Loading...
HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/12/2011 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION STUDY SESSION DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM B DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 MAY 12. 2011 STUDY SESSION: 5:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Dave Grundy, Benny Liang, Ted Owens, Vice Chairman Lew Herndon and Chairman Dave Roberto. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent. PRESENTATION OF UPDATED DRAFT PARKS MASTER PLAN — Ron Hagan, TKE Engineering & Planning, gave a PowerPoint presentation of the most current updates. VC/Herndon asked if there was expansion scheduled for the seniors and Mr. Hagan responded yes, that is at Summitridge Park on the pad next to the Diamond Bar Center. Senior and teen needs are addressed in the Master Plan but they are not at the current County Library and Fire Station sites. C/Owens asked if this plan included plans to build out the Walnut Elementary site. Mr. Hagan responded no. Walnut is recommended to pursue for lighted sports field development because of its location, the ability to light it and the input from the sports groups wanting to have fields at that site. Therefore, if they do proceed with calling it surplus and selling that site, the Master Plan will be updated with a recommendation to try and negotiate with the school to get the site or a portion of the site. Mr. Hagan shared that in Fullerton, the City worked with the developer on the site behind City Hall and took half of the school site for sports uses and the other half for senior housing. CSD/Rose explained that the City has had to make decisions on where to focus changes since there are a lot of things that have happened since the consultant team conducted the interviews with the school district and visited all of the sites. Mr. Hagan stated that only about 30 percent of the stimulus money has been released by the federal government thus far with plans to release another 30 percent this October and the remainder the following October. Therefore, because there will be a lot of public works money coming to cities in the next two years, this document is very important because the City is now "project ready" to go after those funds. Chair/Roberto asked where the new building would be located at Peterson Park. C/Grundy asked for clarification. Mr. Hagan responded the new building needed to be moved due to expansion of the parking lot. The tot lot will be redone as well. C/Grundy asked if the foundation of the old building will be pushed further in. Mr. Hagan responded that it will be a new building. CSD/Rose pointed to #9. Mr. Hagan stated MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION that the old building will be razed. C/Owens asked if the new building was larger and Mr. Hagan responded "yes." VC/Herndon asked how difficult it would be to light the basketball court. Mr. Hagan responded that it would not be difficult; however, lighted basketball courts were not a high priority. The basketball courts are highly used and gym space was a high priority but not outdoor lighted basketball courts. VC/Herndon asked if there had been any studies done about how long people stay in dog parks on average. Mr. Hagan said he had not seen studies on that particular subject but from his experience in doing a lot of dog parks, dog parks are more about humans than they are about dogs. It is a social thing for people. Depending on how many friends are there determines how long people stay. People who go to exercise their dogs involves about a 15 -minute stay. Some people who go to socialize will spend a couple of hours, particularly during morning and after work hours, as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings. Many people hire dog walkers who load dogs into cars and take them to the park, let them run and then leave. Times vary according to purpose. Generally speaking there is a posted rule about how many dogs a person can have in the park at any one time and the general rule is three. Mr. Hagan discussed the desire by a few residents to have a walking path in Ronald Reagan Park and whether it would qualify for CDBG funds. CSD/Rose said the walkway was being evaluated by the CDC that administers the CDBG funds to see if this would qualify for funding. Because there is no access to the grass area, it does not mean it would necessarily qualify, but there is a nice view at the point area and adding an area where folks could get to in a wheelchair might be desirable. C/Grundy asked if it would strengthen the argument to put an overlook or covered shelter at the view point and CSD/Rose said that could be done. CDC asked for a graphic and visited the site to determine whether this was something that would justify the walkway. VC/Herndon asked if Mr. Hagan intended to show the existing lights at Heritage Park and Mr. Hagan responded that they are shown at the site. Mr. Hagan stated that the Lorbeer Middle School site is one of the sites recommended to be a major sports complex to resolve field needs in the future. There is already a joint use agreement in effect. VC/Herndon asked if there was a possibility of using this as a "named" sports complex. Mr. Hagan said it would work. He put together a strategy for implementing field improvements and naming rights is a part of that. There is extremely high visibility on Golden Springs Drive so signage with the name of the field would have a lot of advertising appeal. VC/Herndon asked if fencing was considered for school sites that would permit or exclude access to the school. Mr. Hagan said the main concern for school sites is access to restrooms and if the user groups use the school's facilities, the schools want to be reimbursed for those costs. Those costs should be included in the tournament schedule. Chair/Roberto asked if there was still a plan to build Larkstone Park and CSD/Rose responded yes, that the developer is on the hook to build the park and is working on the plans. All of the grading plans need to be finished and approved for the total project MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION and the park can be built at that time. Mr. Hagan said there was a design which included restrooms because this park will be heavily used if sports fields are included at South Pointe Middle School, which is across the street from the park. C/Grundy asked what the amounts attached to soccer fields, for example, would be. Mr. Hagan responded that schools have cut back on their budgets, and fields have deteriorated to the point that it does not do any good to come in and try to bring the fields up to standards. The $150,000 allows for a complete re -do of the irrigation, grading, replanting and other site improvements. This would be done on a joint use basis only. VC/Herndon asked Mr. Hagan if, based on his study of the community and its needs, he could prioritize the items. Mr. Hagan said he would be able to do that. First, he commented on the funding strategies and then discussed how he would arrive at the priorities for implementation of the sports fields. In order to accomplish the implementation of sports fields, the City would need to host a sports group focus workshop and present it in the Master Plan. Mr. Hagan said that in his opinion, the sports groups would immediately be on board and ask when it could be done. The City may raise the risk of raising expectations, but it is the only way in which to set the priorities. After the presentation, the City would work with the sports groups. Perhaps a subcommittee of the Commission could be appointed and they, along with the consultants, could set the priorities. In order to get the biggest bang for the buck, the priority would likely be accomplishing the Lorbeer and South Pointe Middle Schools scenarios, plus the Walnut Elementary School site. The City would fulfill all of its tournament needs and all of its lighted sports complex needs for the foreseeable future. Mr. Hagan said it would be preferable to have a centralized sports complex, take over the golf course and change it to a sports complex, take over Lanterman and change it to a sports complex or the AERA property and convert 40 -acres to a sports complex; however, all of those are just not politically or financially feasible to acquire and build so we have to work with what we have. There will be a group that says they would really rather have the improvements to the fields. It all depends on what the City wants to accomplish. If it is to improve existing conditions to get rid of the complaints, the City can do the field improvements. If the City wants to accomplish the goal of having lighted sports fields/complexes to provide for evening and weekend tournaments, then the three priority sites would be done. Groups need to be involved in setting that priority. Mr. Hagan acknowledged it would take about $7 million to accomplish the three priority sites. C/Liang asked if the costs were based on the current costs. Mr. Hagan said it is, but he believes the current costs are not projected to go up in the next five to ten years because there are contingencies, inflation factors, etc. built in. Chair/Roberto asked if there was a reason why the funding of the Pony League baseball facility was not included in the discussion. Mr. Hagan responded that it is. When this presentation was made to the City Council and with the administration, the Council and administration were not desirous of making improvements to property the City does not own nor has any joint use or joint development agreement with. They felt the City's direction should be to _improve City property and school district property and only school district property for which there is a joint use agreement. They did not feel that a joint use agreement with the Pony League would work from a political standpoint and an operational standpoint and that the City would get stuck with all of the cost and none of the use. The improvements are in the Master Plan and if the policy direction of MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION Council changes, the Commission could pursue that as one of the sports field improvements. His direction from Council at that meeting was to solve the sports field needs on City and school property and to come up with recommendations that would deal with providing the sports groups with practice fields, game fields and tournament fields. He was also tasked with identifying the lighted field spaces that could be done in the City and only on City owned or school owned property where they were assured the City could control the use. Mr. Hagan continued that once the Commission has determined priorities with the user group, it would need to determine the funding needed for the priorities and assist those funding efforts with the expansion of the Diamond Bar Community Foundation by adding a sports improvement subcommittee. The biggest single factor that makes this type of strategy a success is finding an advocate or leader to be the face of the fundraising efforts. Once the priorities are set, the sports groups are on board, the Foundation is expanded with a specific emphasis to raise money for the implementation of those improvements, and an advocate has been recruited; the three -pronged approach is implemented: Fundraising, asset management and implementation. VC/Herndon asked if it was possible to use the equestrian center within "The Country Estates." Mr. Hagan said he believed it was subject to acquisition but it has been eliminated. The problem was that the City Council said it was not being used as an equestrian center. It is being rented out for private parties such as weddings and community events. RS/Murphey shared that someone came to the Diamond Bar Center about a month ago to check about programming and believed that they were going to be refurbishing rooms and holding classes and other activities as well. C/Grundy asked, if in her opinion, they were trying to get an idea about programming and RS/Murphey responded yes, various types of classes. CSD/Rose said staff hears that they may be doing large banquet type events and staff is not sure whether it is intended just for the residents of "The Country Estates" or if it will be opened to the public. Mr. Hagan said the Council felt that the City did not want to get into the equestrian business which was backed up by the survey that revealed "equestrian use" being very low on the priority list. Also, the Council did not need it for "park use" so it was deleted from the Master Plan. CSD/Rose stated that when the Sports Complex subcommittee was active a few years ago, it looked at sites including Lots 1 and 61 (Summitridge and Longview) and the area behind Pantera Park. Civil engineers looked at these areas and for grading alone, it was in the $15-25 million dollar range to create a pad only, without development and without access that would accommodate a sports park. Mr. Hagan said that discussions about costs that included development and access became $40-60 million. Mr. Hagan explained that $12 million to do all of the sports facilities that were discussed this evening is not a big number considering how many facilities would be improved and how many fields and lighted fields the City would have access to that would provide tournament facilities. The process as outlined may set the goal at the $12 million mark and he felt that in fact, $8 million was a number that would accomplish the goal. Mr. Hagan stated that if the Diamond Bar Community Foundation agreed to raise $500,000 (10% toward $5 million) and did so, it would be a lot easier for Council to vote yes on an assessment or to allocate public works funds for that kind of project. C/Grundy asked if staff planned to make a presentation to the sports groups and talk MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION about these priorities, could the City or Foundation suggest that the sports groups form a permanent committee consisting of one member from each sports group that works jointly on fundraising so that it could be coordinator with the Foundation subcommittee. The time to strike is during the presentation so that excitement can be created to get everyone working together to accomplish the ultimate goal. Mr. Hagan felt that such a group could facilitate finding an advocate to steer the fundraising effort. C/Grundy said that most of the groups have a board made up of long-time members with strategic vision and short term folks who are there for their kids. If there are enough long term members who have a strategic vision, the City can probably convince them to put a position on the board that is the committee representative for this effort and then the people who really run the board (long term individuals) would be able to get that supported. VC/Herndon said he would feel more comfortable approving the document once he had a chance to look at the final draft to see if any additional corrections should be made. CSD/Rose said the Council would not be making a decision until the end of July and from this time forward, editorial changes can be made to the document. The policy statements will remain the same. Editorial changes can be made even after the document has been recommended for approval until the final document is printed for distribution. VC/Herndon asked if the new City Hall address could be put on the document to make the document appear more current. Commissioners concurred that they would like to have the new address on the document. C[Owens asked if this was a 10-15 or 20 year plan and CSD/Rose said he looks at this as a 10 -year plan. Mr. Hagan has put this together as a 20 -year plan because a lot of the items will not get done in 10 years. Mr. Hagan said this is a planning guide for 20 - years. Council has made policy changes and so, from CSD/Rose's perspective, he can now work on his Capital Improvement Program for the next 10 years. He cannot really look beyond that because of potential changes in the community after 10 years. CSD/Rose stated that according to the General Plan, the Parks Master Plan should be updated every 10 years and whether it is a wholesale change or just a cursory look at the recommendations and updates based on current needs, staff decided to go out and do a wholesale change to update the entire document. That will happen again in 10 years in some form. With respect to the trails, he met with individuals from L.A. County whose job it is to update the L.A. County Trails Master Plan. The meeting involved property in "The Country Estates" where a developer is developing a neighborhood and there are trail easements for the Schabarum Trail that go through that property. The purpose of the meeting was to realign the Schabarum Trail so that it would work with that new development and create the best opportunity for today and for the future. The Schabarum Trail goes in and out of the City and that is exactly what was happening in that development. It was going into the development and then going out of the City limits into unincorporated L.A. County and then back into the development two or three times. Therefore, the developer has agreed to create a working trail through the development that would work for the residents and they will also improve and maintain that portion of the easement. So, in the future when the Schabarum Trail is built out, these easements will connect. CSD/Rose gave the representatives a copy of the Trails Master Plan Map and after the meeting the representatives went out and walked some of the trails to get a feel for the type of improvements being made in the City. When the representatives got back to him, they voiced their support at how much the City was MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION doing with trails in D.B. There will continue to be a synergy between the City and County while working together to improve alignments and trail connections. CSD/Rose said he appreciated Table 7.1 with the graphics. CSD/Rose thanked Mr. Hagan for doing such a great job on, this document. Mr. Hagan stated that the Commissioners and staff are great to work with and they are proud of the product in spite of typos, etc. He appreciates the Commissioners applying their fine toothed comb to the document. ADJOURNMENT: Study Session adjourned at 7:00 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved thisl:=(rrl day of 1t& 2011. Respectfully emitted, RETARY Attest: DAVE ROBERTO, CHAIRMAN CITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION STUDY SESSION DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM B DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 MAY 12, 2011 STUDY SESSION: 5:00 p.m. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Dave Grundy, Benny Liang, Ted Owens, Vice Chairman Lew Herndon and Chairman Dave Roberto. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent. PRESENTATION OF UPDATED DRAFT PARKS MASTER PLAN — Ron Hagan, TKE Engineering & Planning, gave a PowerPoint presentation of the most current updates. VC/Herndon asked if there was expansion scheduled for the seniors and Mr. Hagan responded yes, that is at Summitridge Park on the pad next to the Diamond Bar Center. Senior and teen needs are addressed in the Master Plan but they are not at the current County Library and Fire Station sites. C/Owens asked if this plan included plans to build out the Walnut Elementary site. Mr. Hagan responded no. Walnut is recommended to pursue for lighted sports field development because of its location, the ability to light it and the input from the sports groups wanting to have fields at that site. Therefore, if they do proceed with calling it surplus and selling that site, the Master Plan will be updated with a recommendation to try and negotiate with the school to get the site or a portion of the site. Mr. Hagan shared that in Fullerton, the City worked with the developer on the site behind City Hall and took half of the school site for sports uses and the other half for senior housing. CSD/Rose explained that the City has had to make decisions on where to focus changes since there are a lot of things that have happened since the consultant team conducted the interviews with the school district and visited all of the sites. Mr. Hagan stated that only about 30 percent of the stimulus money has been released by the federal government thus far with plans to release another 30 percent this October and the remainder the following October. Therefore, because there will be a lot of public works money coming to cities in the next two years, this document is very important because the City is now "project ready" to go after those funds. Chair/Roberto asked where the new building would be located at Peterson Park. C/Grundy asked for clarification. Mr. Hagan responded the new building needed to be moved due to expansion of the parking lot. The tot lot will be redone as well. C/Grundy asked if the foundation of the old building will be pushed further in. Mr. Hagan responded that it will be a new building. CSD/Rose pointed to #9. Mr. Hagan stated MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION that the old building will be razed. C/Owens asked if the new building was larger and Mr. Hagan responded "yes." VC/Herndon asked how difficult it would be to light the basketball court. Mr. Hagan responded that it would not be difficult; however, lighted basketball courts were not a high priority. The basketball courts are highly used and gym space was a high priority but not outdoor lighted basketball courts. VC/Herndon asked if there had been any studies done about how long people stay in dog parks on average. Mr. Hagan said he had not seen studies on that particular subject but from his experience in doing a lot of dog parks, dog parks are more about humans than they are about dogs. It is a social thing for people. Depending on how many friends are there determines how long people stay. People who go to exercise their dogs involves about a 15 -minute stay. Some people who go to socialize will spend a couple of hours, particularly during morning and after work hours, as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings. Many people hire dog walkers who load dogs into cars and take them to the park, let them run and then leave. Times vary according to purpose. Generally speaking there is a posted rule about how many dogs a person can have in the park at any one time and the general rule is three. Mr. Hagan discussed the desire by a few residents to have a walking path in Ronald Reagan Park and whether it would qualify for CDBG funds. CSD/Rose said the walkway was being evaluated by the CDC that administers the CDBG funds to see if this would qualify for funding. Because there is no access to the grass area, it does not mean it would necessarily qualify, but there is a nice view at the point area and adding an area where folks could get to in a wheelchair might be desirable. C/Grundy asked if it would strengthen the argument to put an overlook or covered shelter at the view point and CSD/Rose said that could be done. CDC asked for a graphic and visited the site to determine whether this was something that would justify the walkway. VC/Herndon asked if Mr. Hagan intended to show the existing lights at Heritage Park and Mr. Hagan responded that they are shown at the site. Mr. Hagan stated that the Lorbeer Middle School site is one of the sites recommended to be a major sports complex to resolve field needs in the future. There is already a joint use agreement in effect. VC/Herndon asked if there was a possibility of using this as a "named" sports complex. Mr. Hagan said it would work. He put together a strategy for implementing field improvements and naming rights is a part of that. There is extremely high visibility on Golden Springs Drive so signage with the name of the field would have a lot of advertising appeal. VC/Herndon asked if fencing was considered for school sites that would permit or exclude access to the school. Mr. Hagan said the main concern for school sites is access to restrooms and if the user groups use the school's facilities, the schools want to be reimbursed for those costs. Those costs should be included in the tournament schedule. Chair/Roberto asked if there was still a plan to build Larkstone Park and CSD/Rose responded yes, that the developer is on the hook to build the park and is working on the plans. All of the grading plans need to be finished and approved for the total project MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION and the park can be built at that time. Mr. Hagan said there was a design which included restrooms because this park will be heavily used if sports fields are included at South Pointe Middle School, which is across the street from the park. C/Grundy asked what the amounts attached to soccer fields, for example, would be. Mr. Hagan responded that schools have cut back on their budgets, and fields have deteriorated to the point that it does not do any good to come in and try to bring the fields up to standards. The $150,000 allows for a complete re -do of the irrigation, grading, replanting and other site improvements. This would be done on a joint use basis only. VC/Herndon asked Mr. Hagan if, based on his study of the community and its needs, he could prioritize the items. Mr. Hagan said he would be able to do that. First, he commented on the funding strategies and then discussed how he would arrive at the priorities for implementation of the sports fields. In order to accomplish the implementation of sports fields, the City would need to host a sports group focus workshop and present it in the Master Plan. Mr. Hagan said that in his opinion, the sports groups would immediately be on board and ask when it could be done. The City may raise the risk of raising expectations, but it is the only way in which to set the priorities. After the presentation, the City would work with the sports groups. Perhaps a subcommittee of the Commission could be appointed and they, along with the consultants, could set the priorities. In order to get the biggest bang for the buck, the priority would likely be accomplishing the Lorbeer and South Pointe Middle Schools scenarios, plus the Walnut Elementary School site. The City would fulfill all of its tournament needs and all of its lighted sports complex needs for the foreseeable future. Mr. Hagan said it would be preferable to have a centralized sports complex, take over the golf course and change it to a sports complex, take over Lanterman and change it to a sports complex or the AERA property and convert 40 -acres to a sports complex; however, all of those are just not politically or financially feasible to acquire and build so we have to work with what we have. There will be a group that says they would really rather have the improvements to the fields. It all depends on what the City wants to accomplish. If it is to improve existing conditions to get rid of the complaints, the City can do the field improvements. If the City wants to accomplish the goal of having lighted sports fields/complexes to provide for evening and weekend tournaments, then the three priority sites would be done. Groups need to be involved in setting that priority. Mr. Hagan acknowledged it would take about $7 million to accomplish the three priority sites. C/Liang asked if the costs were based on the current costs. Mr. Hagan said it is, but he believes the current costs are not projected to go up in the next five to ten years because there are contingencies, inflation factors, etc. built in. Chair/Roberto asked if there was a reason why the funding of the Pony League baseball facility was not included in the discussion. Mr. Hagan responded that it is. When this presentation was made to the City Council and with the administration, the Council and administration were not desirous of making improvements to property the City does not own nor has any joint use or joint development agreement with. They felt the City's direction should be to .improve City property and school district property and only school district property for which there is a joint use agreement. They did not feel that a joint use agreement with the Pony League would work from a political standpoint and an operational standpoint and that the City would get stuck with all of the cost and none of the use. The improvements are in the Master Plan and if the policy direction of MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION Council changes, the Commission could pursue that as one of the sports field improvements. His direction from Council at that meeting was to solve the sports field needs on City and school property and to come up with recommendations that would deal with providing the sports groups with practice fields, game fields and tournament fields. He was also tasked with identifying the lighted field spaces that could be done in the City and only on City owned or school owned property where they were assured the City could control the use. Mr. Hagan continued that once the Commission has determined priorities with the user group, it would need to determine the funding needed for the priorities and assist those funding efforts with the expansion of the Diamond Bar Community Foundation by adding a sports improvement subcommittee. The biggest single factor that makes this type of strategy a success is finding an advocate or leader to be the face of the fundraising efforts. Once the priorities are set, the sports groups are on board, the Foundation is expanded with a specific emphasis to raise money for the implementation of those improvements, and an advocate has been recruited; the three -pronged approach is implemented: Fundraising, asset management and implementation. VC/Herndon asked if it was possible to use the equestrian center within "The Country Estates." Mr. Hagan said he believed it was subject to acquisition but it has been eliminated. The problem was that the City Council said it was not being used as an equestrian center. It is being rented out for private parties such as weddings and community events. RS/Murphey shared that someone came to the Diamond Bar Center about a month ago to check about programming and believed that they were going to be refurbishing rooms and holding classes and other activities as well. C/Grundy asked, if in her opinion, they were trying to get an idea about programming and RS/Murphey responded yes, various types of classes. CSD/Rose said staff hears that they may be doing large banquet type events and staff is not sure whether it is intended just for the residents of "The Country Estates" or if it will be opened to the public. Mr. Hagan said the Council felt that the City did not want to get into the equestrian business which was backed up by the survey that revealed "equestrian use" being very low on the priority list. Also, the Council did not need it for "park use" so it was deleted from the Master Plan. CSD/Rose stated that when the Sports Complex subcommittee was active a few years ago, it looked at sites including Lots 1 and 61 (Summitridge and Longview) and the area behind Pantera Park. Civil engineers looked at these areas and for grading alone, it was in the $15-25 million dollar range to create a pad only, without development and without access that would accommodate a sports park. Mr. Hagan said that discussions about costs that included development and access became $40-60 million. Mr. Hagan explained that $12 million to do all of the sports facilities that were discussed this evening is not a big number considering how many facilities would be improved and how many fields and lighted fields the City would have access to that would provide tournament facilities. The process as outlined may set the goal at the $12 million mark and he felt that in fact, $8 million was a number that would accomplish the goal. Mr. Hagan stated that if the Diamond Bar Community Foundation agreed to raise $500,000 (10% toward $5 million) and did so, it would be a lot easier for Council to vote yes on an assessment or to allocate public works funds for that kind of project. C/Grundy asked if staff planned to make a presentation to the sports groups and talk MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION about these priorities, could the City or Foundation suggest that the sports groups form a permanent committee consisting of one member from each sports group that works jointly on fundraising so that it could be coordinator with the Foundation subcommittee. The time to strike is during the presentation so that excitement can be created to get everyone working together to accomplish the ultimate goal. Mr. Hagan felt that such a group could facilitate finding an advocate to steer the fundraising effort. C/Grundy said that most of the groups have a board made up of long-time members with strategic vision and short term folks who are there for their kids. If there are enough long term members who have a strategic vision, the City can probably convince them to put a position on the board that is the committee representative for this effort and then the people who really run the board (long term individuals) would be able to get that supported. VC/Herndon said he would feel more comfortable approving the document once he had a chance to look at the final draft to see if any additional corrections should be made. CSD/Rose said the Council would not be making a decision until the end of July and from this time forward, editorial changes can be made to the document. The policy statements will remain the same. Editorial changes can be made even after the document has been recommended for approval until the final document is printed for distribution. VC/Herndon asked if the new City Hall address could be put on the document to make the document appear more current. Commissioners concurred that they would like to have the new address on the document. C/Owens asked if this was a 10-15 or 20 year plan and CSD/Rose said he looks at this as a 10 -year plan. Mr. Hagan has put this together as a 20 -year plan because a lot of the items will not get done in 10 years. Mr. Hagan said this is a planning guide for 20 - years. Council has made policy changes and so, from CSD/Rose's perspective, he can now work on his Capital Improvement Program for the next 10 years. He cannot really look beyond that because of potential changes in the community after 10 years. CSD/Rose stated that according to the General Plan, the Parks Master Plan should be updated every 10 years and whether it is a wholesale change or just a cursory look at the recommendations and updates based on current needs, staff decided to go out and do a wholesale change to update the entire document. That will happen again in 10 years in some form. With respect to the trails, he met with individuals from L.A. County whose job it is to update the L.A. County Trails Master Plan. The meeting involved property in "The Country Estates" where a developer is developing a neighborhood and there are trail easements for the Schabarum Trail that go through that property. The purpose of the meeting was to realign the Schabarum Trail so that it would work with that new development and create the best opportunity for today and for the future. The Schabarunn Trail goes in and out of the City and that is exactly what was happening in that development. It was going into the development and then going out of the City limits into unincorporated L.A. County and then back into the development two or three times. Therefore, the developer has agreed to create a working trail through the development that would work for the residents and they will also improve and maintain that portion of the easement. So, in the future when the Schabarum Trail is built out, these easements will connect. CSD/Rose gave the representatives a copy of the Trails Master Plan Map and after the meeting the representatives went out and walked some of the trails to get a feel for the type of improvements being made in the City. When the representatives got back to him, they voiced their support at how much the City was MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION doing with trails in D.B. There will continue to be a synergy between the City and County while working together to improve alignments and trail connections. CSD/Rose said he appreciated Table 7.1 with the graphics. CSD/Rose thanked Mr. Hagan for doing such a great job on, this document. Mr. Hagan stated that the Commissioners and staff are great to work with and they are proud of the product in spite of typos, etc. He appreciates the Commissioners applying their fine toothed comb to the document. ADJOURNMENT': Study Session adjourned at 7:00 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved thisc;Wl day of ItAiy 2011. Respectfully S emitted, fl ,SECRETARY Attest: (11 DAVE ROBERTO, CHAIRMAN APPROVED AS AMENDED CITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION STUDY SESSION DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL CONFERENCE ROOM B DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 MAY 12, 201'1 STUDY SESSION: ROLL CALL: Present: 5:00 P.M. Commissioners Dave Grundy, Benny Liang, Ted Owens, Vice Chairman Lew Herndon and Chairman Dave Roberto. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent. PRESENTATION OF UPDATED DRAFT PARKS MASTER PLAN — Ron Hagan, TKE Engineering & Planning, gave a PowerPoint presentation of the most current updates. VC/Herndon asked if there was expansion scheduled for the seniors and Mr. Hagan responded yes, that is at Summitridge Park on the pad next to the Diamond Bar Center. Senior and teen needs are addressed in the Master Plan but they are not at the current County Library and Fire Station sites. C/Owens asked if this plan included plans to build out the Walnut Elementary site. Mr. Hagan responded no. Walnut is recommended to pursue lighted sports field development because of its location, the ability to light it and the input from the sports groups wanting to have fields at that site. Therefore, if they do proceed with calling it surplus and selling that site, the Master Plan will be updated with a recommendation to try and negotiate with the school to get the site or a portion of the site. Mr. Hagan shared that in Fullerton, the City worked with the developer on the site behind City Hall and took half of the school site for sports uses and the other half for senior housing. CSD/Rose explained that the City has had to make decisions on where to focus changes since there are a lot of things that have happened since the consultant team conducted the interviews with the school district and visited all of the sites. Mr. Hagan stated that only about 30 percent of the stimulus money has been released by the federal government thus far with plans to release another 30 percent this October and the remainder the following October. Therefore, because there will be a lot of public works money coming to cities in the next two years, this document is very important because the City is now "project ready" to go after those funds. Chair/Roberto asked where the new building would be located at Peterson Park. C/Grundy asked for clarification. Mr_ Hagan responded the new building needed to be MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION moved due to expansion of the parking lot. The tot lot will be redone as well. C/Grundy asked if the foundation of the old building will be pushed further in. Mr. Hagan responded that it will be a new building. CSD/Rose pointed to #9. Mr. Hagan stated that the old building will be razed. C/Owens asked if the new building was larger and Mr. Hagan responded "yes." VC/Herndon asked how difficult it would be to light the basketball court. Mr. Hagan responded that it would not be difficult; however, lighted basketball courts were not a high priority. The basketball courts are highly used and gym space was a high priority but not outdoor lighted basketball courts. VC/Herndon asked if there had been any studies done about how long people stay in dog parks on average. Mr. Hagan said he had not seen studies on that particular subject but from his experience in doing a lot of dog parks, dog parks are more about humans than they are about dogs. It is a social thing for people. Depending on how many friends are there determines how long people stay. People who go to exercise their dogs involves about a 15 -minute stay. Some people who go to socialize will spend a couple of hours, particularly during morning and after work hours, as well as Saturday and Sunday mornings. Many people hire dog walkers who load dogs into cars and take them to the park, let them run and then leave. Times vary according to purpose. Generally speaking there is a posted rule about how many dogs a person can have in the park at any one time and the general rule is three. Mr. Hagan discussed the desire by a few residents to have a walking path in Ronald Reagan Park and whether it would qualify for CDBG funds. CSD/Rose said the walkway was being evaluated by the CDC that administers the CDBG funds to see if this would qualify for funding. Because there is no access to the grass area, it does not mean it would necessarily qualify, but there is a nice view at the point area and adding an area where folks could get to in a wheelchair might be desirable. C/Grundy asked if it would strengthen the argument to put an overlook or covered shelter at the view point and CSD/Rose said that could be done. CDC asked for a graphic and visited the site to determine whether this was something that would justify the walkway. VC/Herndon asked if Mr. Hagan intended to show the existing lights at Heritage Park and Mr. Hagan responded that they are shown at the site. Mr. Hagan stated that the Lorbeer Middle School site is one of the sites recommended to be a major sports complex to resolve field needs in the future. There is already a joint use agreement in effect. VC/Herndon asked if there was a possibility of using this as a "named" sports complex. Mr. Hagan said it would work. He put together a strategy for implementing field improvements and naming rights is a part of that. There is extremely high visibility on Golden Springs Drive so signage with the name of the field would have a lot of advertising appeal. VC/Herndon asked if fencing was considered for school sites that would permit or exclude access to the school. Mr. Hagan said the main concern for school sites is access to restrooms and if the user groups use the school's facilities, the schools want to be reimbursed for those costs. Those costs should be included in the tournament schedule. Chair/Roberto asked if there was still a plan to build Larkstone Park and CSD/Rose MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION responded yes, that the developer is on the hook to build the park and is working on the plans. All of the grading plans need to be finished and approved for the total project and the park can be built at that time. Mr. Hagan said there was a design which included restrooms because this park will be heavily used if sports fields are included at South Pointe Middle School, which is across the street from the park. C/Grundy asked what the amounts attached to soccer fields, for example, would be. Mr. Hagan responded that schools have cut back on their budgets, and fields have deteriorated to the point that it does not do any good to come in and try to bring the fields up to standards. The $150,000 allows for a complete re -do of the irrigation, grading, replanting and other site improvements. This would be done on a joint use basis only. VC/Herndon asked Mr. Hagan if, based on his study of the community and its needs, he could prioritize the items. Mr. Hagan said he would be able to do that. First, he commented on the funding strategies and then discussed how he would arrive at the priorities for implementation of the sports fields. In order to accomplish the implementation of sports fields, the City would need to host a sports group focus workshop and present it in the Master Plan. Mr. Hagan said that in his opinion, the sports groups would immediately be on board and ask when it could be done. The City may raise the risk of raising expectations, but it is the only way in which to set the priorities. After the presentation, the City would work with the sports groups. Perhaps a subcommittee of the Commission could be appointed and they, along with the consultants, could set the priorities. In order to get the biggest bang for the buck, the priority would likely be accomplishing the Lorbeer and South Pointe Middle Schools scenarios, plus the Walnut Elementary School site. The City would fulfill all of its tournament needs and all of its lighted sports complex needs for the foreseeable future. Mr. Hagan said it would be preferable to have a centralized sports complex, take over the golf course and change it to a sports complex, take over Lanterman and change it to a sports complex or the AERA property and convert 40 -acres to a sports complex; however, all of those are just not politically or financially feasible to acquire and build so we have to work with what we have. There will be a group that says they would really rather have the improvements to the fields. It all depends on what the City wants to accomplish. If it is to improve existing conditions to get rid of the complaints, the City can do the field improvements. If the City wants to accomplish the goal of having lighted sports fields/complexes to provide for evening and weekend tournaments, then the three priority sites would be done. Groups need to be involved in setting that priority. Mr. Hagan acknowledged it would take about $7 million to accomplish the three priority sites. C/Liang asked if the costs were based on the current costs. Mr. Hagan said it is, but he believes the current costs are not projected to go up in the next five to ten years because there are contingencies, inflation factors, etc. built in. ChairlRoberto asked if there was a reason why the funding of the Pony League baseball facility was not included in the discussion. Mr. Hagan responded that it is. When this presentation was made to the City Council and with the administration, the Council and administration were not desirous of making improvements to property the City does not own nor has any joint use or joint development agreement with. They felt the City's direction should be to improve City property and school district property and only school district property for which there is a joint use agreement. They did not feel that a joint use agreement with the Pony League would work from a political standpoint and an operational standpoint and that the City would get stuck with all of the cost and MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION none of the use. The improvements are in the Master Plan and if the policy direction of Council changes, the Commission could pursue that as one of the sports field improvements. His direction from Council at that meeting was to solve the sports field needs on City and school property and to come up with recommendations that would deal with providing the sports groups with practice fields, game fields and tournament fields. He was also tasked with identifying the lighted field spaces that could be done in the City and only on City owned or school owned property where they were assured the City could control the use. Mr. Hagan continued that once the Commission has determined priorities with the user group, it would need to determine the funding needed for the priorities and assist those funding efforts with the expansion of the Diamond Bar Community Foundation by adding a sports improvement subcommittee. The biggest single factor that makes this type of strategy a success is finding an advocate or leader to be the face of the fundraising efforts. Once the priorities are set, the sports groups are on board, the Foundation is expanded with a specific emphasis to raise money for the implementation of those improvements, and an advocate has been recruited; the three -pronged approach is implemented: Fundraising, asset management and implementation. VC/Herndon asked if it was possible to use the equestrian center within "The Country Estates." Mr. Hagan said he believed it was subject to acquisition but it has been eliminated. The problem was that the City Council said it was not being used as an equestrian center. It is being rented out for private parties such as weddings and community events. RS/Murphey shared that someone came to the Diamond Bar Center about a month ago to check about programming and believed that they were going to be refurbishing rooms and holding classes and other activities as well. C/Grundy asked, if in her opinion, they were trying to get an idea about programming and RS/Murphey responded yes, various types of classes. CSD/Rose said staff hears that they may be doing large banquet type events and staff is not sure whether it is intended just for the residents of "The Country Estates" or if it will be opened to the public. Mr. Hagan said the Council felt that the City did not want to get into the equestrian business which was backed up by the survey that revealed "equestrian use" being very low on the priority list. Also, the Council did not need it for "park use" so it was deleted from the Master Plan. CSD/Rose stated that when the Sports Complex subcommittee was active a few years ago, it looked at sites including Lots 1 and 61 (Summitridge and Longview) and the area behind Pantera Park. Civil engineers looked at these areas and for grading alone, it was in the $15-25 million dollar range to create a pad only, without development and without access that would accommodate a sports park. Mr. Hagan said that discussions about costs that included development and access became $40-60 million. Mr. Hagan explained that $12 million to do all of the sports facilities that were discussed this evening is not a big number considering how many facilities would be improved and how many fields and lighted fields the City would have access to that would provide tournament facilities. The process as outlined may set the goal at the $12 million mark and he felt that in fact, $S million was a number that would accomplish the goal. Mr. Hagan stated that if the Diamond Bar Community Foundation agreed to raise $500,000 (10% toward $5 million) and did so, it would be a lot easier for Council to vote yes on an assessment or to allocate public works funds for that kind of project. MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION C/Grundy asked if staff planned to make a presentation to the sports groups and talk about these priorities, could the City or Foundation suggest that the sports groups form a permanent committee consisting of one member from each sports group that works jointly on fundraising so that it could be coordinator with the Foundation subcommittee. The time to strike is during the presentation so that excitement can be created to get everyone working together to accomplish the ultimate goal. Mr. Hagan felt that such a group could facilitate finding an advocate to steer the fundraising effort. C/Grundy said that most of the groups have a board made up of long-time members with strategic vision and short term folks who are there for their kids. If there are enough long term members who have a strategic vision, the City can probably convince them to put a position on the board that is the committee representative for this effort and then the people who really run the board (long term individuals) would be able to get that supported. VC/Herndon said he would feel more comfortable approving the document once he had a chance to look at the final draft to see if any additional corrections should be made. CSD/Rose said the Council would not be making a decision until the end of July and from this time forward, editorial changes can be made to the document. The policy statements will remain the same. Editorial changes can be made even after the document has been recommended for approval until the final document is printed for distribution. VC/Herndon asked if the new City Hall address could be put on the document to make the document appear more current. Commissioners concurred that they would like to have the new address on the document. C/Owens asked if this was a 10-15 or 20 year plan and CSD/Rose said he looks at this as a 10 -year plan. Mr. Hagan has put this together as a 20 -year plan because a lot of the items will not get done in 10 years. Mr. Hagan said this is a planning guide for 20 - years. Council has made policy changes and so, from CSD/Rose's perspective, he can now work on his Capital Improvement Program for the next 10 years. He cannot really look beyond that because of potential changes in the community after 10 years. CSD/Rose stated that according to the General Plan, the Parks Master Plan should be updated every 10 years and whether it is a wholesale change or just a cursory look at the recommendations and updates based on current needs, staff decided to go out and do a wholesale change to update the entire document. That will happen again in 10 years in some form. With respect to the trails, he met with individuals from L.A. County whose job it is to update the L.A. County Trails Master Plan. The meeting involved property in "The Country Estates" where a developer is developing a neighborhood and there are trail easements for the Schabarum Trail that go through that property. The purpose of the meeting was to realign the Schabarum Trail so that it would work with that new development and create the best opportunity for today and for the future. The Schabarum Trail goes in and out of the City and that is exactly what was happening in that development. It was going into the development and then going out of the City limits into unincorporated L.A. County and then back into the development two or three times. Therefore, the developer has agreed to create a working trail through the development that would work for the residents and they will also improve and maintain that portion of the easement. So, in the future when the Schabarum Trail is built out, these easements will connect. CSD/Rose gave the representatives a copy of the Trails MAY 12, 2011 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION Master Plan Map and after the meeting the representatives went out and walked some of the trails to get a feel for the type of improvements being made in the City. When the representatives got back to him, they voiced their support at how much the City was doing with trails in D.B. There will continue to be a synergy between the City and County while working together to improve alignments and trail connections. CSD/Rose said he appreciated Table 7.1 with the graphics. VC/Herndon made a motion to present the Parks Master Plan to the City Council with the understanding that the Commission can continue to make minor editing changes on the document. He also requested that the new City Hall address be included. C/Owens seconded the motion. Without objection, the motion was so ordered. CSD/Rose thanked Mr. Hagan for doing such a great job on this document. Mr. Hagan stated that the Commissioners and staff are great to work with and they are proud of the product in spite of typos, etc. He appreciates the Commissioners applying their fine toothed comb to the document. ADJOURNMENT: C/Grundy moved, C/Liang seconded, to adjourn the study session. With no further business before the Parks & Recreation Commission, Chair/Roberto adjoumed the meeting at 7:00 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved thisc2fr day of ALA(UST , 2011. Respectfully_S,ubmitted, E, SECRETARY Attest: DAV ROBE`RTO, CHAIRMAN