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P&R 08-01-02 APPROVED PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION CITY OF CUPERTINO REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, AUGUST 1, 2002 CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Peng called the regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission to order at 7 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL Commissioners present: Commissioners absent: Jeanne Bradford, Rod Brown, Frank Jelinch, Roger Peng, Kris Wang None Staff present: Therese Ambrosi Smith, Director; Tom Walters, Recreation Supervisor; Marie Preston, Admin. Secretary CEREMONIAL MATTERS - PRESENTATIONS MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 1. The regular adjourned meeting minutes of July 11, 2002, were unanimously approved as written. COMMUNICATIONS NOT ON THE AGENDA · ORAL-none · WRITTEN - none UNFINISHED BUSINESS - none NEW BUSINESS 2. Make policy recommendations for use of lawn area at City Hall - Therese Smith gave a PowerPoint presentation on the use of the Civic Center for special events. She explained that the City Council has articulated as a goal that they would like to see more of a downtown in Cupertino and would like to see the Civic Center better utilized and opportunities provided for community events in the Civic Center to draw more people into the area. Civic Center neighbors were informed that the Parks and Recreation Commission would review this topic. She read emails from Yan and Zahra Pavlovic: Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting of August 1, 2002 Page 2 of 6 · Yan stated they were against usage of the lawn area by for-also believe it is the only place where a person can have a place in the lawn without being run over by people. · Zahra Pavlovic wrote about their concern for increased traffic congestion and street safety in the Civic Center. Commission Comments/Questions · Are there groups who want to use the lawn area or transfer from Memorial Park? o Therese answered that no one currently using Memorial Park wants to transfer to the Civic Center. The World Journal would like to return to the Civic Center in May. Also, there will be downtime for about 18 months due to the library construction. Currently, the Big Bunny Fun Run is held at the Civic Center. When calls are received, people are told that it is not available and that there is no policy for its use. If there is an interest in bringing special events to the Civic Center, there are things that need to be worked into the plaza design. Commissioner Bradford asked if she was looking for input on a policy for the short term (now to May 2003) or for 18 months from now? o Therese stated that she was asking the commission for input on a use policy for the Civic Center from this date on. Therese stated that the impacts to consider are parking, traffic, nonprofit vs. for-profit. Commissioner Jelinch stated that the neighbors of the Civic Center have just as much right to be protected from intrusion of large groups as the people living around Memorial Park, and it seems as if the same standards that are working at Memorial Park could be applied to the Civic Center with some adjustment because of the smaller size. (~ Therese stated that there might be a need to look at the need for parking monitors. Commissioner Brown asked if she knew about the plans for the Town Center and how it would impact available parking? Also, if part of the scale-down means no parking garage, would we loose those spaces there and move the parking into other areas? c) Therese stated that Town Center plans, which are 14 months old, did call for a parking garage, which on the weekends would provide parking for an event. However, that project is being redesigned and has been scaled down. Available parking could be a concern. Commissioner Peng asked what is a downtown atmosphere? o Therese answered that a true downtown is a place where people conduct business. A possible policy would include making the space available to people who want to come down and do commercial-type activities. · Commissioner Bradford asked what feedback did Parks and Recreation get from the neighborhood about the Mothers' Day festival given by the World Journal. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting of August 1, 2002 Page 3 of 6 o Tom answered that there was no feedback from any neighbor. Parks and Recreation did receive a phone call from a neighbor before the event asking about potential impacts of street closures. Therese stated that we can expect some calls from the neighbors during the Bunny Fun Run because we block streets off. Commissioner Bradford stated that she was in agreement that if the policies that are in effect at Memorial Park were working, they would be a good guideline for the Civic Center. The size of the events would need to be pared down to events that are appropriate for the footprint. She sees two issues: how do you minimize the impact to the library and the impact on the soccer field. Commissioner Brown, regarding the soccer field, asked how much more usage could the field take; is the turf at maximum stress at this time? He also stated that he would be concerned about giving up the primary use of that turf to accommodate festivals. o Therese stated it would be tough to add more usage. Commissioner Bradford asked if the maximum number of events was dictated by Public Works' recommendations about how much time they wanted between events. c) Therese stated that regarding turf, Public Works wants three weeks. But in the case of the Moon Festival, which is dictated by a lunar calendar, the interval time could be shorter. Commissioner Brown asked if after a big event, would the turf be in a condition to play soccer on? o Therese answered that trampling of the turf is an issue, but more of an issue is the watering schedule. Commissioner Wang asked if a Civic Center policy to include for-profits was developed, would that open up Memorial Park events to for-profits? o Therese stated that she not recommend changing the policy for Memorial Park. Commissioner Jelinch asked what other profit groups have shown interest? o Therese said that several non-Cupertino groups have inquired. One was from an Italian-American group. If we started offering the space to profit organizations, we would get more interest from the event organizers. Commissioner Wang asked how do you determine if they are Cupertino based? o Therese answered if their membership is at least 51 percent Cupertino residents or if they are based in Cupertino, they are considered a Cupertino organization. Commissioner Bradford stated that she would like to see Cupertino organizations considered first; and if a for-profit organization wants to use the space, they can approach the City Council for an exception. She stated she is comfortable with allowing for-profits to use the space, but doesn't know what the boundaries would be. c> Therese stated that would be a consideration in the civic center use policy. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting of August 1, 2002 Page 4 of 6 Commissioner Peng had a concern with having two separate policies - one park for nonprofit and another allowing for-profit. o Therese stated there is a community and City Council interest in creating a downtown. Civic Center events would draw people and give a downtown feeling. Commissioner Wang stated that to her a farmers' market doesn't represent a downtown event. She envisions a downtown area with small shops and a street where people can walk in the street and where cars are not allowed. ACTION: A motion was made, seconded, and passed unanimously to apply the same policies to the Civic Center events as are applied to Memorial Park events. Staff to supply other recommendations for a Civic Center event policy. ACTION: The commission requested staff to: Recommend appropriate size of an event for the area. Perhaps split the area: the plaza and/or the soccer field. · Consider availability of parking. Recommend, based on current usage, what could be accommodated and at what frequency. 3. Consider a grant process to assist nonprofit organizations with festival expenses and make recommendations - Therese reported that during budget review, the idea of not waiving as many fees for special events came up for discussion and also how would that work. She reported that the city spends approximately $40,000 a year in support of events. She outlined the expenses incurred by events that could include staff time and space rental. Starting in April 2003, we would start to bill for some of the fees. The Cherry Blossom Festival would be the first event that could be affected. Their staffing costs would run about $6,000 and this could pose a hardship on that event. Sunnyvale currently uses a grant program; a pot of money is set aside and event holders bid for a portion of those monies. Money is granted based on need. Therese asked for a recommendation from the commission if we should pursue a similar grant program. Therese stated that the city could set aside money at the beginning of every budget year in support of five or six festivals. She stated that a grant program is one way to give a new event an opportunity to get started, or one that is a smaller event an opportunity to continue, while charging the more successful events for the full cost of the production. Commission Bradford asked who would review the grants. Therese answered she would ask for Carol Atwood or Carol Ferrell, someone with a financial background, to meet with the accountant of the event organization and determine their financial situation. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting of August 1, 2002 Page 5 of 6 Commissioner Jelinch asked what Sunnyvale's experience has been with this program and what are the downsides of doing a grant program. He directed staff to report on the downsides of this kind of program. Commissioner Bradford believes the grant program idea is worth investigating and feels we should contact the city of Sunnyvale. Commissioner Jelinch also raised the concern of conflict of interests on a review panel for grant money. He would like to see how Sunnyvale handles that problem. Commissioner Bradford requested a city of Sunnyvale employee, who is knowledgeable about their grant program, be invited to come to the next Parks and Recreation Commission meeting so they could ask questions. ACTION: The commission requested staff to: · Report on the downsides of a grant program. · Provide recommendations for a grant program · Invite city of Sunnyvale to come to the next meeting and discuss their grant program Receive the reports from the Public Dialoffue Consortium (PDC) on stakeholders' visions for the Stevens Creek corridor - Therese brought the commission up to date on the PDC report of the Stevens Creek Corridor and outlined the major themes and visions of the report. She reported that the information came from eight focus groups of interested citizens of the Stevens Creek corridor, who self- selected which focus group they wanted to sit on. She also stated that many of the citizens participating in the focus groups came because they wanted to talk about the Stevens Creek Trail feasibility study. Therese reported that the report went to Godbe Research who will draft a survey to test some of these themes and other themes in a community telephone survey. It is hoped the results will be available for the commission's September or October meeting. MISCELLANEOUS - NO ACTION REQUIRED Staff Oral Reports: none Legislative Update: none Community Contacts: DACA request for use of Blackberry Farm pool - Therese reported that De Anza Cupertino Aquatics has requested to use Blackberry Farm's pool for six months during the winter, while the pool at De Anza College is being renovated. Normally, Blackberry Farm is closed during this time. DACA has agreed to buy pool covers, put up temporary lighting, and do all the things necessary to make that facility work for them. DACA's program would start in September at their expense. Because of the short notice time, the decision of whether to open Blackberry Farm to DACA will be given to the City Council for Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting of August 1, 2002 Page 6 of 6 their review and decision. Therese is currently reviewing a draft agreement. It is hoped that the City Council will review the agreement and make their decision at their August 19 meeting. The neighbors of Blackberry Farm have been notified of this meeting. ADJOURNMENT Chairperson Peng adjourned the meeting at 8:10 p.m. Respectfully submitted Marie Preston, Administrative Secretary Televised Parks and Recreation Commission meetings may be viewed live on Cable Channel 26, and may also be viewed live or on demand at www. cupertino, org <http://www. cupertino, or~z>. Videotapes of the televised meetings are available at the Cupertino Library, or may be purchased from the Cupertino City Channel by calling 777-2364.