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P&R 02-01-96CITY OF CUPERTINO, STATE OF CALIFORNIA 10300 Torte Avenue, Cupertino, CA 95014 Telephone (408) 777-3200 MINUTES OF THE REGULAR MEETING OF THE PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION City Hall February 1, 1996 CALL TO ORDER 1. Regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission called to order at 7:01 p.m. SALUTE TO THE FLAG 2. ROLL CALL 3. Commissioners present: Commissioners absent: Staff present: Buhler, Hopkins, Lohmiller, James, Shukis None Stephen Dowling, Director of Parks and Recreation Linda Lagergren, Recording Secretary INTRODUCTIONS 4. The two new commissioners, Sandra James and Kazys Shukis, introduced themselves. ORAL COMMUNICATIONS 5. None UNFINISHED BUSINESS 6. None NEW BUSINESS 7. Director stated, "The issue before the commission this evening is to review the plans for the renovation of Crcekside Park and formulate a recommendation to City Council. At the end of last calendar year the commission did recommend to city council a program for the design of Creekside Park and tonight what you are looking at is the visual interpretation of that program concept. This preliminary plan comes to you recommended by the task force. Your recommendation tonight goes on to city council for their action on Monday, which is an adoption of the preliminary plan and once that occurs then a final master plan is adopted after it has any modifications recommended by commission or council." Director introduced to commission landscape architect, Jay Beals. Jay Beals gave a presentation of the background of this project for the two new commissioners. "The primary purpose of this park is two-fold. One of them is to meet and provide neighborhood requirements and the second one is to meet and provide more of the sports and athletic requirements. When the measure was passed, one of the primary considerations for this particular site was to have it for soccer. Another major element was to provide some type of building which would give an opportunity for restrooms, storage, concessions, and possibly a meeting room." Mr. Beals reviewed the plan of the entire facility. Commissioner Hopkins asked about lighting at the facility. Director stated that it was walkway lighting only and there will be no lit sports fields. Jay Beals also added that the parking lot would be lit for safety and night use of the building. PRC #175 Approved 3/7/96 Call to order Salute to Flag Roll Call Review & recommend Creekside Park preliminary plan Architect Jay Beals Commissioner Hopkins asked what kinds of comments were made regarding the locking of the bathrooms. "I think it would be a security issue. I can see people going in there and doing drugs by just locking the door." Director said that "there was definitely discussion about that point because of the fact that with a unisex bathroom, the user locks it behind them. It was very well received at the public meeting. The advantages seemed to outweigh that concern." Commissioner Shukis commented that the site looks tremendous. He also asked if they thought about male and female locker rooms in addition to the two bathrooms that the athletes could use with additional stalls. Jay Beals said that they have given all of those things thoughts. "Relating to the number of people, during tournaments or other events that would have an unusual number of people, typically what the city does is bring out porta-potties so that there are more facilities to use on the site. Relating to locker rooms, with the age groups that are going to be playing here, they don't use them. We've wrestled this issue to the ground, we've put a lot of energy into it. We still think the unisex is the right idea, but that is why we are here, to get input." Commissioner Shukis asked if there were any provisions for water fountains on the facility. Mr. Beals stated that there would definitely be a drinking fountain in and around the building, in the play area, in and the tot lot." Commissioner James had a question about what kind of playground equipment was going to be installed. Mr. Beals stated that the playground equipment closest to the building will be for 4th to 6th grade in one portion and then 1st to 3rd grade in another portion. The type of play equipment will have to be one that meets all the current standards, not only for accessibility, but for safety. The next step is to actually look at what may be in there." For the benefit of the two new commissioners, Commissioner Lohmiller gave a brief history of the site and how it was purchased. Commissioner Buhler commented to Jay that most of what he presented really is putting details on what we saw the last time. He asked if there were any items that Jay would consider changes from the preliminary program that we recommended and that the council approved or is this 100% consistent with that. Mr. Beals stated that "it is certainly consistent in philosophy in the way that we approached it initially. The elements are generally in the same place. We have made some adjustments but we haven't made any changes to the program or preliminary bubbles. The only exception that I know of is that the baseball backstop was not previously in this program and now it is." Wendy Armstrong, member of the Master Plan committee. "Regarding the restroom proposal, I was a little bit skeptical about the single use until Ron Esparza brought up the idea that a woman might feel more secure when you know that you are the only one in there and you can lock it. Also if you are playing in the play yard, this extra bathroom could be entered by parents and children that are using the play yard. You could actually watch your child walk over there without going with them and tell them to look in and make sure there is no one in that restroom. That convinced me that I thought it was best to have a single use. I also wanted to bring a letter here that was given to me and be a voice for some children at Sedgwick School. I faxed this over to Steve today." Wendy read the letter to the commission regarding students wanting a skating park at Creekside. Our principal encouraged them to write this letter to me because she knows that I am on the master plan committee. She is concerned because they don't have a safe place in the community to skate, so they skate in the streets. She thought it would be much safer if they could skate within a park. I know there is going to be an in-line skating league at the YMCA, but as Mrs. Spadafore felt, and I do too, a lot of the children in our community don't have after-school transportation over to the YMCA so they are left to just be in the community and it would be much safer for them to be in a park area rather than be out in the street. I was also wondering if we have gotten to the point of deciding where the plaque that the school purchased will be placed or is that something we do later on." Page 2 Creekside Park Wendy Armstrong 10785 Brookwell Dr. Cupt. Director Dowling stated that "the city policy in parks precludes skate boards and the reason is that when someone falls off a skateboard, typically th6 skate board continues on. However, we do not preclude roller blades or roller skates. With this particular design at Creekside many of the pathways are decomposed granite and really are not suitable for roller skates and probably not roller blades. The only opportunity in this particular plan for rollerblading would be along the access road on the north side of the property by the pedestrian bridge and a couple of asphalt areas for basketball. Regrettably, those kinds of roller hockey spaces take up quite a bit of space. Departmentally we are looking at this issue and are doing some research on some cities that have provided blading facilities. There is limited opportunity here and you just don't put them in neighborhood parks." Commissioner James commented on the children's letter and suggested that either Steve or the commission write the children a formal reply. Commissioner James complemented the department on the process of forming the task force and bringing the community in for numerous meetings. She also complemented Jay Beals on this project. Commissioner James moved to recommend to City Council adoption of the Creekside park preliminary master plan. Commissioner Hopkins seconded the motion. All in favor. Motion carried unanimously. Director Dowling stated, "The issue for the Commission on this agenda item is to provide input to staff as we begin this portion of the budget process. The five-year Capital Improvement Program is a planning tool for city council. This commission asked to be involved in the process last fall. What I am looking for as I go through this current plan is any comments you might have relative to the timing or additional projects that you feel should be included in this strategy." Director explained the budget process and reviewed the capital improvement document. There was a consensus by commission to move up the scheduled year for the design and construction of the Senior Center expansion project and to add the Stevens Creek Trail project as a line item to the budget in the unprogrammed column. (Commissioner Hopkins commented he was glad to see that the updating of the play structures is being rolled into the ADA 91.) Commission reviewed the 1996 commission goals and objectives. 1. Five year Capital Improvement program. (February) 2. Creekside Park Master Plan. (February-April) 3. Stevens Creek Trail feasibility study. (May-August) 4. Recreation programs for mid-size Cupertino industries. (February-August) 5. Parks and Recreation programs for shut-ins. (June) 6. Teen pregra:n. :ym~.~gium Task Force. (April) 7. Operating budget. (March) 8. Relationship with YMCA related programs/facilities. (Ongoing) 9. Food concession in Memorial Park. (May) 10. Investigate c~:~:,,,L~v.,.,v program modifications in light of cultural diversity. (July) Commissioner Shukis suggested getting a university group to see what can be done with the knoll and upper area at Linda Vista Park. A college could possibly do a senior project on research for potential uses of the park. Commissioner Shukis said he would inquire about this and see what it would entail and then bring that back to commission. Director Dowling commented that the teen symposium would be better titled Teen Task Force. Consensus from commission to bring item #6 back in March instead of April. Steve suggested that staff give a presentation on the status of teen programs that we are currently doing. Chair Buhler suggested that we invite Liz Gallegos (YMCA) to come and talk about the programs that are going on at the YMCA. Consensus from commission to change item #10 from facility to program. Chair Buhler stated that he wasn't sure it would be a specific agenda item to come up in July. Director suggested we take it off and see what happens with the diversity summit. Chair Buhler said it may be something we can do without a formal action by commission. Director suggested that the senior center staff put together some concepts and bring them back to the commission regarding programs for shut-ins. Page 3 Creekside Park (con'd) MOTION 5-year Capital Improve- ment projects Commission goals and objectives MINUTES OF PREVIOUS MEETING 10. Commissioner Lohmiller moved and Commissioner Hopkins seconded the motion to approve the minutes of the January 4, 1996 Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. All in favor. Commissioner James and Commissioner Shukis abstained. Motion approved. WRITTEN COMMUNICATIONS 11. Commission received a letter from the Parks and Recreation Director of the County of Santa Clara regarding the Park Charter Fund. Commission would like to put this item on their March agenda for discussion. MONTHLY REPORTS 12. The director had nothing to add to the January recreation program monthly report. 13. Community Contacts - Commissioner Lohmiller announced that the Interact clubs of Monta Vista, Cupertino, and Lynbrook High School were having a Crab Dinner at St. Joseph Church on Friday, February 9. MISCELLANEOUS 14. There was no legislative update. 15. None. 16. Commissioner Lohmiller gave a status report on the Creekside Park Master Plan committee. The next presentation will be at City Council on Monday, February 5. On Tuesday, February 6 we meet to finalize the design elements. The public meeting will be on February 13. 17. The McClellan Ranch Task Force received a report from the Historical Consultant. The task force reviewed it and a few recommendations for changes were made, but essentially the report was accepted. It provides a historical background for the site. Those recommendations will go to the consultant who will submit a final report. 18. Chair Buhler reported that the Stevens Creek Trail Task Force met following the tour of the Mountain View Trail. We decided that the next step following the Mountain View model is to try to do a feasibility study. In the interim the Task Force would recess. ADJOURNMENT 19. Commissioner Lohmiller moved and Commissioner James seconded the motion to adjourn at I0:00 p.m. to the regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission on Thursday, March 7, 1996, 7:00 p.m. Council Chambers. All in favor. Motion passed. Respectfully submitted, ATTEST: City Clerk U Chairperson Page 4 MOTION written communi- cation Staff Report MOTION