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P&R 02-01-01 APPROVED MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION CITY OF CUPERTINO REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2001 CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jelinch called the regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission to order at 7:03 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLLCALL Commissioners present: Commissioners absent: Jeanne Bradford, Frank Jelinch, Roger Peng, Edye Stein, Kris Wang None Staff present: Therese Ambrosi Smith, Director Julia Lamy, Recreation Supervisor Marie Preston, Recording Secretary Presenters/Guests: Bill Brags, Superintendent, CUSD Leroy Munoz, Director of Facilities, CUSD Dean Tatsuno, Architect Dave Gianelli, Construction Manager Rich Yodites, Business Services, CUSD Kimberly Smith, City Clerk MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 1. The January 4, 2001 minutes were unanimously approved as drafted. COMMUNICATIONS NOT ON THE AGENDA · ORAL-none · WRITTEN - none UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS 2. Proposed conversion of Portal Elementary School to a middle school and possible conversion of the park open space to athletic fields. Superintendent Bill Brags provided background to the reasons the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) is considering a fifth middle school at the Portal School site. He made the following points: · Through surveying some of the community, the new school will more than likely be a neighborhood school. Information that has come back to the CUSD via a web site survey has stated that a neighborhood school is the most favorable choice, which is the direction the CUSD is leaning. · In 1997/98, a facility advisory committee recommended that a fifth middle school was needed and should be placed in the center of the district. Last June, the CUSD sought partnership and began Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 2 sharing ideas with the city. In September 2000, they began presenting formally to the city. The district is also considering Collins School because at one time it was a junior high school. Superintendent Bragg showed site development plans. The first plan showed a joint use of Portal Park. When Council saw this plan, they asked the district to work with city staff to address some of their concerns. Through that review, a second plan was developed, which included a soccer field that the Council had requested. Also, parking around the school was increased to an excess of 30 slots, and the school district has tried to maintain the use of Nan Allen as a future community, youth, or recreation center. The initial plan is to open this site to grades 6 and 7, There is no plan to move 8t~ graders from existing campuses in the first year. With this phase in, the use of Nan Allen would be extended for another year. The district is aware that their proposal would change the use of Portal Park from a passive park to an active park. The district has received a number of concerns from the community from the two meetings that they have held. One of things the school district has tried to do is minimize some of the concerns by making the soccer field small, for practice only, which means it would not be used for games on weekends. Another meeting will be held soon where the school district's board will consider the various options and make a decision. Dr. Bragg listed benefits to the community such as joint use of the school's gymnasium and the Nan Allen Center through the development of a 3 to 5-year master plan with the city. It is hoped to open this school in 2003, giving two years for construction. The proposed additional construction field can be held off until August/September 2004 - roughly a 3-year timeframe. He stated that it was important for the school district to get the plans into the pipeline with the State. A third plan was shown that does not involve Portal Park and would provide the school district the opportunity to go ahead and submit the architectural design plans more quickly. Questions from the Commission: Commissioner Bradford: She noted that the school is targeted to house 750 students; and it was commented that one of the options is to have 6~ and 7th graders? What kind of attendance impact would that have? Dr. Bragg: It is still going to leave the schools a little bit larger than anticipated, so the project may be a phase-in. The plan clearly has to have some neighborhood pieces to it. CUSD is reviewing the impact on neighborhoods. Commissioner Bradford: If it is targeted for 750, but it includes 6th and 7th, what would you expect the attendance at this school to be. Dr. Bragg: approximately 550 to 600 -about 250 per grade level. Commissioner Bradford: And then the intention would be to eventually add 8th graders? Dr. Bragg: Yes, the following year. We would wait a year because we would have current 7th graders that were in another middle school, it would mean that they would be going from one middle school to another. We wouldn't want to have the 8th graders only have one year. Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 3 Commissioner Bradford: Is the building that is currently in the park going away, and specifically the open rest room facilities for people who use the park? You mentioned Nan Allen was an opportunity for us to use that facility, but they don't have open rest room facilities. Dr. Bragg: If there is to be open rest rooms for use on the weekends, that is one those items we would have to look into. We have not budgeted dollars nor have we budgeted dollars for the renovation of Nan Allen. Commissioner Stein: Collins Middle School, you said there were problems with that, is it the size of the facility? Dr. Bragg: Part of it is the size of the facility. Using the existing facilities as best we can would require modifications. It would need a gymnasium, and there are some of our elective classes that need specialized kind of rooms. The current site of Collins is smaller than the current Portal/Nan Allen site as it is being used now. One of the questions is why can't you level Collins? And that is a possibility, but there is a cost associated with that and we are going to look at that and see. We analyzed the cost if we were to put the middle school at Collins, renovate Portal as an elementary school. There is was roughly a $3 to 4 million difference between just converting Portal/Nan Allen to a middle school. There are issues around placement of the gym. In order to get it to a comparable size for playing field purposes, we would have to take over part of the corporation yard. Also, we renovated Collins into an elementary school 3 to 4 years ago. Commissioner Edye: The other question that I have is that you said you would be pulling some students from Kennedy. A lot of the students that are going to Kennedy, and some of the other schools, in this neighborhood, or how does that work? Dr. Bragg: There are a lot of different configurations to consider, including boundary changes. The majority of the students would be from Garden Gate, Collins, and Eaton.. Commissioner Peng: What kind of options in an alternative plan do we have? As I was going through this document from you (Dr. Bragg), what I saw were the benefits, but what I didn't see the downside of it. Dr. Bragg: I think I have highlighted some of the downsides. It does change the nature of this part, we recognize that it moves it from a passive to an active park. It does shift how the recreation program is run and impacts the rest rooms. There is a loss of trees. There are concerns that the buildings will impact the neighbors living right next to the school and parking will be an issue. Commissioner Wang: My main concern is the traffic. We learned not too long ago about the Kennedy neighborhood issues, arguing about parking space, etc.. What kind of plan do you have instead of annoying the neighborhood? Dr. Bragg: As part of changing this from an elementary to a middle school, we are going to do traffic studies. We recognize that there are traffic problems throughout our community. Our schools were built in areas with access streets that didn't take into account the nature of people commuting, the nature of parents wanting to drive their students to school. We have tried to institute a number of programs to reduce the number of cars. We have suggested putting together a traffic task force. Commissioner Wang: This school will create a huge impact on the neighborhood and I would like to look into some solution before we make a decision. We aren't just looking at a solution for the next two years. Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1,2001 Page 4 What we are looking into is if we can help something more long term, such as 10 years. Perhaps building a larger space would be more useful. What is the plan for expansion? Dr. Bragg: We haven't thought about expansion. By way of a demographics study, by 2002/03 studem population is expected to level off. If we have to add another middle school, an alternative program would serve us best in being able to draw across the district. Chair Jelinch: Given the fact that the park is going to be more than doubling in size and under a joint use agreement, what is the fiscal impact on the city? Dr. Bragg: At this time, we are just looking to see if it is a viable option, we can pursue it and then work through it. Ms. Ambrosi Smith asked the commission to consider the opportunities that we may want to take advantage of, but also what we would be giving up. The facility is currently available to us over 5,000 hours/year. There are 45 programs scheduled. She noted the messages that she received from the neighborhood stated the most important facility appeared to be the rest rooms - this needs to be factored in. Both the building and the rest rooms are important to our programming, but this does not say we couldn't benefit from a joint use agreement in a different configuration. Many of the concerns the commission raised would come forth at the Planning Commission level, such as intensity of use of the site an traffic. But the school district operates under state codes, which supercede city codes. The only reason the commission is hearing about this project is that they want to use the city parkland, which requires approval from the City Council, who would look for a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission. If the school district chooses to building without using any part of the park, the commission would have no input. Comments from the audience: Rita Sauvage, 10385 N. Blaney Ave., 3 houses from the school - The neighborhood uses the park for picnics, they take their children and animals there. It is not a passive park, it is an active park and it is important for us to have that park, it is the only little green area that we have in our neighborhood. The traffic on Blaney is intense, especially when they have an activity at the school - people sit in their cars waiting for traffic to clear and they also park everywhere. Collins was built to be a middle school. The Portal Middle School plan will have a negative impact on the neighborhood. Chair Jelinch accepted a petition by Danielle Ugahara, by the neighbors who live on Pear Tree, N. Blaney, Twilight Ct., Cherry Tree Lane, McLaren Place, Wheaton Dr., North Portal Ave., and Plum Tree Lane asking that CUSD not convert Portal Elementary School to a middle school due to the negative impact on the adjacent community, increase in noise pollution and traffic congestion, decrease of open space, quality of life and property values of adjacent homes (30 addresses signed). Danielle Ugahara, 19936 Pear Tree Lane, has been to the CUSD meetings. Discussed the petition she started and had signed by some of the Portal Park neighbors. Resident on Colby Avenue, one block away from park. The park is important to his family who uses it frequently. Is supportive of a neighborhood middle school, but not an alternative school. He likes the plan that does not change the park, and allows the school district to use the Nan Allen site for their plans. Edward Fraser, 19928 Twilight Court. Portal Park is the only green space bounded by Homestead Rd., De Anza Blvd., Stevens Creek Blvd., and Wolfe Rd. The city would be remiss in allowing the conversion of Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1,2001 Page 5 that park to a structured play area. Through their direct observations, people use an unstructured, open space a lot more than they will use structured baseball diamonds or soccer fields. The park had been a decisive point when pumhasing their home. Recommends the school district's proposal that does not use any part of Portal Park for school purposes. Rich McGraft, son at Collins School. Has concerns of children in that area crossing Stevens Creek Blvd. to get to school - too dangerous for anyone to cross this street. Consider the needs of the children. Joan Trampenad, 10141 Colby Ave. Believes the top choice is for the school district to use the Nan Allen site to develop a neighborhood middle school and not go into the park area. Terrance Rodrigues, on North Portal Ave., uses the park a great deal. Does the elementary school disappear? Dr. Bragg stated that the school program would be relocated to other schools. Tony White, resident since 1973 on Forest Avenue. Wants the park maintained as is. Keep the school a neighborhood elementary school and mm Collins back into a middle school. Richard Capriolla, lives on Portal Avenue, 16-year resident. Concerned about the impact on traffic; speeding has been a problem. Portal Avenue is continually congested. Jeanne Gallup, lives between Portal and Collins Schools. Spent a great number of hours in Portal Park. What other opportunities are there to speak to the district about this plan. Dr. Bragg answered there will be another community meeting before this proposal is presented to the school board - date unknown. Ms. Gallup noted that traffic is now at gridlock. Can the city look at changing some of the traffic patterns? Susan Moore, attended Portal and Collins. Concerned is with the park and the impact on the students' lunch hour and after school for the children that are playing there if a middle school should be built. How much increase is there from a staffthat exists at the Portal School now to what it will be if there is a middle school? Dr. Bragg answered that probably a third more. Ms. Moore asked if the site would ever be considered for a high school - Dr. Bragg said no. Ralph Brewer, lives on Portal Avenue (near Nan Allen). Is it necessary for a school to have two playing fields, like the two large soccer fields? Dr. Bragg answered that it was part of the school district's standards. Mr. Brewer favors leaving the park alone and using the Nan Allen site. Likes the school idea. Peter Adams, 30 years near park. Park gets tons of use by the public. Blaney does become a parking lot a couple times a day. lan Colsen, 30-year resident. Observed that traffic is a major concern. Encourage students to bike or walk to school to reduce traffic. Ken Boyce, Portal Ave. resident. The park was a key factor in our choice of buying a home. The city's notice was the first time they had heard about the school district's proposal. Was distressed to see half of the park being used by the school. The park is just the right size. Cutting it in half makes the park too small, there could not a change of things within the park that will attract attention and interest. Would like the school district to look at another site for expansion; there are too many problems with the Portal site. Susan Scott, end of Twilight Court. The first option would put the school right in our backyard. This park - is highly used by families, particularly on weekends, and is one of the only real kid parks. Deciding factor Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 6 for buying home was the park. Once park space is gone, it rarely gets replaced. This decision requires careful consideration. Bobbie Sargeant, 19947 Twilight Ct. He is not pleased with the prospect of having a two-story school building directly outside of our property line. She has asked the school district about using their transportation yard. Cannot understand the logic of using Portal Park over using their transportation yard or the administrative buildings. Objects with the school district's push to use Portal School/Park over Collins. Traffic has been absolutely impossible, and Twilight Ct. is a parking lot. Use Collins as the middle school site. Resident, Twilight Ct. Biggest fear is that there will be a fire in the neighborhood. There is no way a fire truck would be able to get down there. There is a real safety issue because of the traffic in that area. Since Collins was originally a middle school and the corporation yard and administrative offices has so much space that's where the new middle school should be. Resident (name not given). Could the two-story buildings be put in the center of the school instead of directly behind residence's fences. Dr. Bragg explained rationale behind placement of two-story buildings. Resident (name not given). Would like the middle school to be at the Collins site. Chair Jelinch asked about the meeting notification area. Ms. Ambrosi Smith answered that notices were sent to each homeowner within walking distance of the park. Every effort was made to fast track the meeting notice. Dr. Bragg stated that they only send notices out on their meetings and give about one week's notice. Nancy Tressel, Portal Avenue. Asked Dr. Bragg how notices were sent out since she has never received a notice from the school district. Dr. Bragg answered that notices were sent out two blocks in every direction from the school by putting bright flyers on doorknobs. The audience disagreed. James Cox, Blaney Avenue. Park maintenance has been steadily going down causing less and less use of the park, but we still appreciate the park. Does not want any of the park given over to the school district's use. Chair Jelinch discussed the alternatives of the Commission: Take some action · Defer it to the next meeting · Ask stafffor more reports, such as traffic studies, other alternatives Commissioner Bradford: Doesn't see any compelling reasons of benefit to the city or the community. It is clear by what is heard tonight, that there is concern about maintaining the park as it is. Joint use proposals don't seem worked out or clear. Commissioner Stein: An alternative site, other than Portal School, might be a better choice. Maintain the park for the community as is. Commissioner Peng: Shared the concerns of the community. Concerned that a larger representation of the whole be able to give input. APPROVED MINUTES PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION CITY OF CUPERTINO REGULAR MEETING THURSDAY, FEBRUARY 1, 2001 CALL TO ORDER Chairperson Jelinch called the regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission to order at 7:03 p.m. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE ROLL CALL Commissioners present: Commissioners absent: Jeanne Bradford, Frank Jelinch, Roger Peng, Edye Stein, Kris Wang None Staffpresent: Therese Ambrosi Smith, Director Julia Lamy, Recreation Supervisor Marie Preston, Recording Secretary Presenters/Guests: Bill Bragg, Superintendent, CUSD Leroy Munoz, Director of Facilities, CUSD Dean Tatsuno, Amhitect Dave Gianelli, Construction Manager Rich Yodites, Business Services, CUSD Kimberly Smith, City Clerk MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 1. The January 4, 2001 minutes were unanimously approved as drafted. COMMUNICATIONS NOT ON THE AGENDA · ORAL-none · WRITTEN - none UNFINISHED BUSINESS - None NEW BUSINESS 2. Proposed conversion of Portal Elementary School to a middle school and possible conversion of the park open space to athletic fields. Superintendent Bill Bragg provided background to the reasons the Cupertino Union School District (CUSD) is considering a fifth middle school at the Portal School site. He made the following points: · Through surveying some of the community, the new school will more than likely be a neighborhood school. Information that has come back to the CUSD via a web site survey has stated that a neighborhood school is the most favorable choice, which is the direction the CUSD is leaning. · In 1997/98, a facility advisory committee recommended that a fifth middle school was needed and should be placed in the center of the district. Last June, the CUSD sought partnership and began Parks and Recreatlon Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 2 sharing ideas with the city. In September 2000, they began presenting formally to the city. The district is also considering Collins School because at one time it was a junior high school. Superintendent Bragg showed site development plans. The first plan showed a joint use of Portal Park. When Council saw this plan, they asked the district to work with city staff to address some of their concerns. Through that review, a second plan was developed, which included a soccer field that the Council had requested. Also, parking around the school was increased to an excess of 30 slots, and the school district has tried to maintain the use of Nan Allen as a future community, youth, or recreation center. The initial plan is to open this site to grades 6 and 7. There is no plan to move 8th graders from existing campuses in the first year. With this phase in, the use of Nan Allen would be extended for another year. The district is aware that their proposal would change the use of Portal Park from a passive park to an active park. The district has received a number of concerns from the community from the two meetings that they have held. One of things the school district has tried to do is minimize some of the concerns by making the soccer field small, for practice only, which means it would not be used for games on weekends. Another meeting will be held soon where the school district's board will consider the various options and make a decision. Dr. Bragg listed benefits to the community such as joint use of the school's gymnasium and the Nan Allen Center through the development of a 3 to 5-year master plan with the city. It is hoped to open this school in 2003, giving two years for construction. The proposed additional construction field can be held off until August/September 2004 - roughly a 3-year timeframe. He stated that it was important for the school district to get the plans into the pipeline with the State. A third plan was shown that does not involve Portal Park and would provide the school district the opportunity to go ahead and submit the architectural design plans more quickly. Questions from the Commission: Commissioner Bradford: She noted that the school is targeted to house 750 students; and it was commented that one of the options is to have 6th and 7~ graders? What kind of attendance impact would that have? Dr. Bragg: It is still going to leave the schools a little bit larger than anticipated, so the project may be a phase-in. The plan clearly has to have some neighborhood pieces to it. CUSD is reviewing the impact on neighborhoods. Commissioner Bradford: If it is targeted for 750, but it includes 6th and 7th, what would you expect the attendance at this school to be. Dr. Bragg: approximately 550 to 600 -about 250 per grade level. Commissioner Bradford: And then the intention would be to eventually add 8th graders? Dr. Bragg: Yes, the following year. We would wait a year because we would have current 7th graders that were in another middle school, it would mean that they would be going from one middle school to another. We wouldn't want to have the 8th graders only have one year. Parks and Recreatlon Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1,2001 Page 3 Commissioner Bradford: Is the building that is currently in the park going away, and specifically the open rest room facilities for people who use the park? You mentioned Nan Allen was an opportunity for us to use that facility, but they don't have open rest room facilities. Dr. Bragg: If there is to be open rest rooms for use on the weekends, that is one those items we would have to look into. We have not budgeted dollars nor have we budgeted dollars for the renovation of Nan Allen. Commissioner Stein: Collins Middle School, you said there were problems with that, is it the size of the facility? Dr. Bragg: Part of it is the size of the facility. Using the existing facilities as best we can would require modifications. It would need a gymnasium, and there are some of our elective classes that need specialized kind of rooms. The current site of Collins is smaller than the current Portal/Nan Allen site as it is being used now. One of the questions is why can't you level Collins? And that is a possibility, but there is a cost associated with that and we are going to look at that and see. We analyzed the cost if we were to put the middle school at Collins, renovate Portal as an elementary school. There is was roughly a $3 to 4 million difference between just converting Portal/Nan Allen to a middle school. There are issues around placement of the gym. In order to get it to a comparable size for playing field purposes, we would have to take over part of the corporation yard. Also, we renovated Collins into an elementary school 3 to 4 years ago. Commissioner Edye: The other question that I have is that you said you would be pulling some students from Kennedy. A lot of the students that are going to Kennedy, and some of the other schools, in this neighborhood, or how does that work? Dr. Bragg: There are a lot of different configurations to consider, including boundary changes. The majority of the students would be from Garden Gate, Collins, and Eaton.. Commissioner Peng: What kind of options in an alternative plan do we have? As I was going through this document from you (Dr. Bragg), what I saw were the benefits, but what I didn't see the downside of it. Dr. Bragg: I think I have highlighted some of the downsides. It does change the nature of this part, we recognize that it moves it from a passive to an active park. It does shift how the recreation program is run and impacts the rest rooms. There is a loss of trees. There are concerns that the buildings will impact the neighbors living right next to the school and parking will be an issue. Commissioner Wang: My main concern is the traffic. We learned not too long ago about the Kennedy neighborhood issues, arguing about parking space, etc.. What kind of plan do you have instead of annoying the neighborhood? Dr. Bragg: As part of changing this from an elementary to a middle school, we are going to do traffic studies. We recognize that there are traffic problems throughout our community. Our schools were built in areas with access streets that didn't take into account the nature of people commuting, the nature of parents wanting to drive their students to school. We have tried to institute a number of programs to reduce the number of cars. We have suggested putting together a traffic task force. Commissioner Wang: This school will create a huge impact on the neighborhood and I would like to look into some solution before we make a decision. We aren't just looking at a solution for the next two years. Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 4 What we are looking into is if we can help something more long term, such as 10 years. Perhaps building a larger space would be more useful. What is the plan for expansion? Dr. Bragg: We haven't thought about expansion. By way of a demographics study, by 2002/03 student population is expected to level off. If we have to add another middle school, an alternative program would serve us best in being able to draw across the district. Chair Jelinch: Given the fact that the park is going to be more than doubling in size and under a joint use agreement, what is the fiscal impact on the city? Dr. Bragg: At this time, we are just looking to see if it is a viable option, we can pursue it and then work through it. Ms. Ambrosi Smith asked the commission to consider the opportunities that we may want to take advantage of, but also what we would be giving up. The facility is currently available to us over 5,000 hours/year. There are 45 programs scheduled. She noted the messages that she received from the neighborhood stated the most important facility appeared to be the rest rooms - this needs to be factored in. Both the building and the rest rooms are important to our programming, but this does not say we couldn't benefit from a joint use agreement in a different configuration. Many of the concerns the commission raised would come forth at the Planning Commission level, such as intensity of use of the site an traffic. But the school district operates understate codes, which supercede city codes. The only reason the commission is hearing about this project is that they want to use the city parkland, which requires approval from the City Council, who would look for a recommendation from the Parks and Recreation Commission. If the school district chooses to building without using any part of the park, the commission would have no input. Comments from the audience: Rita Sauvage, 10385 N. Blaney Ave., 3 houses from the school - The neighborhood uses the park for picnics, they take their children and animals there. It is not a passive park, it is an active park and it is important for us to have that park, it is the only little green area that we have in our neighborhood. The traffic on Blaney is intense, especially when they have an activity at the school - people sit in their cars waiting for traffic to clear and they also park everywhere. Collins was built to be a middle school. The Portal Middle School plan will have a negative impact on the neighborhood. Chair Jelinch accepted a petition by Danielle Ugahara, by the neighbors who live on Pear Tree, N. Blaney, Twilight Ct., Cherry Tree Lane, McLaren Place, Wheaton Dr., North Portal Ave., and Plum Tree Lane asking that CUSD not convert Portal Elementary School to a middle school due to the negative impact on the adjacent community, increase in noise pollution and traffic congestion, decrease of open space, quality of life and property values of adjacent homes (30 addresses signed). Danielle Ugahara, 19936 Pear Tree Lane, has been to the CUSD meetings. Discussed the petition she started and had signed by some of the Portal Park neighbors. Resident on Colby Avenue, one block away from park. The park is important to his family who uses it frequently. Is supportive of a neighborhood middle school, but not an alternative school. He likes the plan that does not change the park, and allows the school district to use the Nan Allen site for their plans. Edward Fraser, 19928 Twilight Court. Portal Park is the only green space bounded by Homestead Rd., De Anza Blvd., Stevens Creek Blvd., and Wolfe Rd. The city would be remiss in allowing the conversion of Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1,2001 Page 5 that park to a structured play area. Through their direct observations, people use an unstructured, open space a lot more than they will use structured baseball diamonds or soccer fields. The park had been a decisive point when purchasing their home. Recommends the school district's proposal that does not use any part of Portal Park for school purposes. Rich McGraft, son at Collins School. Has concerns of children in that area crossing Stevens Creek Blvd. to get to school - too dangerous for anyone to cross this street. Consider the needs of the children. Joan Trampenad, 10141 Colby Ave. Believes the top choice is for the school district to use the Nan Allen site to develop a neighborhood middle school and not go into the park area. Terrance Rodrigues, on North Portal Ave., uses the park a great deal. Does the elementary school disappear? Dr. Bragg stated that the school program would be relocated to other schools. Tony White, resident since 1973 on Forest Avenue. Wants the park maintained as is. Keep the school a neighborhood elementary school and turn Collins back into a middle school. Richard Capriolla, lives on Portal Avenue, 16-year resident. Concerned about the impact on traffic; speeding has been a problem. Portal Avenue is continually congested. Jeanne Gallup, lives between Portal and Collins Schools. Spent a great number of hours in Portal Park. What other opportunities are there to speak to the district about this plan. Dr. Bragg answered there will be another community meeting before this proposal is presented to the school board - date unknown. Ms. Gallup noted that traffic is now at gridlock. Can the city look at changing some of the traffic patterns? Susan Moore, attended Portal and Collins. Concerned is with the park and the impact on the students' lunch hour and after school for the children that are playing there ifa middle school should be built. How much increase is there from a staff that exists at the Portal School now to what it will be if there is a middle school? Dr. Bragg answered that probably a third more. Ms. Moore asked if the site would ever be considered for a high school - Dr. Bragg said no. Ralph Brewer, lives on Portal Avenue (near Nan Allen). Is it necessary for a school to have two playing fields, like the two large soccer fields? Dr. Bragg answered that it was part of the school district's standards. Mr. Brewer favors leaving the park alone and using the Nan Allen site. Likes the school idea. Peter Adams, 30 years near park. Park gets tons of use by the public. Blaney does become a parking lot a couple times a day. Ian Colsen, 30-year resident. Observed that traffic is a major concern. Encourage students to bike or walk to school to reduce traffic. Ken Boyce, Portal Ave. resident. The park was a key factor in our choice of buying a home. The city's notice was the first time they had heard about the school district's proposal. Was distressed to see half of the park being used by the school. The park is just the right size. Cutting it in half makes the park too small, there could not a change of things within the park that will attract attention and interest. Would like the school district to look at another site for expansion; there are too many problems with the Portal site. Susan Scott, end of Twilight Court. The first option would put the school right in our backyard. This park - is highly used by families, particularly on weekends, and is one of the only real kid parks. Deciding factor Parks and Recreation Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 6 for buying home was the park. Once park space is gone, it rarely gets replaced. This decision requires careful consideration. Bobbie Sargeant, 19947 Twilight Ct. He is not pleased with the prospect of having a two-story school building directly outside of our property line. She has asked the school district about using their transportation yard. Cannot understand the logic of using Portal Park over using their transportation yard or the administrative buildings. Objects with the school district's push to use Portal School/Park over Collins. Traffic has been absolutely impossible, and Twilight Ct. is a parking lot. Use Collins as the middle school site. Resident, Twilight Ct. Biggest fear is that there will be a fire in the neighborhood. There is no way a fire truck would be able to get down there. There is a real safety issue because of the traffic in that area. Since Collins was originally a middle school and the corporation yard and administrative offices has so much space that's where the new middle school should be. Resident (name not given). Could the two-story buildings be put in the center of the school instead of directly behind residence's fences. Dr. Bragg explained rationale behind placement of two-story buildings. Resident (name not given). Would like the middle school to be at the Collins site. Chair Jelinch asked about the meeting notification area. Ms. Ambrosi Smith answered that notices were sent to each homeowner within walking distance of the park. Every effort was made to fast track the meeting notice. Dr. Bragg stated that they only send notices out on their meetings and give about one week's notice. Nancy Tressel, Portal Avenue. Asked Dr. Bragg how notices were sent out since she has never received a notice from the school district. Dr. Bragg answered that notices were sent out two blocks in every direction from the school by putting bright flyers on doorknobs. The audience disagreed. James Cox, Blaney Avenue. Park maintenance has been steadily going down causing less and less use of the park, but we still appreciate the park. Does not want any of the park given over to the school district's use. Chair Jelinch discussed the alternatives of the Commission: · Take some action · Defer it to the next meeting · Ask staff for more reports, such as traffic studies, other alternatives Commissioner Bradford: Doesn't see any compelling reasons of benefit to the city or the community. It is clear by what is heard tonight, that there is concern about maintaining the park as it is. Joint use proposals don't seem worked out or clear. Commissioner Stein: An alternative site, other than Portal School, might be a better choice. Maintain the park for the community as is. Commissioner Peng: Shared the concerns of the community. Concerned that a larger representation of the whole be able to give input. Parks and Recreatlon Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1, 2001 Page 7 Commissioner Wang: Understands the concerns, would like to see a comprising solution that will get support to the school, not a big impact on the neighborhood. Chair Jelinch: In another month, the Commission should defer any action, and decide at this time what they are going to do at the next meeting. If this were going to the Planning Commission, which it isn't, they would want to have a traffic study done, they would want to know the frequency of the additional burden on the community from the cars, what mitigating factors are going to be done to handle the situation, are traffic patterns going to be change, etc. The district has an opportunity to work with the city staff to come up with some new mitigating ideas if this project is going to survive. Ms. Ambrosi Smith noted that the Commission has limited authority regarding the school project, the Commission is involved because the district has asked for use of the parkland. When it comes to evaluating traffic patterns and whether one site is better for a middle school or another, the Commission really has no authority to affect that decision. The questions posed to the Commission are: do you want to recommend to the City Council that we change the use of Portal Park; and if they do recom~nend a change in the park use, are there mitigations that they need to see for the park. ACTION: The Commission unanimously agreed to defer any recommendation to the City Council until staff provides more information regarding the cost impact of the recommended proposals. Discussion will continue for further public and staff input at the March 1, 2001 meeting. Chair Jelinch asked that the notice area be broadened. o Four Seasons Comer Project and other Public Art Projects. Kim Smith, City Clerk and staff liaison to the Fine Arts Commission, presented the approved art project for the Four Seasons Corner by Roger Berry. The art is planned to be placed in the park at the comer of Stevens Creek and De Anza Boulevards. At this time, the Fine Arts Commission is looking for a representative from the Parks and Recreation Commission to sit on a subcommittee who will work with the artist, the landscape architect, the property owner, and the city to design the park space and site the art work in an appropriate location. She detailed the Kimpton hotel and restaurant, which will provide foot traffic to this park area. Ms. Smith added that Councilmember Lowenthal is interested in incorporating activities into the comer, and he is interested in getting input from the commission on that idea. The Commission invisions the space being a passive park vs. a more active park. Ms. Smith asked the Commission for a representative to sit on the subcommittee. ACTION: Commission Stein volunteered to be a liaison on the subcommittee and Commissioner Bradford agreed to be an alternate. Approval of Proposed Projects for the Fine Arts Commission and Associated Budget Increases. Ms. Smith discussed that the Fine Arts Commission is looking to spend $100,000 (received from Apple Computer in lieu of public art on their property) for public art. They are asking for recommendations to take to the City Council from the commission on a possible location and the size of the art. ACTION: The Commission unanimously recommended that a larger, single piece of art be placed at Memorial Park. °. Stevens Creek Trail Schedule. Ms. Ambrosi Smith updated the Commission on the Stevens Creek Trail Committee, their charge of developing a feasibility study, and the schedule. She stated that Parks and Recreatlon Minutes - Regular Meeting of February 1,2001 Page the commission's part in this process is figuring out how this trail fits into the overall Parks and Recreation system and its offerings. ACTION: After review of this schedule, the Commission unanimously agreed to accept the proposed project schedule to develop a Stevens Creek Trail feasibility report. Project Updates. Senior Center: Commissioners will be receiving invitations to the Senior Center thank you dinner on Friday, Mamh 2, and the grand opening on March 3. Senior Center staff will be moving the last week of February out of the Quinlan Center. There will be an International Room to encourage participation by the many difference cultural groups. A new Recreation Coordinator has been hired to expand offerings at the Senior Center, and additional part-time staff added. Wilson and Portal Parks need updating. Ballpark budget numbers to develop master plan are being gathered. · Sports Center Project: Rough financial analysis has been developed with three alternatives. One of the alternatives calls for tearing down the current building and rebuilding a structure with leasable office space as part of the Sports Center- leasing office space at $5/sq. ft. At this rate, the Sports Center could be supported, while we providing some offerings that the private sector cannot. Someone is being brought in to look at the marketability of the project. · Skateboard Park: Compaq has agreed to provide us land to use for a skateboard park for an interim park. Costs need to be formalized and provided to the Council for their approval. There is also a buried skateboard park over by Homestead and owned by the Valley Church of Santa Clara. The Church is interested in joint use of this site with the city. · Teen Center: There is interest in a teen center at the now Blue Pheasant Restaurant. This is being investigated and contact of the business owner will be happening MONTHLY REPORTS 6. The December 2000 monthly report was accepted. MISCELLALNEOUS - NO ACTION REQUIRED 7. Commissioner Stein stated that there are two openings on the 4th of July Committee - Evening Program Coordinator and Publicity/Media Coordinator. Ms. Preston was asked to place a notice in the Cupertino Scene. ADJOURNMENT The meeting was adjourned at 10:05 p.m. Respectfully submitted reston, Recor&ng Secretary APPROVED: Frank Jelinch, Chairperson