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HomeMy WebLinkAbout03/27/2008 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION S.C.A.Q.M.D./THE GOVERNMENT CENTER AUDITORIUM 21865 Copley Drive Diamond Bar, CA 91765 MARCH 27, 2008 CALL TO ORDER: Chairman Owens called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:00 p.m. in the SCAQMD/Government Center Auditorium, 21865 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE:Commissioner Herndon led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioner Dave Grundy, Lew Herndon, Benny Liang, and Chairman Ted Owens Absent: Vice Chairman Ruth Low was excused. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Director of Community Services; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Alison Meyers, Recreation Specialist; Sara Somogyi, Recreation Services Manager; Mickey McKitrick, Recreation Coordinator, and Marisa Somenzi, Senior Administrative Assistant. ADMINISTRATION OF OATH OF OFFICE FOR PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSIONERS — Administered by Tommye Cribbins, City Clerk. A. PRESENTATION OF 2008 YOUTH BASKETBALL SPORTSMANSHIP AWARDS: RECESS: The meeting was recessed at 7:15 p.m. RECONVENE: The meeting was reconvened at 7:25 p.m. B. PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION REORGANIZATION — Selection of Chairman and Vice Chairman. Commissioner Herndon nominated Commissioner Low to serve as Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commissioner Grundy seconded the nomination. Roll Call vote: Grundy Yes Herndon Yes Liang Yes Owens Yes Low Absent MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION C/Grundy nominated Commissioner Herndon to serve as Vice Chairman of the Parks and Recreation Commission. Commissioner Liang seconded the nomination. Roll Call vote: Grundy Yes Herndon Yes Liang Yes Owens Yes Low Absent VC/Herndon assumed the gavel. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None Offered CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As Listed in the agenda and reported by CSD/Rose. 1. CONSENT CALENDAR Approval of Minutes for the January 24, 2008 Regular Meeting. C/Grundy moved, C/Owens seconded, to approve the Minutes of the January 24, 2008 Regular meeting as presented. Without objection, the motion was so ordered with VC/Herndon abstaining and Chair/Low being absent. 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS 2.1 RECREATION PROGRAM REPORT — RSM/Somogyi C/Owens complimented PMS/Jordan and his staff for the excellent maintenance of Pantera Park. He heard many positive comments from Commissioners and attendees during the Easter Egg Hunt. C/Grundy said the maintenance was so good he heard comments that the grass looked like Astroturf, which he took as the highest form of compliment. C/Owens suggested the Commission send a congratulatory letter to the newest Day Camp Coordinator on the event of his promotion as well as, a thank you letter to Claude for his receiving the Customer Service Award. VC/Herndon asked about for a refresher course on how the City acquires its Volunteens. RSM/Somogyi reiterated the process. RS/Meyers responded to VC/Herndon that the department has traditionally had between 60 and 70 applicants for the program, which is the maximum the City can accommodate and past participants are invited back. The application is available on the City's website. MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION C/Liang said that in his opinion, the Volunteen program is one of the City's best programs. His son participated for a couple of years and learned many things about the City. C/Owens asked if the returning students were guaranteed a position and RSM/Somogyi said that all applicants had to reapply including returning teens and that applicants must be within the age of 13-15. RSM/Somogyi responded to C/Liang that once teens reach age 16 and Junior Class level they meet the minimum requirements for applying to become a staff member. 2.2 PARKS REPORT — PMS/Jordan VC/Herndon asked if there was anything the City could do to prevent theft of copper wire in the future and PMS/Jordan responded that staff was attempting to secure the pole boxes. In most cases, staff has covered the boxes with soil so that they are two to three inches below turf grade and that grass seed has been planted. Staff has a GPS location of the junction boxes. There are three boxes set in concrete on walkways and staff is looking into how to secure those items as well. 2.3 CIP PROGRAM REPORT — CSD/Rose a. Batting Cages at Peterson and Pantera Parks — Staff held its pre - construction meeting with FS Construction. Construction should commence within two weeks and last for about 45 -days. b. Trail Access at Steep Canyon at Clear Creek Canyon and at the Diamond Bar Center — Staff continues to work with Group Delta for final design plans. C. Sycamore Canyon Park Trail — Phase III — The first round of plan check is completed and staff just received the corrected plans back from David Evans & Associates and the plans have been resubmitted to Building & Safety as well as, a geotechnical engineer since a portion of the path will extend along a V -Ditch so the stability of the slope must be verified. The soils report was submitted and the soils engineer submitted the structural calculations. Final signoff should occur within the next couple of weeks so that the project can go out to bid. d. Pantera Park Storage Pads — Staff received the plan check comments today and will review them and forward them to Building & Safety for final plan check. C/Owens asked if there would be policies and procedures developed for the batting cages. CSD/Rose responded `yes. and explained the procedure. C/Owens said he was most concerned about individuals wanting reservations for the batting cages on weekends, etc. CSD/Rose said that staff would address those issues in the proposed use policies. CSD/Rose said that staff would plan to present the draft policies to the MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION Commission at its next meeting. 3. OLD BUSINESS: 3.1 PROPOSED RULE SIGNS FOR HIKING TRAILS. CSD/Rose presented staff's report and recommended that the Commission recommend City Council approval of the Trail Rule Signs for the trails only. C/Grundy moved, C/Owens seconded to recommend City Council approval of the Trail Rule Signs for the trails only. Without objection, the motion was so ordered with Chair/Low being absent. 4. NEW BUSINESS: 4.1 PARK, ATHLETIC AND FACILITY USE POLICIES AND PROCEDURES — Athletic Fields Fee Study. CSD/Rose asked that the Commission review the policy and make its recommendation for staff to begin scheduling public meetings to gather input from the organizations that may be affected, either at the next regularly scheduled Commission meeting or on another date and time. During the past year staff has been reporting to the User Groups that there will be a time when staff will propose fees for use of athletic fields. The main reason the City is considering charging is to temper demand and recover costs rather than to make money. High levels of usage causes damage to the fields and causes additional maintenance issues. C/Grundy asked if the costs could be proportionately broken down by field/park. He asked that staff consider what the City would do if groups continued to use the fields without paying a fee. In short, does the City have some type of enforcement in mind to preclude free use and has staff spoken with other cities to find out what they do with respect to charging for user groups, etc. He said he did not like the idea of charging but understood the economic realities. C/Owens said he agreed about the breakdown of costs per facility. How would proposed fees compare to the school district's fees and is the fee schedule proposed only for the scheduled use of the facility and what is intended to be done about "drop in" use? C/Liang asked if staff could provide more updated information than the September 2006 figures for other cities. VC/Herndon commented that the projected costs would most likely increase significantly with the increase in water fees, etc. CSD/Rose responded that about a 10 percent increase per year is projected. VC/Herndon asked if the City was aggressively looking at using recycled water. CSD/Rose responded that the City does not have the option of MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION using recycled water and there are no plans for the Walnut Valley Water District to expand their water recycling anytime in the foreseeable future. VC/Herndon asked if the fees would be more in the parks with batting cages. He also asked how the City would handle "drop in" use. C/Grundy said he felt the best way to proceed was to get the proposal out in the public and give sufficient notice of potential fees. Many organizations set fee structures well in advance of the season and would want to have the opportunity to include additional costs ahead of time in order to remain revenue neutral. C/Owens asked what other services the City provides to the User Group. CSD/Rose said that the fencing is needed when the field is being renovated or maintained to keep people out of the field. The goal posts are provided by the User Group. When the City renovated Lorbeer it purchased a new football/soccer combination goalpost for that facility. The nets are provided by the User Group. The City provides for baseball, the pitching rubbers, home plate and base pegs. The City does the skinned portion of the infield prior to the start of scheduled games. The User Group maintains the infield between scheduled games. The City maintains the turf, lighting system and water. The snack bars and electricity are provided at no cost to the User Group. The User Group operates the snack bars and keeps the profit. The User Group does the cleanup and the City maintains the snack bar. The User Group provides its own cooking equipment. The City has paid for some of the storage containers and the City is going to pay for the storage container pad at Pantera Park. Each User Group provides its own storage container. VC/Herndon asked what the City was doing to maintain the current condition of Lorbeer Middle School. CSD/Rose stated that if any holes develop the City would fill them in immediately. The irrigation system will always work so that there are no dry spots and the City will continue its annual maintenance program to restore its condition. The City continues to work with the school district to get more time for maintenance work. C/Owens suggested appointing a subcommittee to work with staff and the User Group. C/Grundy asked if there would be a problem if all Commissioners wanted to attend and CSD/Rose cautioned the Commission that if more than two Commissioners attended the meeting, the agenda would have to be posted 72 hours prior to the meeting to comply with the Brown Act. The Commissioners concurred to hold a public meeting at the regularly scheduled April 24 Commission meeting. MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Owens congratulated staff on the well -organized Easter Egg Hunt. C/Grundy reiterated his positive comments about the look of Pantera Park and the well conducted Easter Egg Hunt, an enjoyable event. He expressed concerns about the issues with extended use of Lorbeer fields because he was very interested in protecting the City's investment in the facility. Jeff Hull, a former Parks and Recreation Commissioner passed away and he will be missed. Jeff devoted much time to AYSO and had a huge positive impact on the community. C/Liang said that last Saturday he visited parks in other cities and found D.B. parks to be far superior facilities. VC/Herndon echoed C/Liang's sentiments. He congratulated staff on the agreement for Lorbeer and wondered if at some point the City should consider putting in artificial turf due to the popularity of the location. He acknowledged that the new park in Chino Hills has Astroturf and it seemed to him that it would hold up better under a lot of use. A couple of weeks ago he hiked the Summitridge Trail with his daughter and was reminded of the fantastic vistas. He said he looked forward to the development of the trails. C/Liang commented that a very friendly City staff provides great customer service. C/Owens attended the State of the City event and was impressed with the information and attendance. CSD/Rose responded that the Facility Naming Policy is with the City Manager's office and he is not aware whether there are plans to move forward with it. CSD/Rose announced that Sara Somogyi was leaving the City to take a position as the new Director of Recreation and Community Services with the City of Arcadia. She will be missed and staff wishes her well and expects that she will be very successful in her new position. MARCH 27, 2008 PAGE 7 P&R COMMISSION ADJOURNMENT: With no further business before the Parks & Recreation Commission, VC/Herndon adjourned the meeting at 8:40 p.m. Attest:. - Vice Can Lew Herndon 1 1 Respectfully-Stlbm itted, se;,Se`cretary