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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02-09-2004 Approved PCSC Minutes xdd CITX OF DUBLIN , 4:f Pfl�i AND��iIIMUNIT ptiemeAtiti MINI! TES llF•` �EZiRUARY 9,11104 ., �� vz __ . Chairperson Flores called the February 9, 2004 meeting of the Parks and Community Services Commission to order at 7:00 p.m. at the Dublin Civic Center,Dublin, California. Pledge ofAllariance Chairperson Flores led the Pledge of Allegiance. Roll Call Commissioners Present:Flores,Guarienti, Cain,Hildenbrand,Jones,Pawlowski Commissioners Absent:None Oral Communications Senior Center Advisory Committee Cm. Cain advised that the Senior Center Advisory Committee meeting has been rescheduled for Thursday, February 19,2004. Approval of Minutes Minutes of December 15,2003 Chair Flores asked if anyone had any changes or corrections to the minutes of the Parks & Community Services Commission meeting of December 15, 2003. Cm. Guarienti directed the Commission's attention to page 4, paragraph 11, sentence 5. He asked that the word "parking lot" be inserted after the word "playground"to clarify that access to the playground parking lot was his concern,not access to the playground itself. Chair Flores directed the Commission's attention to page 5, paragraph 5, sentence 1. She asked that the sentence be corrected to reflect that"Chair Flores"attended the last City Council meeting,not Cm. Hildenbrand, as stated in the minutes. • ON A MOTION BY CM. GUARIENTI, SECONDED BY CM. CAIN, AND BY UNANIMOUS VOTE, THE COMMISSION VOTED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF DECEMBER 15, 2003 AS CORRECTED. ABSTAINED-JONES Minutes of January 12,2004 Chair Flores asked if anyone had any changes or corrections to the minutes of the Parks & Community Services Commission meeting of January 12, 2004. Cm. Guarienti directed the Commission's attention to Page 2, paragraph 7, and sentence 4. He asked that the sentence be corrected to correctly reflect participation in the Trail Trekker program. The corrected sentence should read as follows; "They started out with about 8 participants per week and average almost 20 participants per week and there are now approximately 40 Trail Trekker participants". Cm. Guarienti directed the Commission's attention to page 3, paragraph 10, sentence 1. He asked that the word "parks" be replaced with the word "City" and then delete the rest of the sentence "for the Trail Trekker program" and insert a period after the word"City",to complete the revised sentence. Cm. Cain directed the Commission's attention to page 2, paragraph 9, 1St sentence. He wanted to clarify his question about transportation for the Trail Trekker program. Cm. Cain wanted to know if the Trail Trekker's were. using the new Senior Center Van. Cm. Guarienti stated that they have used the Senior Center van a few times for transportation on Trail Trekker outings. The Trail Trekkers like to use the van on trips, which are 30 minutes to 1 hour away because it is harder to carpool to locations of this distance. Chair Flores directed the Commission's attention to page two, paragraph 8, and sentence 1. She stated that she did not ask Cm. Guarienti about transportation and would like the record corrected to reflect that Cm. Hildenbrand actually asked this question. Chair Flores next directed the Commission's attention to page 3, paragraph 5, sentence 1 wherein it states that"Chair Flores"asked if there would be additional fees. Chair Flores asked that the minutes be corrected to reflect that Cm.Hildenbrand actually asked this question. MIirutes—February 9, 2004 Page2of6 ON A MOTION BY CM. HILDENBRAND, SECONDED BY CM. JONES, AND BY UNANIMOUS VOTE, THE COMMISSION VOTED TO APPROVE THE MINUTES OF JANUARY 12,2004 AS CORRECTED. Written Communications-None Public Hearinj'-None • Unfinished Business-None New Business Parks and Recreation Master Plan—February 2004 Update Parks and Community Services Director Lowart stated that the City of Dublin Parks and Recreation Master Plan was adopted by the City Council in 1994 and establishes goals, long-term policies and standards to guide the City in the acquisition, development and management of park and recreation facilities. One of the City Council's high priority objectives for 2003 was to prepare an update to the 1994 plan to consider the revised population and development projections and the impact on the City's proposed park system and recreation facilities. Lowart reported that the Parks and Recreation Master Plan — February 2004 Update is included with the staff report. The update, like the original plan, is organized into five chapters. Lowart stated that she would be reviewing the modifications tonight. Not all parts of the.Master Plan have been updated,rather only those sections that have been affected by changing conditions, since the adoption of the original plan. Introduction The City of Dublin anticipates nearly doubling the current population, which would generate the need for additional facilities. As the City continues to expand it is very important to acquire and develop new parks, open space and recreation facilities in neighborhood developments. Singer Fukushima Evans, Inc. prepared the Master Plan Update. The consultants reviewed the impact of development since adoption of the 1994 Master Plan including pending and proposed development proposals. Updated population projections and their impact on park and recreation facility demands were also considered. Using this information,the consultants prepared the Master Plan Update,which reflects the most current planning and population growth data available. Background and Analysis The study area included.not only existing city boundaries but also areas that are going to be annexed for future growth as well. Information that was considered in the development of the Master Plan included 1)Existing resources both in the City and region; 2)Population, demographics and projected growth; 3)Facilities evaluation and demand; and 4)Park and recreation facility needs. Lowart briefly summarized the proposed changes to the Existing Resources Plan for existing facilities. The City.of Dublin now has 14 parks, 6 school parks and 122 acres of open space, which account for 272 acres of parkland. The population projections were updated which included the Park Standards and Sports Standards, to show the existing service level in Dublin. Staff is not recommending changes to the standards for parks and sports facilities, at this time. These standards are guides by which the City may estimate in quantifiable terms the number of acres or square footage of facilities required to meet recreation demand. Goals and Policies The Parks and Recreation Master Plan contains goals, guiding policies and action programs for each of the following; 1)Parks System, 2)Trails and Bikeways, 3)Open Space, 4)Community Image and Character, 5)Park Acquisition and Development; and 6)Maintenance and Operations. Lowart briefly summarized the proposed changes. Parks and Recreation Facility Standards The Master Plan establishes the number and type of facilities which will be required if the.City of Dublin is to meet the recreation needs of future residents at the level of service demanded by the current population. The Master Plan emphasizes the acquisition and development of community facilities and restricting the use of Minutes—February 9, 2004 Page3of6 neighborhood parks to those activities that will not impact adjacent residential use. Lowart briefly summarized the proposed changes to the City Park Standards, Sports Park Standards, Neighborhood Park and Neighborhood Square Standards, Community Center, Recreation Center, Aquatic Center, Senior Center and Community Theater Standards. She stated that the Community Park Standards/Prototype and Civic Park Standards/Prototype had been deleted. Implementation The main change to this section is the inclusion of one additional funding source, Public Facilities Fee. Lowart pointed out that Table 6 (Funding Sources and Regulatory Mechanisms), Table 7 (Capital Costs and Operation Revenue) and Table 8 (City Park Construction Costs) that were previously included in the Master Plan have been deleted from the Master Plan Update, as they are no longer necessary to the Plan. Lowart advised that an Initial Study was prepared to assess the potential environmental effects of the Master Plan Update and that no comments were received during this period. Open Discussion Chair Flores asked the Commission if they had any questions or comments. Chair Flores asked if anyone from the public had any comments or questions regarding the Master Plan Update. Lowart stated that the public raised no questions or comments. Cm. Cain stated that there seems to be no major changes to the plan. The only issue that concerned him was the reference to the Dublin Hills Regional Park, which he believes is a joint project between the City of Dublin and East Bay Regional Park to acquire land for a park. Lowart stated that the City does have a Memorandum of Understanding with the East Bay Regional Park District currently to evaluate the potential for a Dublin Hills Regional Park. The park would feature trails and open space and would not be your typical active park. The City does feel this project is feasible and is moving forward with negotiations to acquire the land. Chair Flores asked Cm. Jones if he had any comments regarding the Update to the Master Plan. Cm. Jones stated he had read all of the information and felt it was a lot of information and hard to visualize its implementation. Cm. Jones had no further comments regarding the Plan. Chair Flores asked Cm. Pawlowski how he felt about the Plan. He stated that he liked the plan and is happy with the content. Cm.Hildenbrand stated that she did not have any comments. Chair Flores felt that the Plan was very thorough and was amazed by the growth in Dublin. She asked Lowart to review Figure 5 and to confirm if there is a mix of parks that have already been approved and parks planned for future growth. Lowart stated that a transit center has been approved on Arnold Road.. Emerald Glen is owned by the City of Dublin. Bray Commons is located in its approved area. The Neighborhood Square in Area G is in its approved location. Area F is in a state of"flux"right now but the City does know that there will be a neighborhood park and square within close proximity to this area. The sports park is in its correct location. Area B of Dublin Ranch does not have a current development application on file so this is why there are no street names on the map. The 5 parks located in the far eastern end of the map are designated on the Eastern Dublin Property Owners Annexation Area and are noted correctly on the map. Lowart then directed the Commission to the Wallis Ranch Dublin Ranch North area. Cm. Jones asked Lowart about plans for the western end of Dublin. Lowart stated that Schaffer Ranch Development was approved for 474 homes and 2 parks. Environmental issues will require a change in this development. What is shown on the map is what has been approved thus far. • Minutes—February 9, 2004 Page4of6 Cm. Guarienti directed the Commission's attention to page 30 of the Action Program section of the Trails and Bikeways chapter, items 2b, and 2c. 2d., 2e., and 2f. Cm. Guarienti stated that since these action items have been completed, he would like to see these items shown as "completed" in the plan. Cm. Guarienti directed the • Commission's attention to item 2f of page 30. Cm. Guarienti stated that the EBRPD Calaveras Ridge Trail is not open to the public at this time therefore the word "proposed" should be inserted before the word "EBRPD Calaveras Ridge Trail..." to clarify this item. Cm. Guarienti asked Lowart to clarify what data was used for population estimates and requested that Lowart review the demographics again. Lowart stated that she would look into each of his questions and/or comments and respond back to him shortly. Cm. Guarienti stated that the plan is outstanding. He also thanked Lowart for extending the Commission's deadline to give the Commission time to review the material and respond back to Lowart with comments. This time should give everyone plenty of opportunity to respond. ON A MOTION BY CM. GUARIENTI, SECONDED BY CM. HILDENBRAND AND BY UNANIMOUS VOTE, THE COMMISSION VOTED TO GIVE CONCEPTUAL APPROVAL OF THE PLAN AND DIRECT STAFF TO CONSIDER THE PROPOSED EDITORIAL CHANGES SUBMITTED BY CM. GUARIENTI AND THEN FORWARD THE PLAN TO CITY COUNCIL FOR APPROVAL. Shannon Park Play Equipment Parks and Facility Development Coordinator Rosemary Alex introduced herself to the Commission and began her presentation for installation of new play equipment at Shannon Park. Alex explained that in fiscal year 2000/01 the City completed an audit of all of the existing play areas within the City parks. The report evaluated the conformance of the City's play structures with current safety and accessibility guidelines. Based on the conditions found at each facility, it was determined that the play equipment at Shannon Park does not meet current ADA and safety requirements and was in need of replacement. In December 2003, Staff distributed a Request for Proposals. The proposals sought information from qualified play equipment representatives on play equipment components to replace the existing system at Shannon Park. Alex displayed a picture of the Shannon Park Play Area A, for 2-5 year olds, as it exists today. Play Area A has three ADA issues at this time: 1) there are no wheelchair ramps to the play area; 2) the sand in the play area is hard for wheelchairs to move around in; and 3) larger fall zones are needed. Alex stated that to fix these issues, they would put in a wheel chair ramp, replace the sand with wood fibar material that is in compliance with ADA requirements and,install new equipment in compliance with updated fall zone guidelines. - Alex displayed a picture of Play Area B, for 5-12 year olds, as it exists today. One of the challenges of meeting ADA requirements for Play Area B is that it is made up of three separate play areas which are divided by retaining walls, steps and filled with sand. Throughout the three areas, the play equipment straddles the wall, which is a hard surface and would not be considered safe. The steps, retaining walls and sand make this area inaccessible to the handicapped. The sand could be replaced with a wood fibar material. The retaining wall would be removed and grading would take care of the elevational problems. In evaluating Play Area B, Staff has requested two alternative proposals for play equipment. The first alternative removes one of the retaining walls to create one larger play area for play equipment placement. The second alternative maintains the existing configuration of walls. Staff received,proposals from Ross Recreation, Playgrounds by Design and David O'Keefe. Cm. Guarienti asked if there is sand at Emerald Glen. Lowart replied that the area underneath the play structure is a wood fibar mix. The area where the dinosaur is located is considered a"giant sand box". Cm. Guarienti stated that there is also a slide in that area with sand. Chair Flores asked Alex to show on the map where the existing water structure, bridge'and swing.set are located. Alex showed the Commission the area in question in relation to the park set up. Chair Flores asked, what would happened to the swings. Cm. Guarienti stated that the infant swing set section is not located anywhere on the map. Minutes—February 9, 2004 Page 5 of 6 Alex advised that the current swing setup is not in compliance with current fall zone requirements. If swing sets were included,we would lose approximately 30-50% of the play area designated for play equipment. Chair Flores asked Alex if there was a way to keep the existing equipment and still bring fall zone requirements up to code. Alex replied that additional money had not been budgeted to complete this type of extra onsite work. Chair Flores asked if the swings would be removed. Alex replied,yes. Lowart stated that when they approached this project they wanted to make sure that there was the least amount of disruption to the park. Lowart explained that we cannot keep the swing equipment as it is now because it is not in compliance with ADA or safety requirements and must be removed. However we could install a new swing set and scale back the purchase of new playground equipment. Lowart suggested going back to the vendors to re-bid the job including the installation of swing sets. Alex reviewed the cost proposals for the Commission and indicated that the installation will be completed under separate contract and is expected to commence in late-Spring 2004. All of the proposals except Proposal 2 from David O'Keefe are within the project budget. However, Staff believes that the installation estimate from Ross Recreation is too low based on previous experience with other playground equipment installation projects. If the average of the installation cost of the other two vendors were added to the equipment cost of Ross Recreation,both proposals from Ross Recreation would exceed the project budget. Cm. Guarienti asked if the metal ring play area would be removed from Shannon also. Alex replied that this area is not in compliance with ADA or safety requirements and would most likely be removed. Cm. Hildenbrand asked why Norcal was not included in the bidding process. Cm. Hildenbrand stated that the play equipment that Norcal installed at Kolb Park is wonderful and unique and the children love playing there. However there were quite a few installation and service issues during the installation of the play equipment at Kolb Park. Because of these issues, Staff decided not to include this organization in this bidding process. Cm. Hildenbrand stated that she preferred the Ross proposals, with or without the retaining wall. Their play equipment seems to be more challenging at every level and is also more visually appealing and provides sun protection for the children. Chair Flores, Cm. Cain and Cm. Hildenbrand felt that Norcal should be informed of the reason why they were not included in the bidding process. They also felt that Norcal should be given the opportunity to improve themselves and bid on future jobs with the City of Dublin. Cm. Guarienti stated that he likes the Ross bids best, and in order to scale back the budget, he would like to see the interactive walls removed, keep the ladders and slide, keep the rock wall, eliminate 1 slide and 1 climber, install the bridge if it doesn't cost too much. He also likes the idea of removing the retaining walls. Cm. Jones asked how much would it cost to keep the retaining walls and have them padded. Alex estimated that this type of approach would cost approximately$10,000-$15,000. Chair Flores stated that she would like the retaining walls removed and scale back the tot area to meet budget requirements. Chair Flores asked the Commission which vendor they preferred for this project. The Commission unanimously agreed that they preferred Ross as the vendor and that the retaining wall should be removed. The Commission directed Staff to meet with Ross to make modifications to the proposal as discussed and bring back to the Commission for review and approval. Cm. Guarienti asked that the bid include two infant swings in the tot lot area. Cm. Jones, Guarienti Cain, Hildenbrand and Chair Flores all expressed a desire to have the project completed before the start of summer and hoped this would be possible. Minutes—February 9, 2004 Page 6 of 6 Other Business Brief INFORMATIONAL ONLY Reports from Parks & Community Services Commissioners and/or Staff' Cm. Guarienti stated that he was very pleased with the collaboration between the Senior Center and the Heritage Center cultural display. He thought it was an outstanding effort. Cm. Guarienti encouraged the Commission members to stop by and view the display. Cm. Jones asked Lowart if the Senior Center project was on schedule. Lowart confirmed that this project is currently on schedule and moving along nicely. Cm. Hildenbrand asked what construction is currently being completed on site at Emerald Glen Park, and when will the project be completed? Alex replied that the plaza area near the water element structure at Emerald Glen Park was scheduled to be completed in December 2003, however due to some drainage issues, the ground saturation level was too high to pour the concrete to complete this area. Although the exact completion date of this project depends on the weather, once there are 10 continuous days of dry, sunny weather, the ground should be dry enough to complete this project. Cm. Hildenbrand asked when work was going to start at Emerald Glen on the corner of Central and Persimmon. Alex stated that the City has started the parking lot study for Phase III of the Emerald Glen Park project. Cm. Hildenbrand stated she was very happy that the City decided to leave the benches in the plans near the reflecting pole. Cm. Hildenbrand asked when bathrooms would be installed near the play area. Alex replied that the bathrooms are to be installed in late June or early July. Staff Reports: 4The Dublin Swim Center has opened for Dublin High School use only. 4The old Library building has been demolished to make way for the new Senior Center. Groundbreaking ceremonies are scheduled for March 3, 2004. The City groundbreaking ceremony will be at 11:30 a.m.' The Senior Housing groundbreaking ceremony is scheduled to start at 12:00 p.m. Invitations will be mailed to all Commission members shortly. 4The plans are being finalized for the St. Patrick's Day Festival. Lowart advised she would give the Commission a complete update at the next Commission meeting. 4The next scheduled meeting of the Parks & Community Services Commission will be held on Monday,February 23,2004. 4A special City Council/Commission workshop is scheduled for Saturday, March 20, 2004 at 8:00 a.m..to review goals and objectives. Cm. Jones stated he had received an invitation to a Volunteer Dinner. Lowart explained that this is a dinner that recognizes the City volunteers for their service. The dinner is scheduled for February 26, 2004 at 6:00 p.m. Adjournment Being no further business,the meeting was adjourned at 9:06 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Christie Marks Senior Office Assistant APPROVED: kiRk 66)// -- Chairp `r on