happen 4
quickly. On that same note of why projects take a little longer is the next topic, the 5
Baylands Boardwalk that we've been working on for quite some time. It's out for bid right 6 now, which is good. However, we're still waiting on two permits. We got the 404 permit, 7
which is a big and important one, but we need one from the Regional Water Board. That's 8
a little challenging sometimes. They're currently shooting to get that permit. Best case 9
scenario, we'd go to Council in June, if we got the permit in time, to get approval for the 10
contract, and then start work September 1, 2018 if everything lines up right. We'll be 11
pursuing that endeavor. It's again contingent on permit acquisition. The closed trails at 12
Foothills Park, I've been keeping you apprised of this one. We made some headway. The 13
last challenge we had faced was the rerouted trail sections. Again, this is for Los Trancos 14
and Costanoan Trails up at Foothills Park. The rerouted section was too close to some 15
woodrat middens, and so I went up and took measurements and sent photos to my trail 16
consultant and said, "Do you think we could accommodate this, scooting over 35, 40 feet 17
in different areas?" He said, "Yes, I'm confident we could do that." We've got a new 18
alignment, and we have got an appointment to go with Planning and start our application 19
process on Monday. Their guidance so far was realistically they think some time in August 20
we can go to Council for approval. We have to go to the Planning and Transportation 21
Commission and the Council, but August is the timeframe. I think that will line up with 22
our contractor being there and hopefully get to work on rerouting those trails. I'll know 23
more after that meeting with Planning. At the next Commission meeting I'll be glad to give 24
you another update. My last update concerns the Baylands Comprehensive Conservation 25 Plan. My last time here with Commission I gave a little presentation on that and gave a 26 status update. One of the key and very positive bits of feedback we got from the 27 Commission was do some more outreach to people that aren't in the stakeholder group, 28
which was very helpful. We created a special outreach, two-page thing that my Rangers 29
out in the field come up to people and say, "Do you mind if I ask you a few questions 30
relating to this plan we're working on?" In a small amount of time, 5-10, 15 minutes, they 31
can get some pithy information back that's useful for the plan. They did that at the Great 32
Race event recently at the Baylands. They're doing that impromptu with different visitors 33
stopping by. They have one more month of outreach that they're going to try to do. That 34
will involve reaching out—I think they've already gotten some windsurfers, but we haven't 35
really gotten that youth group that we talked about. That's next. We're primarily 36
targeting—that'll be through the Environmental Volunteers, our own naturalist staff that 37
work at the Lucy Evans Nature Center, and then through Save the Bay where they bring 38
out school groups and pull them aside and say, "We're really excited about this plan. Can 39
we ask you about these three or four things?" and try to get some of that good feedback to 40
tie into the plan. 41
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Commissioner Cribbs: Could I ask a question please? What about the youth that aren't the 1
natural users, who might not interface with the Rangers and other people? Can we get 2
somehow into the schools for kids, who didn't ever think they'd go to the Baylands, but if 3
it turned out to be cool they might go, and get some of their ideas? 4
Mr. Anderson: That's good feedback. I think to some degree, maybe not entirely, that 5
happens through the outreach we do with Save the Bay. They'll have a group—oftentimes 6 those are not your regular park visitors. They are part of a class that has to come out and 7
do—oftentimes when I would lead those programs, there were some first-time-in-open-8
space experiences. To some degree, I hope we get some of that. I'll ask the Rangers if 9
they've got additional ideas. 10
Commissioner Cribbs: That would be really good if we could, maybe even through the 11
high school science teachers at Paly and Gunn. They might be able to pass that out. If you 12
get nothing, then you get nothing. If you get something, it could be really valuable. 13
Mr. Anderson: I'll give that a shot. Thank you. Lastly, on that same plan the consultant 14
has been working on piecing together some more chapters. These are goals and objectives, 15
future planned projects, climate change and sea level rise opportunities, analysis, and best 16
management practices. I anticipate June I'll come to you with drafts of all those chapters, 17
the meat and the substance of the plan, for your review and your feedback. That's 18
everything I have. 19
Vice Chair Greenfield: Just quick to add, tagging onto what Anne just said. There are 20
environmental science classes at the high schools, so that would be a good target group. 21
Chair McDougall: You did say you had Environmental Volunteers helping collect or hand 22
out … 23
Mr. Anderson: That's correct. Their new director has just been added as a stakeholder to 24
the group. 25
Commissioner Moss: The Los Trancos Trail, if it goes through Council in August and gets 26 approved, when you can start that? Can you work through the winter? 27
Mr. Anderson: That's a good question. I probably need to defer to my trail contractor and 28
see how long he thinks it would take. I'm hopeful that, since he'll be here during that time 29
period, right after Council approves it he can get going and hopefully finish it before winter. 30
I'll find out more. 31
Commissioner Moss: Is there any more update on the 7.7 acres? The last time we talked 32
we were very, very close to getting that open. They have to put a fence around the nursery. 33
What's the status? 34
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Mr. Anderson: I think I'm going to have to come back to you next month with more 1
information on that one. Kristen's helping me work through some logistics and consult 2
with the City Attorney's Office and see what the next steps are. 3
Ms. O'Kane: Just a little bit more information. We had planned to go to Council as an 4
action for Council to discuss the Buckeye Creek hydrology study as well as the 7.7 acres. 5
There was some question from the City Attorney whether we should bring it as an 6 informational report in the packet to Council or whether it needs to be an action. We're 7
working with the City Attorney to determine what the appropriate way to inform Council 8
is. 9
Chair McDougall: Are we done? 10
Ms. O'Kane: I have one announcement or item under Department Report. Saturday, May 11
5th, is our 96th annual May Fete Parade. You've probably received a couple of emails 12
asking if you would like to participate as a VIP. I would really appreciate a couple of you 13
attending. It's always nice to see familiar faces walking the parade route and supporting 14
the parade. If you would like to attend as a VIP, you would get to walk with a group at the 15
beginning of the parade. You get a t-shirt. You get some other goodies and, of course, the 16
prestige of walking in the parade. Either let me know or let Stephanie Douglas know if 17
you plan to be there. Also, just for you, Commissioner LaMere, as Palo Alto Recreation 18
Foundation liaison, they're likely going to reach out to you to see if you will hold a banner 19
in the parade on behalf of parks. 20
Commissioner LaMere: What time is the parade? 21
Ms. O'Kane: It starts at 10:00 a.m. No pressure, just letting you know. 22
Commissioner Cribbs: Could I just say that this is an incredibly wonderful Palo Alto 23
institution? It is a great parade. Everybody who hasn't had the experience or wants to have 24
another experience should plan to go because it really is one of the things that makes Palo 25 Alto what Palo Alto is. It's got a long tradition and a long history and a lot of sentiment 26 and all of that. Thanks for all the staff is doing on it because it's not an easy job to put on 27 a parade. 28
Ms. O'Kane: I also wanted to mention that every year we have a different theme. This 29
year the theme is Children of the World to celebrate the diversity of Palo Alto, and our 30
parade marshal is Neighbors Abroad. They're the organization that helps with our Sister 31
Cities. We were hoping to have someone from one of our Sister Cities here in town, but 32
they happen to be leaving the day before the parade. They won't be there, but I hope you 33
can make it. 34
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Commissioner Reckdahl: Historically Parks and Rec has had the most people marching, 1
more than other Commissions. If you can make it, please make it. It's a good time. It's 2
worth your time. It's an enjoyable thing. 3
Commissioner LaMere: Last year, I did walk in it with Keith and brought my son. We 4
had a great time. A couple of years ago, I walked with my son and nephew, and we pulled 5
a wagon in the unaffiliated section. I don't know if the Recreation Foundation widely 6 expresses that or if that's known, but it was actually a really neat experience that you can 7
participate in the parade without being affiliated with a certain school or a certain other 8
group. It was pretty neat to be able to do that as well. 9
Chair McDougall: I hope everybody attends. It sounds great. Are there any other 10
comments or should we move onto the next agenda item? 11
V. BUSINESS 12
1. Approval of Draft Minutes from the March 27, 2018 Parks and Recreation 13 Commission meeting. 14
Approval of the draft March 27, 2018 Minutes was moved by Commissioner Moss and 15
seconded by Vice Chair Greenfield. Passed 5-0 Cribbs abstaining, McCauley absent 16
2. Presentation by Friends of the Palo Alto Parks (FOPAP) 17
Chair McDougall: We're lucky enough to have Roger Smith, the cofounder of Friends of 18
Palo Alto Parks, to speak with us about Friends of the Palo Alto Parks, help us understand 19
what their ambitions are and some of their background. Welcome, Roger. We are very, 20
very pleased to have you here. 21
Roger Smith: Thank you very much. I'm delighted to be here. I'd like to start by thanking 22
each of you for serving. It's really neat that we do that in our City. We started the Friends 23
of the Palo Alto Parks in 2005. Our goals are fairly simple here. It's to provide funding to 24
enrich, enhance, and beautify Palo Alto parks. Number 2 is to foster greater public 25 awareness and appreciation and ownership of our parks. Three is to raise funds to assist in 26 purchasing additional parkland and open space. One of the premises when we started the 27 organization is that the City would never have all the money they would like to have to do 28
what we would like to do in our parks. We're a small group. We have eight Board 29
Members. The other seven are our president, Susan Beall, Richard Hackmann, Ed Selden, 30
Jeny Smith, Linda Selden, and Le Levy, who's a former Mayor. I think many of you might 31
know him. We have an advisory board of Jagdish Basi, Allan Brown of Vance Brown and 32
Sons, John and Kristine Erving, Barbara Gross, David MacKenzie, Jeff Traum, and Olenka 33
Villareal. We do several things. Again, we're not a big group. One of the things we've 34
been working on is Color Our Parks where we work on the flower beds at Rinconada and 35
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also have done work over at Lucie Stern Community Center. We worked to help get 1
funding for the Arastradero Preserve for the demonstration things there. We've worked 2
hard to get benches in many of our parks. We also help out Bol Park garden center. We 3
work closely with the Kiwanis Club to help Daren's group to work on the parks. Recently 4
have done Bowden Park and Hoover Park. We were involved with Bike Palo Alto that 5
stopped at a couple of our parks. We have a little tree display at Briones Park. We have 6 volunteered to help out with the new golf course on the native plants. Partnering with the 7
City on our major parks, we not only raise funds but one of the things that we bring to the 8
table is we lease the property from the City, and that gives us the opportunity to bring in 9
our own contractors and get in-kind donations. Because of that, we can do things faster 10
and many times less expensive than the City could. We've been involved in three major 11
projects, Heritage Park, Lytton Plaza, and the Magical Bridge. A little bit of history of 12
each of these. Each of these projects had a champion and a small working group. Jagdish 13
Basi and Jeff Traum, who were on our Board at that time, had the idea for the playground 14
at Heritage Park and worked with Mayor Yoriko to get that moving along. Then, we were 15
fortunate to have some neighbors, John and Kristine Erving who live right on the park, to 16
step up to head up the building of that park. Interesting enough, as we all know, there are 17
different parts of the community. Kristine Erving has been president of maybe five or six 18
different organizations. She had never been to a City Council meeting, so she came to talk 19
about Heritage Park. We had several contractors give us advice on the park. Those of you 20
that have been there, there's a beautiful dolphin, and Tig Tarlton donated that in honor of 21
his daughter who died. It's like the one in Ireland. What was interesting there is the funding 22
came primarily from the neighborhood, and Summerhill Homes, who built at that area, 23
donated a fair amount of money. The shepherds of that park are the Ervings. They live 24
there, and they watch it and take ownership of it. The next major project that we did was 25 Lytton Plaza. The idea came from Le Levy, who's big into fountains. He was joined by 26 Roxie Rapp to get this thing cooking, and then Le joined our Board. Barbara Gross, who 27 at that time ran the Garden Court Hotel, became the head of the working group. We formed 28
a founders group who committed at least $10,000 to the project. There's a really nice 29
plaque right there on the wall showing the founders group. I was by there today. It's sad 30
that eight of these folks are no longer with us. That's Warren Thoits, John Santana, Dale 31
Denson, Jack Rominger, John Childress, Sam Webster, and Leonard Ely. The reason I 32
bring this up is, if you knew these people, they were really pillars of our community. You 33
could always tap them on the shoulder, and they'd take out their checkbook. One of our 34
goals and of the City in general is we have to replace them with other people who may not 35
have worked here in town, but a lot of folks live here. We had some very large donations 36
from Le Levy, Roxie Rapp, and Chop Keenan. The major project that they were best 37
known for is the Magical Bridge. The inspiration for that came from Olenka Villareal, who 38
had a disabled daughter. She was having to drive a long ways to find playgrounds for her. 39
She joined our Board and literally worked tirelessly for many years to complete this 40
wonderful project. We were able to get a lead gift from Dick Perry, the Perry Foundation, 41
of $1 million. Dick Perry sits behind me in football games at Stanford. He says this to me 42
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many times, "The Magical Bridge Playground is the best thing to happen in Palo Alto." 1
This is a guy who gave $25 million to the school to build a gym. Olenka and her group 2
have worked very hard. Pat Burt, who was on the Council at that time, became a champion 3
and helped us work through the City. Olenka's daughter came up with the Magical Bridge. 4
Those of you that remember, it was a bridge that went over to the three tennis courts. She 5
said, "That land is a magical bridge." What was neat about that is we made use of land that 6 was not being used. We raised over $4 million for that project with some very big gifts. If 7
you have time and have never been there, go sometime because it is so popular. It is really, 8
really an interesting program. Olenka has gone on and taken the model to build Magical 9
Bridge parks in several communities. I think one in Redwood City may be coming up. 10
One of the things we bring to the table is we do have the 501(c), and it's an excellent vehicle 11
to fund various projects. We now hold the following funds for Bol Park flower project, 12
Heritage Park, the lawn bowling fund, Lytton Plaza, Magical Bridge, and the Palo Alto 13
Dog Owners Association. We feel that the 501(c) can be used to help fund various projects 14
as we go in the future. I would like us all to work together . Any time we're doing a project, 15
if there's not enough money or they need a little more money, we put our heads together 16
and see how we might tap the neighbors or whoever the users are. Anne, I like your idea 17
of once we get a park refurbished, for instance, we have a celebration because it usually 18
has been closed. That's my report. Happy to answer any questions. 19
Chair McDougall: Thank you, Roger. I'm sure there are some comments and questions. 20
I'll start with David. 21
Commissioner Moss: Thank you very much for that update. My favorite park is that 22
Magical Bridge. I go by it every day from south Palo Alto. It's fantastic. I can't thank you 23
enough for helping out with that. Almost every meeting I bring up the AT&T property 24
next to Boulware Park. I'm hoping that someday, some way we will be able to purchase 25 that and make it a part of Boulware and somehow work it into that Fry's property next door. 26 Anything that we can do to push that is my goal. 27
Mr. Smith: I thought of that also. One of the nice parts about that is if we could close off 28
that street. That would give us a lot more property there. Maybe we should. I would be 29
happy to start a little fund for that project just so we have a fund if we start talking to people 30
who might have an interest in putting some money in that. 31
Commissioner Cribbs: I'm pretty excited to hear this, Roger. It's pretty amazing what you 32
all have done since the year 2000. I was looking at the website while I was hearing you 33
talk. The projects are wonderful and certainly much needed. I especially like what you 34
said about some of the founders of Lytton Plaza and supporters who aren't with us anymore, 35
kind of remembering all the people who years ago in Palo Alto did so much to think about 36
the future of the City with parks. I think it's going to be really important for you to continue 37
identifying new donors and new people. If there's any way we can help you with that, that's 38
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really critical. Thank you so much for everything that you've done. We really appreciate 1
it. 2
Mr. Smith: Anne, thank you very much. It reminds me we had a celebration; I can't 3
remember how many years ago, maybe 10 or so, at Foothill Park. I think it was one of the 4
anniversaries. One of the Lee brothers got up and explained about what happened there. 5
The story that he told—I presume it's true—is Dr. Lee came home and said, "Helen, I'm 6 going to sell the property. She says, "Russell, that's fine. You can sell your half of the 7
property, but not my half." He said, "Helen, what's your half?" She said, "Every other 8
inch." 9
Commissioner Cribbs: Just to add to that, I'm really hopeful that this group continues to 10
get really good publicity, and people who would like to contribute to Palo Alto are able to 11
find you and that we as a group make it easy for people to contribute. 12
Mr. Smith: Thank you, Anne. I agree. 13
Vice Chair Greenfield: I really appreciate the opportunity to learn about the wonderful 14
things your organization has done for the community. It's quite laudable and very 15
impressive. I agree we'll never have enough money to fund all the wonderful ideas we 16
have to enrich our community and our parks and recreation system. We have a new Master 17
Plan, which has just been adopted. It's an aspirational document with great ideas to move 18
forward with in the next 25 years. I certainly hope that we can continue to work together 19
to make some of these ideas into reality. Thank you very much. 20
Chair McDougall: Jeff, I believe they have all been delivered copies of the Master Plan. 21
Commissioner Reckdahl: Thanks again. You've done so much for the City. When I go to 22
Heritage Park, it's such a beautiful park and makes that neighborhood so much more 23
livable, so much more attractive. If that was just filled with houses, then the neighborhood 24
would not be the same. We appreciate that. Jeff mentioned the Master Plan. We have so 25 many things, so many things that the City will not be able to fund. Having a charity that 26 the public can donate to is going to be very important. What can we do to help you raise 27 funds or get publicity? 28
Mr. Smith: If you don't mind, I'll just mention Heritage Park. One of the things that really 29
warmed my heart is John and Kristine had the idea to get the children from the low-cost 30
housing. They went over and were able to put their handprints on the wall. That's really 31
neat. That's a busy park; I was by there the other day. I'm not certain what we do. I would 32
say we might start with—I don't know all the ends and outs, but it maybe falls into Daren 33
and Public Works. If we're going to redo a park and there may be the basics but it'd be nice 34
to add on, let's say, some things which are not in the budget, we might be able to then work 35
together to go around the neighborhood. One of the things that we haven't accomplished 36
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and that I always wanted to—I had the dream of every park would have some shepherds in 1
it, like the three major ones, people that are either close by or use it or whatever. That 2
might be one. That's pretty nebulous, but that would be a start. Anytime there's money to 3
be had, if there's not enough, we work together. 4
Commissioner Reckdahl: One of my concerns is that the Friends of Palo Alto Parks is well 5
known by word of mouth. Especially with so many new people coming in, there's a big 6 chunk of the City who doesn't even know that the Friends of Palo Alto Parks exists. What 7
can we do to get people more knowledgeable about the Friends of Palo Alto Parks and 8
more likely to give money to you? 9
Mr. Smith: To date we've been very project oriented. Clearly, Magical Bridge was a pretty 10
easy sell because you have little kids. Lytton Plaza was more Downtown-oriented. That 11
would be something we'd have to all think about, is there the possibility of having a fund. 12
I think it's worthwhile. I always mispronounce it, but Boulware Park is a classic one. I 13
believe that's in the City somewhere getting the subdivision done. That's a classic one. 14
The other one that really intrigues me is a little park—I can't remember the name of it—at 15
Grant and Ash Street. It's a little pocket park. We need collectively to figure out how we 16
have more pocket parks. Again, I don't know all the details. I think some of the developers 17
have gotten by by putting a bench somewhere. We really need some green space. That 18
might be another area that we could work together. It's easy to say there's so much wealth 19
in town. There's a lot 2 blocks from me on Bryant Street that went on the market for $17 20
million the other day. The realtor said they thought it was underpriced. It sold in 2 days. 21
I don't know who sold it. That gives you some idea that there's a fair amount of money in 22
town. Through Magical Bridge we were able to tap into some of that money. 23
Commissioner Reckdahl: It's also hard for us, though, because that same price is what we 24
have to pay if we want to buy parkland. It cuts on both sides. Thanks again. You've done 25 such a good job for the City. We appreciate it. 26
Commissioner LaMere: Roger, I just want to thank you for your service, your generosity, 27 your initiative, your willingness to give to the City and to the community. Echoing what 28
Anne said about how you mentioned the people who have passed, who had worked with 29
Lytton Plaza. It's incumbent upon us, especially I look at me with a 6-year-old, to find the 30
people of the next generation, so to speak, who can take some of these projects on or who 31
want to invest in this community and who live here now and who really see this as our 32
home. For what you've done and what you've done with the Friends of Palo Alto Park, it's 33
really a great example. Whether it's us continuing to talk about it with our peer group or 34
at the elementary school or whatever, whatever we can do as a Commission to spread the 35
word. It's also finding that generation who is coming up and who has the 6 year olds and 36
the 8 year olds and the kids in elementary school and have made that decision to be part of 37
Palo Alto. It is about service. I just want to thank you for all that you've done because it's 38
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tremendous. We need more people like you, and we need to be able to tap into that and 1
find that. Again, thank you so much. 2
Mr. Smith: Thank you very much. Also, we have a lot of wealth, but we have a talent 3
pool. If we wanted to be critical, I'm not sure the City collectively has reached out and 4
tapped that. We were able to do that on specific projects, like the contractors. Everybody's 5
got a list of their friends. I go to Council meetings every once in a while, and I can't believe 6 all the stuff that gets dumped on staff. I'm very much editorializing here. I think we have 7
people in the community that might step forward if asked and not be paid as a consultant 8
but just as a working group because there is so much talent. Also, there are guys like me 9
that are getting older and that might have some time. 10
Chair McDougall: Thank you, Roger. I would like to ask if Kristen or Daren have any 11
questions they'd like to ask or any interaction with Roger. 12
Mr. Anderson: I would. Mainly just an acknowledgement. I've known Roger for a long 13
time. He calls me frequently almost always to offer help. I just really appreciate that. Not 14
only is he the eyes and the ears—that goes for the whole Friends organization. They'll call 15
me and say, "Just to let you know, there's a swing that looks like it needs some attention. 16
Can you get to it?" Very appreciative of that and those generous offers. Thank you so 17
much. 18
Mr. Smith: I might mention too that Daren almost always gets back to you within a day 19
on things. The last one I was bothering you about is out at Briones Park. The water 20
fountain was shooting up; you couldn't get a drink. He said, "I'll have our guys look at it 21
on Monday." That's the kind of thing that if we all worked together, if we could get these 22
shepherds going—I'm sure you get a lot of problems. If we had a shepherd in each park, 23
that would really be neat. 24
Chair McDougall: Number one, I'd just simply like to say thank you to Roger and the 25 whole Friends of Palo Alto Parks. I feel like my job, if I could just do it, would be to create 26 a word cloud out in space from all the comments that were made, some words that were 27 used and some words that are implied. The concept of shepherds and funding and help and 28
partnership. Partnership is really key in all that and the whole idea of next generation and 29
the whole idea of talent and throw in pocket parks. All of that, for me, adds up to passion. 30
As much as anything, thanking you and the organization for the passion that you represent. 31
The challenge for us is to take advantage and leverage that passion with the rest of the 32
community. I will speak for the Commission and say we will find a way to leverage that 33
passion. Thank you for it. 34
Mr. Smith: Thank you, and delighted to be here. 35
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3. Golf Course Opening and New Operator 1
Ms. O'Kane: I'll introduce this item. I asked Lam to join us today. Lam Do is our 2
Superintendent of Parks, Golf, and Open Space. I wasn't sure about the open space. As 3
you know, we recently had Council approve our new contract with the operator who will 4
be managing the golf course, our new café/restaurant at the golf course, the maintenance. 5
It's really an exciting time for us with the golf course being completed and kicking off with 6 a brand new operator. We're really excited about it. I asked Lam to come and share with 7
you some of the details of the new course and the new operator and what you can expect. 8
Chair McDougall: Welcome, Lam. 9
Lam Do: Thank you, Chair McDougall and members of the Commission. I'd like to 10
present to you this evening our new Baylands Golf Links and, in conjunction with that, our 11
agreement and partnership with OB Sports, our new golf course operator. I want to start 12
with some background information on the course. That'll lead into the features of the new 13
golf course and also discuss the RFP process and how we came about selecting our golf 14
management company, OB Sports, and the two agreements that we now have with them. 15
We have a course management agreement with them, and we also have a license with them 16
for them to provide food and beverage at the restaurant and on the course. I present to you 17
our new course, the Baylands Golf Links. It is a link-style course with native vegetation 18
areas throughout the course. I'll speak of what makes this course unique in a second, but 19
let me go back to what we were before. What we were before was the Palo Alto Municipal 20
Golf Course. The Palo Alto golf course was built in 1956, consisting of 160 acres in the 21
Baylands. It remained in operation for 60 years, through 2016. There were some 22
renovations in regards to irrigation systems in between those 60 years, but the course 23
remained primarily the same. It was a flat, up-and-down course located in the Baylands. 24
One impetus of the City's deciding to renovate the course is the adjacent project of the San 25 Francisquito Creek levee expansion, which was going to expand its footprint into the golf 26 course by 7.4 acres. The City and Council decided to fully renovate the course because of 27 the loss of the 7.4 acres. At the same time, the City also decided to dedicate 10.5 acres for 28
future recreation use. That in itself reduced the Baylands Golf Links course down to about 29
143 acres. In May of 2016, the City issued—let me go back here—a contract with 30
Wadsworth Golf Construction to begin the process of fully redesigning and renovating the 31
course, all 18 holes. Construction began with demolition of the old course down to removal 32
of the prior irrigation and installing new drainage and a whole new irrigation system in 33
addition to that. From there Wadsworth Golf further developed—after they had the 34
irrigation system under the course, the course was further developed. The course imported 35
over 400 cubic yards of dirt to create contours, which you'll later see provides us with the 36
link-style course. Much of the dirt came from development at Stanford University, which 37
was an opportunity for the City to take advantage of that because we needed the dirt 38
ourselves. They needed to offload dirt, and we worked out a deal with them to accept their 39
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dirt. From there, we started further developing. You can see in this picture the course is 1
taking shape as a course. You can see tees being developed, greens being shaped and 2
formed. You can see new cart paths having been put in. In addition to that, we opted to 3
replace the old and no longer relevant by location restroom. That restroom was removed, 4
and we installed a new restroom in a location based on the new layout that could be 5
accessibe by three different golf holes. This provides multiple opportunities for users to 6 have such a pitstop during their round of play. What we eventually came with is our new 7
Baylands Golf Links course. This is a link-style course specifically designed by Forest 8
Richardson, taking advantage of being adjacent to the Baylands. Link-style courses, for 9
those of you familiar, are typical of what you see in Europe. They take in natural elements 10
and land formations. We've created a design similar to that. We've added more bunkers. 11
We now have rolling fairways instead of flat, long fairways. We also now have windy 12
conditions, which we had before. Now I'm going to say it's even more windy because we 13
have fewer trees at this point. All these features make it more unique towards a link-style 14
course. Some features on the new course I'd like to discuss with you. What we have is a 15
40 percent reduction in the prior managed turf. We've converted what was previously 16
managed turf to native vegetation areas to complement the link style. It also helps us in 17
regards to cost of irrigation. Another feature of this course is the selection of paspalum 18
turf grass, which is very tolerant of salinity, which allows us to switch from previously 19
blending both recycled and potable water to now what we think will be mostly and up to 20
100 percent recycled water in the fairways. The greens will still need to be potable water 21
because it's a different type of grass. It's a bent grass; however, most of the golf course is 22
the fairways, and that's what's going to be mostly irrigated with recycled water. We've also 23
selected grasses that are more appropriate for the location as well. In addition to that with 24
the importation of the 400 cubic yards of dirt, we now have contours and elevated views 25 on the course. There are actually a couple of holes where you can see parts of the San 26 Francisco Bay. These elevated views were not available to the course before. In general, 27 the course was raised between a foot and up to 13 feet, I believe, depending on which 28
location you're at. We also have more features. We also selected a company to manage 29
the golf course, and that's OB Sports. Something about OB Sports is they are a unique golf 30
operator in that they operate all types of golf courses from private courses to daily fee 31
courses to public courses. They operate in a boutique style where they present different 32
themes for the courses they manage. They place the course owner and branding of what 33
the course owner would like before their branding. It's a company that offers a boutique 34
style, which is something the City desired. Next is the RFP process and how we came 35
about selecting OB Sports. We submitted a Request for Proposals for either full course 36
management or a full course lease. This process was intended to change the operating 37
model of the golf course. Previously, our golf course operating model operated with 38
different vendors providing different services. We had Brad Lozares operating the golf 39
shop and providing professional services to manage the golf course play. We had a 40
different restaurant operator, and we had a different golf course management company. 41
The City with this golf course desired the operations of one company for cohesiveness. 42
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We received five course management proposals. We did not receive any full course lease 1
proposals. When we assessed the proposals for cost, management style, and based on 2
interviews and references, we came to the selection of OB Sports as our preferred vendor. 3
From there, we entered negotiations with them. The City actually modified their initial 4
proposal. The initial proposal was a strict fee for service management model in which they 5
asked the City for a management fee. In return, they would manage the golf course where 6 the City would absorb the expenditures and also receive all revenues. The City went back 7
to OB Sports and negotiated a different structure. Now, it will still be fee for service, but 8
on top of that they will be receiving a set operating expense. They have to match that 9
operating expense. This provided the City and the operator with some risk and reward, 10
where they need to operate to the set budget the City has set and still attain the revenues. 11
The City was comfortable in this type of model and presented that. They worked with us 12
to come up with an agreement. In regards to the structure of our agreement with them, we 13
actually ended up with two different agreements. We ended up with a management 14
agreement where they would operate the golf shop on the City's behalf. They would also 15
operate the driving range, operate the golf course as well, and maintain the course. A 16
separate agreement with them is to lease them food and beverage services. This has to do 17
with the structure of how we are funding the construction of the golf course through bond 18
financing and providing the City with flexibility in the future should we want to modify 19
our operating structure or go with another company down the line. By having two different 20
agreements, we get some flexibility in that. That's why we have two separate agreements 21
with them. Also, the City does get one cohesive service because it's one company 22
providing all the services. The benefits of that have to do with the ultimate play experience 23
that one receives coming to the course. We want it to be seamless where one comes and 24
understands from check-in at the golf shop to play or practice in advance or grabbing a 25 snack in advance of getting onto the course that it's one service provider collectively 26 providing one product. If we were to have a tournament, tournament coordination with 27 food and beverage is a challenge. We hope this model coordinates the two. We selected 28
OB Sports for other desires as well. There are some loyalty programs that they want to 29
introduce. The loyalty program that they have has been successful in other courses they 30
manage. This is something we haven't had before. We've had discounts for select play, 31
but we haven't had a loyalty program. We hope this loyalty program will grow as players 32
participate, and we realize the benefits of it. One other change that we've had from prior 33
operations is dynamic pricing. Some of you may be familiar with that model in the airline 34
industry or the hotel industry. Working with OB Sports, we have developed three tiers of 35
pricing for greens fees with residents receiving the lowest rates. A second tier would be 36
Bay Area residents, and third would be visitors from out of town or business play. Within 37
the structure of the three tiers, there's also dynamic pricing, which would fluctuate based 38
on demand and what the tee sheet for the day being reserved looks like. It's similar to an 39
airline or hotel model. It rewards golfers that book their tee times early. With the course 40
now complete, OB Sports has taken over operations with the exception of the restaurant 41
last week upon Council's approval of their agreements. The reason they have not taken 42
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over the restaurant yet is the current operator has some commitments. Their lease will end 1
at the end of this month, at which time OB Sports will take over the restaurant. OB Sports 2
is now busy preparing for our grand opening, which we plan to have Saturday, May 26th, 3
which is Memorial Day weekend. It gives them about a month to prepare the course. 4
They're making some changes as well to the golf shop and the restaurant. These are some 5
remodels to bring in a new change to the course. As most of you are aware, Brad Lozares 6 operated the golf course for the City for 36 years. The restaurant has been leased for as 7
long as I can remember. With OB Sports coming onboard, they are doing some remodeling 8
as well. With the grand opening about a month away, we also plan on having some pre-9
opening events to invite play, some VIP play. We're also going to invite the public to tour 10
the course. We also want to have some media coverage leading up to the grand opening. 11
Upon grand opening, we would have a festival to kick off and open the course. I do want 12
to acknowledge those that have gotten us here. This has been a long process, 6 years in the 13
making. City staff throughout the City has helped us get to where we are, from Council to 14
the JPA to the Commission, our Planning Commission, the Architectural Review Board, 15
staff from the City Manager's Office, Planning and Community Environment, Community 16
Services staff, Public Works, our Attorney's Office, and also Administrative Services. 17
We're all looking forward to opening the course in a little over a month. If you have 18
questions, I'd be glad to answer them. 19
Commissioner LaMere: I appreciate all the work that everyone put into this. The golf 20
course, from these pictures, looks beautiful. Excited to see it when it opens. I do have a 21
couple of quick questions. If I understand it, there's an incentive. It's fee for service, but 22
there's also some revenue marks for them to hit and that provide bonuses for the City to 23
recoup the right amount of money. Is that correct? 24
Mr. Do: That is correct. There is a set expense budget, which they are tasked with 25 managing too. In addition to that, there is a set anticipation or expectation the City will 26 receive all the revenues up to the budgeted amount. Anything beyond the budgeted amount 27 would be a revenue share. The incentive for OB Sports to manage at or under the expense 28
budget yet still bring in more than the anticipated revenue is anything above the anticipated 29
revenue they would receive 20 percent. 30
Commissioner LaMere: As far as the pricing goes, how does the pricing compare to what 31
the golf course was? I know the golf course has now changed. How does it compare to 32
what it was as well as compared to other area public golf courses? 33
Mr. Do: A comparison is difficult at this point. The pricing is based on not only the cost 34
to operate the course but also the play experience. We feel the play experience of this new 35
links course, which does not exist in the area, will be much different, much more desirable. 36
Based on those two factors, a comparison would not be an exact comparison. In regards 37
to dollars, the fee range from before—I do have to preface this. Our fee arrangement before 38
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was steeply discounted because we had a modified course for several years. We also lost 1
a lot of customers during that time. We really discounted our course to the point where our 2
greens fees, which were in the $40 range, were down to the high $20s and low $30s. With 3
the reopening, the resident fees would have a range on a weekday of between $40 and $60, 4
on a weekend of between $52 and $80. That's where the dynamic pricing comes into play. 5
I do want to emphasize that a hard dollar comparison probably would not be a direct 6 comparison at this point. 7
Commissioner LaMere: As far as the rounds projection, how did we reach that conclusion? 8
What number of rounds were being played in the past at the course? 9
Mr. Do: I'll start with the number of rounds being played at the course. Peak at the course 10
was about 90,000 rounds. Keep in mind that was during the height of the golf boom, the 11
early 2000s. Leading up to when there were discussions that the course would be modified, 12
around 2011-2012-2013, we were in the range of 70,000, 75,000 rounds. I'm not exact on 13
the figures right now. Up until we closed the course in 2016, we were down to 32,000 or 14
36,000 rounds. In regards to the projections of the new golf course, the City worked with 15
the National Golf Foundation to prepare pro formas in 2012. We asked them to update 16
their projections in 2016 with the anticipation of the new course. We further refined that 17
figure with both a golf consultant from Golf Convergence, Jim Keegan, and we worked 18
with OB Sports to refine the figures. The City has worked with two consulting firms and 19
the operator to determine what we think the golf course will play. The rounds will start off 20
lower than what we think it will sustain. We think it'll take about 2 years, maybe 3 years, 21
to sustain its full operating numbers. Those range between 62,000 to 66,000 rounds. 22
Commissioner Reckdahl: Thank you. A single operator, I thought that was a very good 23
decision. That will simplify a lot of the operations. I also thought the dynamic pricing was 24
a good route. Who will be setting the rates for the dynamic pricing? Is that a City decision 25 or is that an OB … 26
Mr. Do: For simplified terms, it's an algorithm that's supported by golf data. They will be 27 using golf statistics to set the dynamic pricing within the range that the City sets. The City 28
has obviously worked out with OB Sports that we will review that to see how it goes. We 29
do have the opportunity to work with their management to adjust the algorithm that 30
determines the pricing. 31
Commissioner Reckdahl: Before the construction, did we have many open rounds where 32
someone wasn't on the course or was it pretty much sold out? 33
Mr. Do: Before construction, we had a lot of open slots. Weekends we had a good amount 34
of golf play, but the course struggled during the week, Monday through Thursday. We had 35
rounds open in the morning as well, which typically would be a desirable play time. We 36
struggled in the mornings and mid-day. We were nowhere near capacity. 37
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Commissioner Reckdahl: Dynamic pricing should help that, I would assume. 1
Mr. Do: We hope it does. It is a shift in the golf industry, but that's a shift we think is 2
going to support this golf course. 3
Commissioner Reckdahl: You also mentioned the reason for the two contracts had 4
something to do with the bonds. I was confused about that. 5
Mr. Do: The City is financing construction of the golf course to pay back the General Fund 6 with 30-year bonds. With 30-year bonds, depending on whether one goes with taxable or 7
non-taxable bonds, there are certain restrictions on the contract stipulations that may be 8
made. It has to do with compensation based on gross revenue, net revenue, or flat-rate 9
compensation. There are multiple factors involved. The City has opted for the most 10
flexibility with taxable bonds and two separate agreements. The two agreements in place 11
right now are for 39 months with opportunities to mutually renew for an additional 3 years 12
and then an opportunity for a second mutual renewal for another 3 years. That could be up 13
to 9 years and 3 months if it's mutual on both sides. During that time should it not be 14
mutual with the flexibility of how the City sets up our agreements, we're thinking of the 15
30-year bond life and how we want to manage the course down the line. 16
Commissioner Reckdahl: The only thing is the restaurant. In the past, the restaurant really 17
was below par, no pun intended. I'm glad to hear that they're doing some remodeling before 18
they're opening. I don't imagine it's a major remodel. 19
Mr. Do: It is not a major remodel for several reasons. The full construction budget was 20
focused on the golf course itself, the practice areas, and bumping out the driving range. 21
The golf course construction budget did not include upgrades to the clubhouse facilities, 22
the golf shop and the restaurant. It's not a major upgrade. If we were to pursue a major 23
upgrade of the restaurant, it would further push out when the restaurant would come into 24
operation, which would not match opening the golf course. 25
Commissioner Reckdahl: There's so much room for improvement, especially with the 26 lunch crowd down there. There are so many offices nearby. In the long run, we really 27 need to improve that restaurant. It's a lost opportunity for revenue and for a community 28
asset. It's a great location; there's not a lot of competition down there. I really would 29
encourage us to do what we can down the road to improve the restaurant. 30
Vice Chair Greenfield: I know this project has been a major undertaking. You must be 31
very excited and relieved to be getting close to the finish line here. Congratulations on all 32
the hard work (crosstalk). 33
Mr. Do: On behalf of my colleagues, thank you. 34
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Vice Chair Greenfield: Looks like it's paying off richly. I have a few questions. Regarding 1
the dynamic pricing, is this used at other courses now or is this a new undertaking for us? 2
Mr. Do: It's a new undertaking for us. It is not used by many golf courses at all. Within 3
this region, I'm not aware of any courses that do dynamic pricing. 4
Vice Chair Greenfield: How about for the vendor? 5
Mr. Do: They have one course. 6
Vice Chair Greenfield: Are the reservations tiered in any manner? Is priority given to 7
residents, for example? 8
Mr. Do: Yes. The tee time reservations are tiered. The thought behind that is it's tiered to 9
give priority to those that are making travel arrangements coming to the golf course. Those 10
that are paying the highest tier rate would be the ones that have the most advanced tee time 11
reservation for two reasons, they're paying the highest rate and they are making travel 12
arrangements. The thought is residents would be paying the lower rate, and residents have 13
more flexibility in what tee times they play. The most advanced tee time goes to the outside 14
visitor. 15
Vice Chair Greenfield: Could you provide more details on that? How much earlier can an 16
out-of-town golfer make a reservation than a resident, for example? 17
Mr. Do: The out-of-town paying the highest tier can make reservations up to 60 days in 18
advance. I don't know offhand what the resident is. I believe the resident was about 2 19
weeks. 20
Vice Chair Greenfield: Has the local golf community been consulted in making this 21
decision? 22
Mr. Do: I don't think we've heard. It's possible, but it has not been expressed to us 23
formally. I think there is an understanding that there's also this aspect of dynamic pricing 24
in there. 25
Vice Chair Greenfield: Technically, a resident could make a reservation at the out-of-town 26 date and out-of-town rate. Is there further tiering between Bay Area residents and Palo 27 Alto residents? 28
Mr. Do: I'm sorry. Could you repeat that please? 29
Vice Chair Greenfield: I'm sorry. There's the nonresident, the Bay Area resident, and the 30
Palo Alto resident. Does the nonresident get the earliest time, then Bay Area, then Palo 31
Alto or is it just two steps? 32
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Mr. Do: No. The tee times are three tiers as well along with the rate structure. 1
Vice Chair Greenfield: I'd be interested in getting more details on what's planned on that 2
at some point. Are juniors able to make reservations as well at their reduced rate or is it 3
just walk-up availability for juniors? What's the planning there? 4
Mr. Do: The junior also would be able to make reservations in advance. They're not 5
expected, because they're paying the junior rate, to have no advance. 6
Vice Chair Greenfield: Their window would be the same as Palo Alto residents? 7
Mr. Do: That's correct. 8
Vice Chair Greenfield: There's no distinction on a rate for resident juniors versus 9
nonresident juniors? 10
Mr. Do: No, there is not. 11
Vice Chair Greenfield: I have a couple of naive questions as a nongolfer. What is the 12
replay rate? 13
Mr. Do: Some golfers prefer to play two rounds in a day. It's a monumental task in my 14
opinion, but it's not uncommon. If you wanted to play another 18 holes—some people pay 15
the replay rate, but they may not finish the second round. That's understandable. At all 16
golf courses, there is a replay rate typically. 17
Vice Chair Greenfield: Finally, are the carts electric? 18
Mr. Do: Yes, the carts are electric. We're Palo Alto. 19
Vice Chair Greenfield: I prefaced it as one of the naive questions. Thank you. 20
Commissioner Cribbs: I have a lot of questions. I'm really happy to hear the presentation. 21
Thank you very much. Just to say like everybody else has, I know how hard and how long 22
we've been working on this. It's really exciting to get it close to the finish line. Where are 23
the golf courses in California that this group operates? 24
Mr. Do: Locally, they operate the golf club at Moffett. Also, in Southern California they 25 operate another golf course. Overall, it's 55 courses throughout the country. 26
Commissioner Cribbs: Have we compared the rates for residents, the rates in this 27 presentation, to Mountain View specifically? 28
Mr. Do: We did do a rate survey, yes. If you give me a few minutes, I can go back and 29
check the rates. 30
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Commissioner Cribbs: That's okay. I was just switching back and forth, and I just wanted 1
to—we're considerably higher for people who play golf a lot. People who just want to 2
play, we're probably okay. I'm just worried about that. Since you brought up the part about 3
the nonresident and the resident, it feels like it's backwards. It feels like Palo Alto residents, 4
just from my perspective, should have priority. 5
Mr. Do: The impetus for the opposite is—we do have the possibility that the tee sheet 6 would be completely filled up way in advance with resident play. We are trying to balance 7
both a revenue model and a service model. The golf course has in the past broken even or 8
just slightly in the black or slightly in the red. Balancing revenues and expenses is difficult 9
in operating a golf course. We need to ensure that we hit our revenue targets. Part of 10
hitting the revenue targets is ensuring that we do offer the course to play from outside 11
visitors who indirectly by paying a higher fee contribute towards us being able to achieve 12
our revenue targets. It's a tradeoff. It may be a perspective of residents are not desirable, 13
but what we offer our residents is a fee that is unmatched. Residents are paying the lowest 14
fee here. 15
Commissioner Cribbs: The pricing is something to watch for. I'm sure that you and the 16
vendor will be doing that because everybody needs to make this work and cover their costs 17
and all of that. I wanted to switch to the golf clubs that we have now at the Baylands, the 18
senior men's club and the men's club and the women's nine-hole. What else is there? 19
Mr. Do: There's also a women's club. There's a Wednesday club and a Thursday club. 20
Commissioner Cribbs: How are they feeling about all of this? 21
Mr. Do: The clubs all have desires to return. During the past 2 years, they've had to play 22
at other courses. They've contacted me asking to be able to come back. We do want to 23
welcome them back. I've worked with OB Sports to bring them back as well. OB Sports 24
informed the golf clubs that once OB Sports has established operations about a month in, 25 maybe 2 months in, we could then integrate the clubs' returning. As OB Sports ramps up 26 with their staffing, they anticipate having a general manager in place any day now. The 27 discussion could then soon begin between OB Sports and the clubs to plan on their return. 28
Commissioner Cribbs: Will First Tee continue on? 29
Mr. Do: Yes. The First Tee of Silicon Valley, we've committed to supporting that 30
program. They are actually going to be here this summer offering their programs on 31
Wednesdays. They've also discussed with us other opportunities, and OB Sports is also 32
supportive of the program. 33
Commissioner Cribbs: There's one other program from East Palo Alto that we've supported 34
in the past. That's Bob Hoover's Junior Golf program that's really graduated a lot of kids, 35
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and they've gone on to scholarships and all of that. I'm hopeful that, if Bob wants to 1
continue, that's in the works as well. 2
Mr. Do: We have not heard from Bob. If Bob would like to contact us, I'd be more than 3
happy to discuss it with him, with the City, and with OB Sports. 4
Commissioner Cribbs: Just one more thing along those lines. Brad Lozares—full 5
disclosure—has been a longtime friend of mine, and I have worked with him very closely 6 on golf tournaments in the past, senior tournaments, junior tournaments, and all of that. He 7
has an amazing reputation in the golf world. I'm hopeful that there's something that we all 8
can do to thank him and acknowledge him—this is probably not the right time—for 9
everything he's done for the City and for the golf program, for junior golf, for senior golf, 10
and just generally golf. 11
Mr. Do: In Brad's 36 years operating the golf shop on behalf of the City, it's estimated that 12
Brad had 5 million golfers during that time. In regards to developing youth in the area, he 13
worked with 18 golf professionals during this time as well, teaching youth. He's made a 14
major contribution to the community. We do want to recognize him, and we're aware of 15
that. That's something that will be forthcoming. 16
Commissioner Moss: You've answered a couple of my questions already. Thank you. 17
With the water treatment plant, we have a tremendous amount of water going straight into 18
the Bay over near the airport runway. Since the trees and the plants can now handle more 19
saline water, is it possible to take that water and move it over to the golf course so that 20
there's less going directly into the Bay? 21
Mr. Do: The opportunity to make use of 100 percent recycled water exists almost 22
throughout the course. There are very few areas of the course that right now are on potable 23
water. That's primarily the putting greens. Of the 143 acres, there's about 3 acres of putting 24
greens. Also the practice areas near the golf shop are on potable water. The remainder of 25 the course can take this water. How much water we can take to divert what's going in there, 26 there's only so much we can take. Keep in mind that paspalum does go dormant during the 27 rainy season, so in reality there is no irrigation that we expect to have during the winter 28
months. It would only really be during the spring as it comes out of dormancy, during the 29
summer and into early fall. Come about November it goes back into dormancy. 30
Commissioner Moss: Your plants are very carefully selected. I know that trees are an 31
issue because it's always been marshland, so it's hard to get trees that fit that kind of area. 32
I know that we have a lot of wind, especially in the afternoons. Do we need trees to block 33
the wind or is that not an issue? Can we get more playing time that's not affected so much 34
by wind in some way with the use of trees or whatever? 35
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Mr. Do: I think I understand your question; I apologize if I misunderstood it. Please let 1
me know. The design of the course did change the look and layout and the amount of trees 2
that are on the course, incorporating the native areas, incorporating the wispy wind as part 3
of the changing way that the course plays. Whether you play the course in the morning or 4
the afternoon, it may play like two different courses. Even though you're hitting the same 5
distance, you're hitting into the wind in the morning. Maybe in the afternoon, the wind is 6 aiding you. It's all part of the design. As for garnering more play, whether there is or is 7
not wind, I think it's a combination of how the links course plays out and how people find 8
it desirable. I don't know that having more trees would make the course more or less 9
desirable. I wouldn't venture there. 10
Commissioner Moss: I also want to talk about kids. I know one of the reasons that the 11
number of rounds has gone down is because there are fewer golfers. We have had talks in 12
this Commission about the tremendous number of kids' camps. The question is how do we 13
as a City encourage more kids to come out and try to play golf. Do you have any plans 14
with OB to perhaps have camps or work with the camps we already have? 15
Mr. Do: The Community Services Department does support youth learning, youth 16
development with golf as well. We have had camps that we offered through Brad Lozares. 17
We do plan on continuing that during the immediate launch. However, OB Sports is 18
focused on getting the course open. We do plan on discussing with them—they have youth 19
programs at their other courses, which eventually we can bring more onboard here aside 20
from what the Recreation Department does on its own through its camp programs and/or 21
aside from what we do with First Tee of Silicon Valley. 22
Commissioner Moss: Can they be publicized in the Enjoy! catalog just like any other camp 23
or class for kids? 24
Mr. Do: I don't see any reason why we wouldn't. Previously we did the programs we ran 25 with Brad Lozares. I anticipate we would do the same with this new operator. 26
Commissioner Moss: Forgive me if I didn't hear. How long is the contract with OB and 27 how many years before it will be reviewed? You said there was about a 2-3 year startup. 28
When do you expect the first review with OB? 29
Mr. Do: The 2-3 year reference was in regards to getting the course fully ramped up and 30
to reach what we think will be its full operational capacity. That is independent of the 31
terms and length of the two agreements we have with OB Sports. Those agreements are 32
actually starting off as 39-month agreements. It's 39 months instead of 36 months because 33
we're starting in April. April, May, and June are the 3 additional months tacked onto 3 34
fiscal years. After the initial 39 months, by mutual agreement of both parties there is a 3-35
year extension. After the 3-year extension, there's also by mutual agreement the 36
opportunity for another 3 years. 37
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Commissioner Moss: The design of the course has special plants. You talk about Scottish 1
links. Will this be a rougher rough or something like that because of the plants that are 2
now on the green? What do you mean by Scottish links design? 3
Mr. Do: Scottish links design has to do with rolling contours, has to do with bunkers 4
protecting the greens. That has to do with the roughs; it's a different type of rough. In most 5
golf courses here you'll see different cuts in the fairways. You'll see a low cut in the 6 fairway, and on the edge of the fairway you'll see a higher cut that could be anywhere from 7
an inch to 2-3 inches higher, creating what's called a rough. This course is almost one cut 8
in the fairways all the way up to the edge of either a cart path or a native area. In essence, 9
the native area becomes the rough. Not all native areas, though, will be in play. Some 10
areas will be out of bounds depending on whether or not the area is a designated wetland 11
or only a vegetation area. 12
Commissioner Moss: That's all I have. Thank you so much. 13
Chair McDougall: Lam, thank you. I have one comment and really only one question. I 14
would have answered David's question about the wind differently. My experience on a 15
links course is the wind is considered to be a feature, not a disadvantage. This is a managed 16
service agreement. I don't need to know the numbers of what happens if revenue is missed 17
and what happens if they go over in expenses. That's obviously part of the contract. Are 18
there other key performance indicators that are part of the measurements or … 19
Mr. Do: Yes, there are. 20
Chair McDougall: … are the only measurements the revenue and expense? 21
Mr. Do: There are. Before I answer, I have one other thing I forgot to mention earlier. 22
Commissioner Moss, you asked this. How often is the golf course performance and budget 23
reviewed? Annually, OB Sports and the City will work on the next budget year's 24
operations, revenue targets, and expense budget. It's not that we don't have any opportunity 25 to review it during the 39 months. It's going to be an annual process within the contract. 26 In regards to the performance measures, there are also rounds of play. There's also average 27 green fee, and then there's also customer satisfaction ratings. 28
Chair McDougall: Thank you for your time. Does anybody have one more question? For 29
the minutes, I'll note Mr. McCauley has joined us. Go ahead. 30
Vice Chair Greenfield: I just wanted to follow up on the reservations. I know you will be 31
monitoring the budgetary returns of play. I certainly appreciate that that plays an important 32
factor in setting the reservations. I do have some concerns about the lack of priority for 33
Palo Alto residents. I wonder if we may be able to eventually evolve to a system where a 34
certain number of resident reservation slots may be carved into the system. A couple of 35
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follow-up questions. Do the number of nonresident reservations impact the resident rate 1
within the low to high range? 2
Mr. Do: Sorry, can you repeat that question? 3
Vice Chair Greenfield: If there's a bunch of nonresident reservations made, and the 4
window opens for residents to make reservations, are the first reservations still going to be 5
at the lowest dollar amount within the range or, by virtue of the fact that there's a number 6 of reservations already taken by nonresidents, do the first resident rates become higher 7
within the range? 8
Mr. Do: No, the resident rates don't become higher within the range. Each dynamic range 9
is unique to that tier. Perhaps that's a better way to answer. 10
Vice Chair Greenfield: It's based on how far in advance it is? 11
Mr. Do: It's a combination of how far in advance and how booked up the tee sheet is. We 12
don't anticipate the visiting player who has the most advanced to fully book up the tee sheet 13
in any manner. The percentage of golf players, we think, will still be mostly a higher 14
percentage of residents and Bay Area residents, not the visiting players. We don't 15
anticipate a difficulty for our residents to book a time based on the desire or preference of, 16
let's say, a weekend morning. We don't think the tee sheet will be full by the time the 17
residents get their opportunity. 18
Vice Chair Greenfield: Thank you. That would be a good problem to have. A couple 19
more quick questions. Are the high schools planning to use the course for their golf teams? 20
Mr. Do: We previously have offered the golf course to the high school teams, and we plan 21
on continuing to do that. 22
Vice Chair Greenfield: Do clubs get reservation priority? The clubs that Anne was 23
mentioning. 24
Mr. Do: By the virtue of being clubs and us slotting in where their play is, what they would 25 like is ongoing, regular, standard times. By that virtue, they would be quasi prioritized. 26
Vice Chair Greenfield: What defines a club which is afforded the priority of clubs? Is it 27 the regularity of the reservations? 28
Mr. Do: Right now, we have existing golf clubs. I'm not aware of any new golf clubs 29
being formed. If that were the case, we would need to discuss with them their club 30
membership, their participation, and what commitment they would make to the golf course. 31
At this time, we're not aware of any new golf club being created. It's more the prior clubs 32
wanting to return, and they've all expressed that they want to return. 33
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Vice Chair Greenfield: Thank you for your clarifications. That's all. 1
Chair McDougall: To Jeff's point, you're not sure whether you want all those players who 2
can't afford to play Bandon Dunes to show up here to play our links course or whether you 3
want them not to show up. 4
Commissioner Cribbs: I just wondered if it was possible to show us where on the internet 5
we could find the list of other courses that this vendor is operating. I'd like to see their 6 programs. It's very interesting looking at the model. 7
Mr. Do: Their website is obsports.com. On that website, there are links to the courses 8
listed by state. 9
Commissioner Cribbs: I found that, but then I can't find out where in the state that the 10
courses are. Is that information available? I would like to see what programs they offer, 11
especially for kids and for seniors. 12
Mr. Anderson: We can find that. 13
Commissioner Cribbs: It's probably around; I'm just not finding it. That would be great. 14
I had one other question. Sorry. In the past, the Superintendent of the Palo Alto golf course 15
obviously did a really good job in the '80s when we had all that play and everything. How 16
does this work? Does the new vendor manage the staff of Palo Alto or will we not have 17
any staff who work on the golf course working on the golf course anymore, any City staff? 18
Mr. Do: Prior to golf construction, the City did not have staff onsite maintaining the golf 19
course. It was through a course maintenance contract with Valleycrest, which later became 20
Brightview Golf Maintenance. 21
Commissioner Cribbs: No City staff worked on the golf course? 22
Mr. Do: Prior to construction and upon this new course the employees are through OB 23
Sports. 24
Chair McDougall: If there are no other questions or comments? Lam, thank you very 25 much for being here and bringing us up-to-date on what's exciting. Good luck on May 26 26th. 27
Mr. Do: Thank you, Chair. Thank you for this opportunity to present to you. I think 28
everyone's excited as well. 29
[The Commission heard Item Number 5 prior to Item Number 4.] 30
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4. Temporary Lighting at Cubberley Field: Assessment of Pilot 1
Mr. Howard: While I'm here, I wanted to give an update on how the lighting trial went on 2
the Cubberley turf field. Some background on this. During the winter months when 3
daylight savings time ends, there's a real high demand for our lit fields as it gets dark much 4
earlier. We currently have three fields that are lit, two at Mayfield and one at El Camino. 5
One soccer field, there's one baseball field there as well. During these times, those fields 6 are in really high demand. They're booked 7 days a week, during the week 4:00-10:00, 7
weekends all day. There's a lot of high demand, and we're constantly looking for additional 8
space. This past year, Palo Alto Soccer Club approached the City with an opportunity. 9
They wanted to try temporary lighting at the Cubberley turf field. This proposal was 10
discussed multiple times here and with the public. On January 23 with feedback from the 11
PRC, the trial was approved to move forward. The proposal provided to us by Palo Alto 12
Soccer Club was to place four to six temporary light stations on the field, solar-powered 13
with generator backup. The lights would be used Monday through Thursday, sunset to 14
8:30 p.m., hard off at 8:30. All additional activity would go through Cubberley Community 15
Center, not on Nelson. The additional time would only be used for practice for Palo Alto 16
youth. The lights would be secure, and the lights would be placed in a way that would 17
limit disruption to the field and the track as well as to be safe for participants. The trial 18
began February 12 and ended Sunday, March 11. Prior to running the test, we reached out 19
to the Cubberley community. The greatest concerns we heard were to avoid traffic on 20
Nelson, to limit how late the fields were used, and to limit light pollution. The trial and 21
the proposal that was provided the community felt answered those questions. Staff felt 22
comfortable that if we stuck to the proposal we would be able to avoid those concerns. 23
Now that the trial has taken place, some key information about that time. We had roughly 24
60-80 participants a day, four to six teams. Those were split between the 5:30-7:00 and 25 7:00-8:30 slots. We ultimately did have to use six light stations after the first night. Four 26 were placed, and it left the center of the field far too dark. They did have to bring in the 27 full six. The lights were solar-powered the entire time. The generators never kicked on. 28
I'm not even sure there were generators on the equipment. They were never used. The 29
schedule of Monday through Thursday, sunset to 8:30, was followed with no reported 30
incidents. The first couple of days as they went through the schedule, they ended a little 31
bit early. Ultimately, they really did fill that time. There was one concern of Nelson. They 32
felt some parents were dropping off, but that was immediately remedied. We received no 33
further complaints on that. The light stations had what we felt was a minimal impact on 34
the track but a little more impact on someone wanting to use the full field. The full field 35
was used for a couple of day games without any incident or concern from the coaches there. 36
Staff did say, "If this was out here for 3 months, maybe that'd be more of an issue." Post-37
trial public outreach. My contact information was all over the place before the trial, during 38
the trial, after the trial. During the trial, like I said, we did have the one comment about 39
Nelson Drive, which was taken care of really quickly. Staff delivered post-trial surveys to 40
the 18 residents that bordered Cubberley field. We hand delivered those surveys. We 41
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really wanted to make sure we got any feedback that was out there. The surveys were 1
provided with self-addressed, prepaid envelopes, and they also had the option of taking the 2
survey online. As of today, we had eight responses. The survey questions and responses 3
are below. Were you aware of the temporary trial? Eight people said yes. No one said no. 4
A comment of "it was impossible to miss." Did the lights from the trial have any negative 5
impact for you or your family? One said yes; seven said no. Comments: "we hated them, 6 noisy, bright, in the way of usage of the field, soccer is the only one to use the field and 7
lights degraded all other uses;" "parking and street congestion was well managed;" "great 8
to have this activity in the evening;" "no problem whatsoever;" "probably had some cars 9
on Nelson but overall not a problem, and we want the kids to be able to play soccer." The 10
last question, would you approve a similar lighting plan taking place next winter, January-11
March, with the same restrictions? Six said yes; two said no. Comments: "please have 12
someone continue to monitor, the coaches are telling players' parents to park at Cubberley;" 13
"while well intentioned, they were the dominant thing we could see out our kitchen 14
window;" "(inaudible) participants, possibly precedent setting, and this is not essential." 15
Overall, we thought it was a success, but we do want to hear some of these comments. It's 16
a small number of people that replied. That's probably a sign that people weren't too upset 17
with the trial. I felt like we would have heard more had this had a big impact. Next steps, 18
staff will meet with the Parks and Rec ad hoc committee on fields to debrief and discuss if 19
there's any further next steps that they would like to take. Any questions or comments? 20
Chair McDougall: Does anybody have questions or comments? Start with Ryan. 21
Commissioner McCauley: Adam, could you tell us what's the potential range of next steps? 22
Is one end of the spectrum installation of permanent lighting, another one to continuing 23
temporary lighting (inaudible)? 24
Mr. Howard: At this point, next steps would be considering running the temporary trial in 25 the future for January through March, a little bit extended, and continue this kind of trial. 26 We had never really discussed in too much detail the idea of lights in the long term simply 27 because the funding would be hard to do and we didn't want to muck up the story if it wasn't 28
going to be a possibility. We didn't talk about the permanent lights at this point, so I guess 29
it's still in the realm of something the ad hoc might want to discuss. 30
Chair McDougall: Adam, did the soccer people feel they needed lights in periods other 31
than these 3 months? 32
Mr. Howard: No, because normally they can stay on the grass at that point, and they 33
wouldn't want the additional cost. 34
Commissioner McCauley: One thing I have in mind is are there ways to make these 35
lighting units less obstructive. I'm sure that's on your mind too, how do you make these 36
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smaller or more compact so that they don't impact the track or other uses of the soccer field. 1
I don't know that you could do that short of something that's more permanent. 2
Mr. Howard: Both the "issues" we had were because they're temporary, their overall size. 3
I would assume the neighbor that had that issue was because of its height. If the lights 4
were actually taller, no one would see them looking out their windows. It wasn't the light 5
pollution; it was that they physically were looking at the light structure. 6
Commissioner LaMere: A couple of quick questions. What other uses of the field, besides 7
soccer, people walking around the track—are there other uses of the field itself for other 8
sports or other activities? 9
Mr. Howard: Rarely, occasionally ultimate frisbee. Soccer does dominate that field 99 10
percent of the time. 11
Commissioner LaMere: As far as parking and regulation of traffic, parking has come up 12
as an issue for Mitchell Park. They mentioned it with pickleball and tennis. Is that purely 13
a parking and transportation issue or is that something that Parks and Rec studies? Who 14
makes decisions and recommendations on parking and traffic flow? 15
Mr. Howard: Are we talking specifically about Mitchell Park now or just the Nelson 16
Drive? 17
Commissioner LaMere: Both Mitchell Park and Cubberley. 18
Mr. Howard: The Cubberley issues was the residents didn't want to see an uptick of traffic 19
coming along the street for soccer throughout the night. Recreation wouldn't have a role 20
in determining if there's enough parking at Mitchell, for instance, or controlling the traffic. 21
Planning Department would have more of an input on is there enough parking and so forth. 22
Commissioner LaMere: In terms of surveys, would it be beneficial—I see we just surveyed 23
those that bordered the park and did 16 surveys. Would it be worthwhile to survey more 24
people in that community to see if it affected them or to get other feedback based on their 25 proximity to the park? 26
Mr. Howard: I think we could have. The pre-information that went out went to all the 27 neighborhood association, so it was a much wider net that we cast. Because we didn't hear 28
a lot back, we figured the most impacted group would be the ones along the field. 29
Commissioner Reckdahl: I really like this trial. It's paid by the participants' money. We 30
didn't pay anything except for your time. If you don't like it, it's not permanent. It was 31
really good, and we should look at doing it next year also. If you had the same units, is 32
there anything you could to minimize the effect to the field? Obviously if they redesigned 33
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it and had a smaller unit, you could do something. With the units you had this year, could 1
you move those off every Thursday night and move them back on Monday morning? 2
Mr. Howard: It would have been very costly. A lot of the charge they received was just 3
the delivery. Every time they came that would have been a charge. 4
Commissioner Reckdahl: That's nothing that we could have moved ourselves? 5
Mr. Howard: No. They're pretty big. You'd have to get them onto a truck and move them 6 somewhere. 7
Commissioner Reckdahl: Looking backwards, was there something you would have done 8
differently? 9
Mr. Howard: I may have tried to move the end zone lights further and changed the angle 10
at which they were shining down to see if we could have moved them a little further away 11
but still provided the good lighting without it going towards the neighbors. What was 12
really good is outside the track it was dark. There was minimal light pollution. The light 13
was not shining very far, which was great. If we could move them back and change the 14
angles a little bit, I would want to try that. 15
Vice Chair Greenfield: Thank you for all your effort on this trial, Adam. The trial has 16
gone extremely well. When I was first approached by Palo Alto Soccer Club about the 17
idea, I felt like we were going against the third rail, but it really worked out well. I have 18
spoken with people in the Greenmeadow neighborhood, even someone in the survey area 19
who did not return the survey and is not a soccer family by any means, and they were very 20
supportive of the plan. I've only heard positive comments, which is encouraging. I agree 21
with what you said, that if there were issues we would have heard from more people most 22
likely. If we were to move forward—I know the ad hoc will be addressing this—with a 23
trial next year, is this something the Commission would be able to approve without going 24
to City Council or do envision that we'd need to go to City Council as a next step? You 25 don't have to give me an answer right now. This is obviously something we'll need to work 26 out. 27
Ms. O'Kane: We didn't go to Council this year. The idea was to give them a heads up that 28
it was happening so, if they happened to be in the neighborhood and saw it or heard 29
something, that they were aware of what was going on. If it was going to be a long-term 30
practice that no longer becomes a trial but we do temporary lighting every year and that's 31
part of our operations, we would probably inform them through an informational report. I 32
don't know if they would have to take action. I'd probably have to look into that a little bit 33
more. 34
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Vice Chair Greenfield: The other area to consider as we potentially move forward is how 1
the permitting process would become open to other youth organizations in addition to Palo 2
Alto Soccer Club. 3
Mr. Howard: In my opinion, that would be one of the bigger questions that we would need 4
to figure out an answer to. 5
Vice Chair Greenfield: I don't think it would be a particularly complicated issue. There is 6 increased cost for the additional lighted fields. It may be a problem that sorts itself out 7
relatively easily. 8
Chair McDougall: Anne. 9
Commissioner Cribbs: I love the idea that we had this temporary trial. It worked out pretty 10
well; we learned a lot. I'd love to see us do it again next year whether we have to go to 11
Council or not. I'd really love for the ad hoc to get the pricing for permanent lights so that 12
we have that available from some of the experts that are here in Palo Alto so we know what 13
we're looking at. Any time we can increase the amount of field space and time for kids and 14
adults to play is really great. Good job on this. This came to us in December, so we should 15
get a big kudo too for how quickly—was it December, something like that? 16
Mr. Howard: Something like that. 17
Commissioner Cribbs: Anyhow, good job you guys. 18
Commissioner Moss: As unofficial shepherd of Cubberley fields, Daren gets a note from 19
me every week it seems on something or other. I got a lot of comments, and they pretty 20
much match what you've already seen. One thing that I want to add is that we had to add 21
the middle lights in the middle of the field. There is very little room between the track and 22
the field. We were promised that during the practices they would not use the full field. I 23
didn't think we would have a whole lot of use of the full field during the day. Those lights 24
are very close to the edge of the field. When you have these day games, especially the 25 private schools' afterschool soccer games, league games, it's problematic. I would add 26 bumpers all around that structure because it's just too close. There's no place to put them 27 because you can't put them on the track because there's a whole lot of people that run the 28
track, and they're going to get mad. If you move them even further back, you run into the 29
problem especially on the south side where you may not get enough light through the trees. 30
That's something I would suggest. Also if there is any way to get the smaller footprint—31
especially those middle field lights, I was hoping against hope that we wouldn't need the 32
middle field lights, but that didn't turn out to be the case. The second thing I wanted to 33
mention is that any talk of permanent lights would require a whole new trial because people 34
are going to be mad that there's a lot of noise. You are guaranteeing the noise level well 35
into the night, 365 days a year, and that in itself is a hot button not to mention the light. I 36
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would be very cautious about that and go with the temporary lights for a few years before 1
you think about permanently lighting that whole field. That's really all I had. 2
Chair McDougall: I can only say congratulations, Adam. It must feel good to have 3
something that actually came to fruition and got us extra fields and got more people 4
involved in using City facilities and not have to continue to debate. Thank you very much. 5
Ms. O'Kane: Chair, could I make a comment? 6
Chair McDougall: Yes. 7
Ms. O'Kane: I've heard a couple of Commissioners mention permanent lighting there. I 8
do want to be clear that that's not something we're considering at this point. I just confirmed 9
with Daren because I had heard before that when the fields were put in that was discussed, 10
permanent lighting. It was really opposed by the neighbors and the residents there. That's 11
not something we're considering now. If it is something we would consider in the future, 12
we'd have to do significant outreach and get buy-in and support from the community. 13
Chair McDougall: Thanks for that, Kristen. There was some confusion as we talked about 14
whether this wasn't permanent but we did the temporary lighting permanently. There were 15
two different thoughts through here. Are we going to do this every year? My 16
understanding from the soccer people was they only need it for these 3 months. They 17
weren't asking for it for the rest of the time. At this point, we should take them at their 18
initial word, that that's what they wanted it for. Maybe we can consider saying we're going 19
to do this every year as long as we find the right funding, and that would include them. 20
Maybe that needs to be a decision that gets made so we're doing it temporarily permanently 21
but not permanently permanently, if that makes any sense. 22
Commissioner McCauley: If the better solution is to have permanent infrastructure, even 23
if it's not used year-round but to have better infrastructure, then we should consider that. 24
Commissioner Cribbs: I would agree with that, just to see if we can get a price for 25 permanent lighting and even understand that the permanent lighting is much easier to focus 26 on the field and doesn't have all that bleed every place. The lighting consultants come out 27 and direct where it goes so you can go right up to a field and not even know that it's—you 28
used to be able to find the field by where the lights were. You can't do that anymore 29
because it's so focused now depending on the height of the light poles. 30
Chair McDougall: Jeff. 31
Vice Chair Greenfield: Based on a conversation I had with another staff member recently, 32
something to consider is the refurb plan for the Cubberley football field. When the turf is 33
going to be replaced, apparently there's thoughts of replacing the track. At that point, we 34
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can plumb for lighting so we have the infrastructure in place to move forward on something 1
in the event the community and the City decide we want to move forward. 2
Chair McDougall: With that, I'll thank Adam. 3
Commissioner McCauley: Actually, if you don't mind, I'll be very quick. I had one other 4
tangential question. It's sparked by something Jeff said. Is temporary lighting an option—5
putting aside soccer and Cubberley—that you're looking at for tennis courts, for example, 6 or other facilities? 7
Mr. Howard: I haven't, especially tennis courts. Given the footprint of these particular 8
lights, it'd be really difficult. The rest of this conversation is something we have to consider 9
anytime we talk about lights at any location, the footprint, the neighbors, and the noise 10
levels and all of that. The units I've seen are typically pretty big. To put them around 11
tennis courts would be pretty difficult. 12
Commissioner Moss: Maybe you could get smaller ones. I don't know. 13
Commissioner McCauley: Placement outside of the tennis court, for example, might be 14
something you could look into. Just something to keep in the back of your mind as the 15
other conversation progresses. 16
Chair McDougall: Thank you, Adam. 17
[The Commission proceeded to Item 6.] 18
5. Pickleball and Tennis Courts Update 19
Chair McDougall: We had earlier anticipated changing the next item to be pickleball and 20
tennis courts update rather than the temporary lighting at Cubberley. I'm still planning to 21
do that, but I think I'll check first. Is there anybody here for the lighting conversation? If 22
not, then let's change the order to the pickleball and tennis courts update. If we have 23
speakers, should we have Adam speak first or should we have the speakers? 24
Commissioner Reckdahl: Usually Adam goes first and then the speakers. 25
Chair McDougall: Adam, go ahead. 26
Adam Howard: Good evening, Commissioner. Adam Howard, Senior Recreation 27 Manager for the City of Palo Alto. I'm here to give an update on where we are with the 28
pickleball and tennis court situations. A little bit of background. We do recognize 29
pickleball is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country, which has also become very 30
popular in Palo Alto. We currently don't have any designated courts for pickleball in Palo 31
Alto. However, Mitchell Park tennis courts 5, 6, and 7 are striped for both tennis and 32
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pickleball. Those courts are temporarily converted into pickleball courts by an organized 1
group that comes out and plays certain times throughout the week. Because pickleball 2
courts are smaller, you can put multiple pickleball courts on one tennis court. Tennis is 3
also extremely popular and valued here in Palo Alto for both youth and adults. We have 4
30 tennis courts on City property, 24 on Palo Alto Unified School District property, and 5
the only lit courts the City owns are Mitchell Park courts and Rinconada courts 1-5. We 6 rent out tennis courts only to USTA teams or the Palo Alto Tennis Club. When we do that, 7
we reserve 50 percent of the courts, always leaving 50 percent open to the general public. 8
Mitchell Park, Rinconada, and Cubberley tennis courts are our highest in demand because 9
of the groupings, because of the quality, and because of bathroom facilities, and because 10
of lights. A little bit of a discussion . With increasing pickleball play, staff and the Rec 11
Commission have wanted to look at providing space for them. Staff created a preliminary 12
proposal to convert Mitchell Park courts 5, 6, and 7 to pickleball courts, add an additional 13
tennis court to the area that would not be lit. We heard a lot of feedback that that was not 14
a very good idea, that the tennis courts were in high demand and really did not want to lose 15
lit tennis courts. We've heard that feedback, so we've gone back to the drawing board to 16
come up with as many different solutions as we could think about. We're in the process of 17
doing that, and then staff will come back to the ad hoc with multiple solution ideas. We'll 18
pick some that we think are most viable, and then we will go out to the community, both 19
tennis and pickleball players, to see if we can come up with an agreement that works for 20
everybody. We really want to find a solution that works for tennis, that works for 21
pickleball. Both communities value each other. This is just a common issue of space that 22
we have. We don't have a lot of open, free space, so there's a shortage of resources that 23
we're trying to find a solution to help both groups. We do hope to put this out to the 24
community a lot. The original draft plan went out there and got "this is happening," which 25 was not the case. That was a staff issue with communications. I apologize that I've stirred 26 the pot. We will make sure everything we do is very much vetted through the community 27 and through the ad hoc to do our best to find the best possible solution. That's where we 28
are. We'll be meeting with the ad hoc next week, the 2nd. We hope to bring the two 29
communities together by the end of next month to see if we can't come up with some 30
solutions. 31
Chair McDougall: Thank you, Adam. We have one speaker card, Robin Cook. If Robin 32
would like to speak, you'd have up to 3 minutes. 33
Robin Cook: My name is Robin Cook. I've lived in Palo Alto for 28 years. I'm a 34
homeowner; I have four kids. I currently work at Stanford Hospital in the Department of 35
Hematology, and I play tennis. I'm usually playing 3-4 days a week. I like to play in the 36
evenings now or on weekends. I need the lighted courts. I really appreciate you getting 37
community input. I'm a member of the USTA, the tennis association. I play in league 38
groups and matches. I play in social groups. My kids play. I have four children. I'm also 39
part of Palo Alto Tennis Club, and I've taken City tennis lessons for several years. I still 40
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haven't improved, so I'm still playing. I do have concerns over pickleball taking over our 1
tennis courts. When we go to play after work usually or on weekends, there are people 2
playing before me and people queuing up for our courts after me. They do seem like they're 3
in demand. I know pickleball is a growing sport, but I don't want to replace our tennis 4
courts right now. If you want to get our input or if there's some way you can let me know 5
that our voices are being heard, let me know how to do that. Between Palo Alto Tennis 6 Club or USTA tennis leagues, I've been on several different leagues. I'm on one now. I'm 7
usually on one every season of the year. I like to play tennis, and I like my tennis courts. 8
I also like the alternative for lighting tennis courts. Cubberley tennis courts are recessed, 9
and that may be an alternative. Thank you so much. 10
Chair McDougall: Robin, thank you very much. We will make sure—I think Adam has 11
made it clear that in the future we will continue to make sure that public input is collected 12
on all of this. In fact, I would compliment Adam on the input we've had already, because 13
I've attended many of those meetings, and we've had a lot of both pickleball and tennis 14
players at those various meetings. Thank you for that. I'm going to give the Commission 15
a chance to ask Adam questions. David. 16
Commissioner Moss: I appreciate all the effort you've put into trying to come up with 17
compromises. We've heard impassioned pleas from both sides. I just encourage you to 18
keep moving forward on a compromise. It seems lighting other courts is a great way to go. 19
Maybe we can add another court to Cubberley. Maybe we can do a number of things. I 20
just hope we can keep that compromise effort going. 21
Chair McDougall: Anne. 22
Commissioner Cribbs: I'm just happy we're moving forward. I'm happy that we're hearing 23
from all the various groups. We've got some resources in Palo Alto, and we will get to 24
some sort of compromise. If, at the end of the day, there needs to be additional lighting, 25 then we'll have to figure out how we work together to make that happen. Good job, Adam. 26 I know it's been a long process. 27
Chair McDougall: Jeff. 28
Vice Chair Greenfield: I appreciate the effort that Adam and staff have put in in helping 29
sort out this pickle. Also appreciate all the input from the community. The passion is 30
certainly out there. I look forward to continuing work with the ad hoc and staff to find a 31
solution that's workable for everyone. Thank you. 32
Chair McDougall: Keith. 33
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Commissioner Reckdahl: Overall our court situation is working, so we have the luxury of 1
doing it right. We don't have to rush. We can get public input and make a good decision. 2
Better right than fast. 3
Chair McDougall: Jeff. Ryan. 4
Commissioner McCauley: What are we thinking of in terms of resources that are going to 5
need to be dedicated to different alternatives? Are you talking about construction of 6 multiple courts in different locations? In terms of capital improvements, are we talking 7
hundreds of thousands of dollars, millions of dollars? Can you give us a range? 8
Mr. Howard: At this point, all of it. I've looked for alternative spaces where additional 9
courts could be built. I've looked at our existing courts and bumping them out to create 10
more. I've looked at lighting other courts. All of which are somewhat expensive. If we're 11
talking some of the options of just bumping out courts, $150,000. If we're talking, for 12
instance, lighting Cubberley courts, we're looking at about $350,000. Everything within 13
that range depending on how grand we want to go. I'm trying to look at as many options 14
as I can and provide pricing so we have as full a picture as we can have when we try to 15
make these decisions. 16
Commissioner McCauley: With some of these numbers in mind, we're probably talking 17
about single digit millions by the time we look at a couple of different parks. It seems as 18
though this sort of capital improvement may be a ways off. Is that fair? It's not something 19
that's going to be implemented in a year or within 6 months? 20
Mr. Howard: No. Glad you brought that up. Part of what we'll do is see if we can have a 21
phased approach, a quick and easy fix until we can build something that's 10 years out. 22
Phasing it so people could see what our long-term plan would be. 23
Commissioner McCauley: That makes a lot of sense. That's a good way to approach it. 24
I'll just make one other note on timing. When this issue first came to our attention, at least 25 to my attention really, the request from the pickleball community was the ability to make 26 reservations for tennis courts. It wasn't actually dedicated tennis courts. It was just to 27 reserve tennis courts just like the Palo Alto Tennis Club or USTA does. I would hope that 28
might be something we could advance the ball on more quickly. Frankly, the capital 29
improvement component is a much longer-term outlook. I would ask the ad hoc to keep 30
that mind and try to push forward the reservation issue and see if there's a compromise that 31
can be reached there and something we can come up with as a solution on that front. 32
Mr. Howard: I know the word reservation was used, but time is what they were looking 33
for. Currently, the policy is tennis could just book those courts. The 50 or so pickleball 34
players could show up, and they couldn't have any use of the court. They want a way of 35
having time that's assured for them. 36
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Vice Chair Greenfield: I'd like to speak to your question with respect to the ad hoc and 1
where we are with updating a policy that would formally allow pickleball play. We have 2
been talking about that on many occasions. It's really not as simple as it might appear on 3
face value. Right now, we have a policy geared towards tennis play, and we're looking at 4
adding pickleball play. There will be similar policies, but we would have to go to Council 5
for a change in the policy. We'd like to get everything lined up at the time we approach 6 Council. We're looking at potentially dedicated pickleball courts, mixed-use 7
pickleball/tennis courts, and dedicated tennis courts. Each have different distinctions, so 8
there's some nuance to it we're working on. 9
Commissioner McCauley: I totally appreciate that you want to have as comprehensive a 10
proposal as possible. My concern is that this issue has been festering for a while now. 11
There are parts we can present solutions on, and we should try to move the ball forward as 12
quickly as we can on what we can. 13
Vice Chair Greenfield: Agreed. 14
Chair McDougall: David. 15
Commissioner Moss: It's so expensive, the land in Palo Alto. If we lit every single tennis 16
court, we would double the number of tennis courts essentially because you would have so 17
many more hours that you could play on the existing land rather than buying more land, 18
which we can't do. If there was some way that we could look at lighting all of them over 19
10 years or 5 years, it probably would be cheaper per court if you could do a mass effort. 20
I don't see land getting any cheaper, and I don't see demand getting any less and I see 21
population increasing. It's probably something we should take the long view. What 22
Commissioner McCauley said about having a short-term solution is really important, but 23
we ought to look at something substantial. We just had earlier today the discussion with 24
Roger Smith. If there's some way that his 501(3)(c) [sic] can be used by the US Tennis 25 Association or the Palo Alto Tennis Club to raise some funds for the first few lit courts, 26 there's probably some money that they might want to donate to speed the effort up. Not 27 that we couldn't do it eventually, but if we want to speed that up—also from the 28
pickleballers. If the pickleballers can raise some funds to light the courts, then they'll get 29
their courts faster. Both of those it would be nice to look at. Thanks. 30
Chair McDougall: David, thank you, and thank you for raising the issue of where the funds 31
might come from and how do we do that. One of the things Roger did say when he was 32
here was we have an awful lot of smart people and an awful lot of capable people in this 33
City. I totally sympathize with the difficulty of the challenge that Adam has in front of 34
him in terms of courts and dividing and thank him for all of his efforts. I also want to thank 35
both the pickleball community and the tennis community for the kind of effort they make 36
to be here at a meeting like tonight and make sure we understand their interest and make 37
sure we're listening and understanding that there are communities that are part of it. Adam, 38
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thank you. Does anybody have anything they'd like to add? The combination of long game 1
and short game is really an important part of what we're doing. All we have to do first is 2
get out of the rough. Adam, thank you. 3
6. Other Ad Hoc Committee and Liaison Updates 4
Chair McDougall: I'd like to quickly go through and see if there are any ad hoc committee 5
or liaison updates that we might want to have. I don't have a list of committees; I'm going 6 to do it by person. I'll start with Ryan. 7
Commissioner McCauley: Daren, you had sent an email yesterday, I believe, concerning 8
dog parks in Bowden. I don't want to discourage anyone at all from thinking about possible 9
placement of dog parks in Bowden and that conversation. Daren, correct me if I'm wrong 10
about this. I think your CIP plan has the next dog park or even the funding for dog park 11
improvements 2 years out. It'd be fiscal year 2020. 12
Mr. Anderson: Yes, that's correct. 13
Commissioner McCauley: Bowden Park is really very close in proximity to Peers Park, 14
where the dog park is being constructed. In thinking about where amenities are located, 15
Bowden Park has probably dropped far down the list in my mind because it's so close to 16
Peers Park. A number of our existing dog parks need … 17
Chair McDougall: Ryan, I'm going to suggest maybe we could bring dog parks back again 18
to a different meeting and have a fuller discussion of it. 19
Commissioner McCauley: I'll be very brief. Our other dog parks need some improvement. 20
Unless we're interested in seeking to have parks dedicate additional CIP funds towards dog 21
parks, I don't know where the money is going to come in the near future. 22
Chair McDougall: Jeff, do you have anything? 23
Commissioner LaMere: A quick question about the impact of the survey that came back 24
on the Master Plan. I don't know if we need a conversation about that with the Commission. 25 Would that be the Master Plan ad hoc? That's something to consider, the survey that was 26 just received by the City. 27
Chair McDougall: Kristen, do you want to comment? 28
Ms. O'Kane: Commissioner LaMere, you're referring to the polling that was done … 29
Commissioner LaMere: Yes. 30
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Ms. O'Kane: … with respect to a future ballot measure not just for parks but for other 1
infrastructure needs within the City. That was presented to Finance Committee Tuesday 2
night. I wasn't there, and I'm hesitant to speak to something I'm not an expert at. If you 3
want information soon, you can view the presentation. I watched part of it today, and it's 4
quite interesting. The consultant, this is their business, and they know what they're talking 5
about. How they assess it and evaluate all the outcomes of the polling is quite interesting. 6 I believe there's going to be additional polling done. When we get to a point where we 7
have more information, I may be able to bring someone in who could give a presentation 8
on what that polling means, what the next steps are. 9
Commissioner LaMere: Just to keep us updated because next steps would need to happen 10
fairly quickly if it's a November ballot measure in terms of things for the parks and what 11
we may need to do. 12
Ms. O'Kane: It is a very quick timeline and turnaround on getting it onto a November 13
ballot if that's what Council decides to do. 14
Commissioner Reckdahl: Especially because the Council takes the summer off. That 15
(crosstalk) further. 16
Chair McDougall: Jeff, I totally agree. We need to encourage our Council Member to 17
attend particularly considering his participation in the whole funding effort and keep us 18
apprised that way. That would be good. In the meantime, I'll make sure I talk to him with 19
Kristen, and we'll see if there's some way to get an informed update for us. 20
Commissioner McCauley: That would be helpful from my perspective too. As I read that 21
document, it seemed to be the case that parks were not polling well in terms of … 22
Chair McDougall: Exactly. We need to understand that. Keith. 23
Vice Chair Greenfield: I have an update regarding community gardens in my liaison role. 24
I attended a couple of meetings this past month which Catherine Bourquin organized with 25 the community gardens, a couple of hours each, one for Johnson, Ventura, and Eleanor 26 gardens and another for Rinconada gardens. This was a first-time event and kind of an 27 experiment that was put together. Each was attended by 25-40 gardeners, soliciting 28
suggestions and discussing maintenance and rule issues. It's moving towards considering 29
rules and policy changes that will be discussed further. I believe it'll end up coming before 30
this body for consideration and approval. Just a quick update there. Thank you. 31
Chair McDougall: Anne, do you have anything? David. 32
Commissioner Moss: I went to the State of the City presentation by Liz Kniss on 33
Wednesday. I was surprised to hear that the Jewish Community Center, where it was 34
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housed, is building a quote/unquote public park. I don't know how public it'll be. It's not 1
the same as a Greenmeadow park where it's really private property. At the same time, I 2
wanted to find out if we could find out how public it is and what facilities we're going to 3
have. I'd sure like to be able to tout it when we talk about the number of parks we have. If 4
we could look at that, that would be great. I was talking to one of the Council Members at 5
that State of the City. He was saying that the Fry's property plus Boulware Park plus AT&T 6 should be thought of as one entity. Commissioner Reckdahl is the North Ventura 7
Neighborhood Association liaison. If there's any way that we can keep pushing for that 8
whole entity to be considered one entity—the whole tone of the State of the City address 9
was about affordable housing. That is one of the biggest and most visible locations for 10
affordable housing, lots of units. It makes total sense to try to tie in with that because that's 11
where you would need more park space. 12
Commissioner Reckdahl: My understanding is they are taking over—not looking at Fry's 13
but the whole surrounding area. It will be comprehensive. 14
Chair McDougall: You have more, David? 15
Commissioner Moss: That's it. 16
Chair McDougall: Thank you. I would comment on a couple of things. Kristen and I did 17
go to the Friends of Palo Alto Parks. The only thing I would comment there is we witnessed 18
the same enthusiasm from everybody in the room as we saw from Roger tonight. That was 19
really positive. We agreed building that partnership is beneficial for everybody. Relative 20
to the Ventura Park thing, Keith is certainly our representative. My understanding is it's 21
basically a Comprehensive Plan activity that will go on for some period of time. If we 22
have individual concerns, there's no reason why we can't go as individuals rather than as 23
Commission representatives to those meetings. I would encourage that participation. 24
VI. COMMENTS AND ANNOUNCEMENTS 25
None 26
VII. TENTATIVE AGENDA FOR MAY 22, 2018 MEETING 27
Chair McDougall: The next topic would be tentative agenda. I wrote down maybe we 28
need a dog park update. Maybe we need more input on the results of the polling. Maybe 29
we could even invite somebody from the JCC to come and tell us about their park plans. 30
There won't be anything by the next meeting relative to the Ventura activity because I don't 31
think they start until June. I don't know if anybody has anything else that's a burning issue 32
and that they would like to add. If not, I'll ask the Vice Chair to meet with me and Kristen 33
and see if we can't come up with an agenda. Anne, did you have something you wanted to 34
add as a topic? 35
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Commissioner Cribbs: Is it time yet to hear about the aquatics contracts, where we are 1
with them, or is it premature? 2
Ms. O'Kane: The RFP hasn't been released yet. It should be very soon. The next couple 3
of months may be an appropriate time. 4
Chair McDougall: We'll put it on the list. 5
Ms. O'Kane: If I could interject. In the email that Natalie sent with your packet, there is 6 the future agenda items. I've talked to the Palo Alto Recreation Foundation. Just like we 7
had Roger come today, they're willing to come next month and have the same conversation. 8
That is planned for May. In June, there was a request the last time the Chair, Vice Chair, 9
and I met, which was just a few weeks ago, to have a discussion on what our CIP process 10
is, how do we make those decisions every year, the capital improvement plan process. I 11
put that on for June, and that would also be a discussion of our 5-year CIP because we're 12
going through our new budget process right now. 13
Commissioner Cribbs: Is that a discussion too about the developers' fees and how they get 14
allocated for community benefit? It's a whole different thing? 15
Ms. O'Kane: That's different. If that's an interest, we can have that on a future agenda as 16
well. In June—Daren, correct me if I'm wrong—our consultant for the Baylands 17
Comprehensive Conservation Plan will be coming and presenting on the progress on that 18
plan so far. 19
Vice Chair Greenfield: Would next month be appropriate for a Foothills Park update? It 20
seemed like you were alluding to that earlier in the meeting. 21
Mr. Anderson: On the trail status? I think so. 22
Vice Chair Greenfield: I don't know if that needs to get agendized or not. I'll leave that to 23
your good judgment. 24
Mr. Anderson: I'll see how it goes with Planning. It might just be something that suits a 25 department update. 26
Commissioner Moss: There were two possible topics that were mentioned in previous 27 meetings. One is the teens presenting at the end of the year or at the beginning of the year 28
what they accomplished or what they want. I don't know if you wanted to do one at the 29
end of the year, have some representatives come and talk. It would probably have to be 30
May, so maybe it's too late. Maybe it has to be next October. 31
Ms. O'Kane: I can look into that. They're on the agenda for the May Policy and Services 32
Committee meeting and then possibly a joint study session with Council. We're having a 33
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hard time getting commitment because there's AP testing and finals. All this happens this 1
time of year, so we want to make sure they're focusing on that. The fall might be a better 2
time or midyear. 3
Commissioner Moss: Or you just invite us to one of those other ones so you kill two birds 4
with one stone. 5
Ms. O'Kane: That will work too. I will let you know what those dates are. 6
Commissioner Moss: The other topic was dedicated parkland, how you do that. 7
Ms. O'Kane: There's a future agenda items list at the bottom of that calendar. Park 8
dedication is there. 9
Chair McDougall: We didn't figure until the golf course contract was done we should be 10
asking the legal staff to come and talk to us. If that's it, we have some good notes. I would 11
entertain a motion to adjourn. 12
VIII. ADJOURNMENT 13
Meeting adjourned on motion by Commissioner Cribbs and second by Commissioner 14
Reckdahl at 9:30 p.m. 15
Update on Renzel Pond Maintenance
June 26, 2018
Karin North, Watershed Protection Manager
1991
2002
2009
2014
2017
Draining the Pond
Nesting Bird Survey (May 2018)
*KILL = killdeer, BLPH = black phoebe, MAWR = marsh wren
Photo from June 2018
Sediment Removal
Bayshore Freeway
3
Palo Alto Municipal
Services Center
(3201 E. BayshoreRd.)
ITT Building
Temporary Storage
& Drying
Excavate to original gradeFreshwate
r Pond
New temporary
berm
1
TO: PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION
FROM: DAREN ANDERSON DEPARTMENT: COMMUNITY SERVICES
DATE: JUNE 26, 2018 SUBJECT: BAYLANDS COMPREHENSIVE CONSERVATION PLAN
BACKGROUND The purpose of the Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan (BCCP) is to develop goals,
policies, prioritized action steps, and best management practices to holistically manage the
Baylands Nature Preserve over the next 15 years and beyond. The BCCP will provide staff, the
Parks and Recreation Commission, and the City Council will with clear direction on how to manage the Baylands using an ecosystem-based approach that will help guide the protection of
the preserve’s habitat, wildlife, and natural resources; ensure that stewardship and access to
nature-friendly recreational opportunities are available for park visitors to enjoy the Baylands
now and in the future; and help the City manage the Baylands in a way that allows the preserve
to thrive in the face of challenges such as sea level rise and climate change.
DISCUSSION In June 2017, the City hired AECOM, an environmental consultation firm, to develop the BCCP.
AECOM and staff developed a work plan that lays out how the BCCP will be developed over an
approximately 18 month time period by completing 12 distinct tasks. The work plan (Task 1) can be found in Attachment A.
The implementation of the work plan is expected to last from June 15, 2017 to December, 31,
2018. The following specific tasks are envisioned:
Task 1: Develop Work Plan Task 2: Identify Existing Habitat Areas, Uses and Management Practices.
Task 3: Establish Stakeholder Advisory Group
Task 4: Summarize Future Planned Changes to Land, Uses, and Activities
Task 5: Vision, Goals and Objectives Task 6: Opportunities Analysis, Best Management Practices, and Recommendations Task 7: Impacts to Baylands from Climate Change and Sea Level Rise
Task 8: Baylands Action Plan
Task 9: Design Plan for Byxbee Park Hills Master Plan
Task 10: Assessment of Baylands Former ITT Property Task 11: Draft Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan Task 12: Final Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan
From June 2017 to December 2017, AECOM biologists analyzed the Baylands habitat, and
conducted interviews with Open Space staff and partnership groups to identify existing habitat areas, uses and management practices. In December 2017, AECOM completed the existing conditions report - Task 2 (Attachment B).
2
In August 2017, a stakeholder advisory group of approximately 20 people was formed (Task 3).
The stakeholder engagement plan is included as Attachment C. The group has met three times:
October 18, 2017, December 5, 2017, and February 15, 2018. Stakeholders were also invited to tour the former ITT site/Renzel Wetlands on November 13, 2017, and have been provided
periodic updates by email and opportunities to review interim work products.
At the October 18, 2017 stakeholder meeting, the stakeholder advisory group discussed priorities
they would like to see addressed in the BCCP. At the December 18, 2017 stakeholder advisory meeting, which was also open to the community at large, the group identified opportunities for Byxbee Park and former ITT Property/Renzel Wetlands. At the February 15, 2018 stakeholder
advisory committee/community meeting, the group discussed draft vision statements for the
Baylands, and potential goals and objectives. Following each meeting, notes were compiled and
short reports summarizing major themes (Attachment D) were prepared and circulated to the group. The summaries and presentation materials from each meeting were also posted on the project website. The website (www.cityofpaloalto.org/BaylandsPlan) includes a library of
planning materials, and was developed as an alternative venue for community participation for
those unable to attend in-person meetings. Stakeholders who did not attend the meetings were
provided with materials presented at the meetings and were asked to provide input online.
At the February 27, 2018, staff provided an update on the BCCP to the Parks and Recreation
Commission. The Commission noted that the outreach and focus of the plan seemed on-track,
but suggested the plan would benefit from additional outreach to youth and other Baylands users
not represented in the stakeholder group. In March 2018, the planning team developed a short survey to receive onsite input from users of the Baylands. The survey was administered by
Baylands Rangers throughout April and May 2018. The survey can be found as Attachment E
and included the following questions:
• What issues do you think the BCCP should be focused on in the coming years? Tell us your top 3 priorities.
• What features of the Baylands do you like most or use most?
• Which areas of the Baylands have potential for improvements? What would these improvements look like? (i.e., trails, benches, habitats, etc.)
• How often do you visit the Baylands? (i.e., daily, weekly, monthly, etc.)
What do you do here? (i.e., paint, hike, run, windsurf, fish, kayak, birdwatch)
• Do you have any additional suggestions for managing the Baylands, or ideas for what it should look like in the future?
• What is your biggest concern with regards to the Baylands?
In May 2018, the feedback received from the stakeholder/public meetings and the user survey was incorporated into the Vision, Goals, and Objectives chapter of the BCCP and the chapter
was finalized in June 2018- Task 5 (Attachment F). In June 2018 AECOM also completed the
Planned Future Improvements and Changes to Land Uses and Activities Report -Task 4
(Attachment G).
3
Public Art
Another element of the BCCP is to provide a public art design overlay, which will identify
potential locations for temporary and permanent public art, and ensure that future temporary and
permanent Public Art installations are appropriate for the Baylands. The Public Art Master plan
calls out the Embarcadero Corridor east of Highway 101 as one of the distinct areas that could
benefit from a comprehensive approach to public art planning.
The City of Palo Alto’s Public Art Program contracted with Mary O’Brien and Daniel
McCormick to conduct a four-week artist in residency at the Baylands to engage the public and
help inform the BCCP public art overlay.
On June 6, 2018 AECOM project manager Petra Unger and landscape architects George Strnad
and Carol Maxwell met with the Mary O’Brien and Daniel McCormick and conducted a tour of
the former ITT site/Renzel Wetlands and Byxbee Park. The artists will also facilitate up to two community and stakeholder public meetings to identify particular areas of on-site public engagement and temporary artmaking activities. As a result of the community-engagement work,
artists may create a temporary public art installation which would only remain onsite on a
temporary basis. The artists explained that their vision of a successful art piece is one that integrates into the environment and eventually becomes invisible.
NEXT STEPS AND TIMELINE
•Coordinate with Artists in Residence – June-December 2018, Ongoing
•Prepare Draft and Final Opportunities, Limitations, and Best Management Practices Analysisand Meetings – May-July 2018
•Draft and Final Sea Level Rise and Climate Change Analysis – May-July 2018
•Develop Draft and Final Baylands Action Plan – July-September 2018
•Draft and Final Design Plan for Byxbee Park Master Plan – June-August 2018
•Prepare Use Scenarios for former ITT/Renzel Wetlands – June-August 2018
•Develop Draft Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Presentations – August-September 2018
•Produce Final Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan and Presentations – October-
December 2018
ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: Work Plan
Attachment B: Baylands Comprehensive Conservation Plan Existing Conditions Report
Attachment C: Stakeholder Engagement Plan
Attachment D: Key Themes from the Oct 18, 2017, December 5, 2017, and February 15, 2018
Stakeholder Advisory Committee Meetings Attachment E: Baylands User Survey
Attachment F: Vision, Goals, and Objectives
Attachment G: Planned Future Improvements and Changes to Land Uses and Activities Report
4
TO: Parks and Recreation Commission
FROM: Public Works
DATE: 6/26/18
SUBJECT: Boulware Park Renovation Project
RECOMMENDATION
Staff will present the Draft Parks, Trails, Natural Open Space and Recreation Master Plan to the Commission. No action will be taken.
BACKGROUND
Capital improvement funding of $495,000 was approved by City Council to address
park maintenance needs. The renovation includes infrastructure, accessibility and
maintenance improvements. The two playgrounds are the major budget elements
being renovated in the park, which is estimated to cost $300K. Park improvements are anticipated to begin in June of 2019, with community outreach, bid plan development, bidding and permitting process currently underway.
The first community meeting was held on March 6, 2018 that reviewed the proposed
renovation items with input provided by the community members in attendance.
Renovation Items Proposed for Boulware Park Include: (Refer to Attachment ‘A’)
•Playground & Tot Lot Renovation
•Renovate existing playground equipment, fence replacement,
rubber surfacing and rebuilding the existing wood shade structure
•Irrigation renovations and repairs•Asphalt resurfacing
•Pathways and basketball court
•Site furnishing replacement
•Picnic tables, benches, water fountain, BBQ’s, trash/recycle
receptacles•Landscape improvements•Turf Reduction and conversation to drought tolerant native landscape
areas
•Accessibility Improvement
•Crosswalks with Ramps•Accessible Parking Stall Improvement and Marking•Accessible Surfacing at Picnic/Seating Areas
•Extension of Accessible Walkway Around Park
The community response to the proposed renovations was positive and supportive with a request to review further options on the play equipment (Refer to Attachment ‘B’).
DISCUSSION
Staff will present the proposed park renovation plan and community feed back to the commission for discussion and input on plan.
NEXT STEPS
• Community Meeting #1: 3.6.18
• Parks & Recreation Commission (PRC) Meeting #1: 6.27.18
• Community Meeting #2: August/September 2018 • Community Meeting #3: November 2018
• Parks & Recreation Commission Meeting #2: January 2018
• PRC Meeting #3 – Adoption of Park Improvement Ordinance (PIO): February 2018
• Bid Document Preparation & Project Bidding: Spring 2019
• Council to Adopt (PIO) and Approve Contract: May 2019 • Construction Begins: July 2019
POLICY IMPLICATIONS The proposed recommendations are consistent with Policy C-26 of the Community
Services element of the Comprehensive Plan that encourages maintaining park
facilities as safe and healthy community assets; and Policy C-22 that encourages new
community facilities to have flexible functions to ensure adaptability to the changing
needs of the community.
ATTACHMENTS Attachment A: Proposed Renovation Review Plan
Attachment B: Community Comments from Community Meeting
Attachment C: Presentation
PREPARED BY
Peter Jensen Landscape Architect City of Palo Alto