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HomeMy WebLinkAbout09/26/2013 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL - THE WINDMILL ROOM 21810 COPLEY DRIVE, DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 Chairman Dave Grundy called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:04 p.m. in the City Hall Windmill Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Vice Chairman Owens led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Lew Herndon, Dave Roberto, Vice Chairman Ted Owens, Chairman Dave Grundy Absent: Commissioner Benny Liang was excused. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Alison Meyers, Community Services Coordinator; Ivania Perez, Community Services Leader 11, and Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Coordinator. PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES TO 2013 SUMMER VOLUNTEENS - CSC/Meyers and CSLII/Perez. I Presentations were made by Chair/Grundy, VC/Owens and Commissioners Herndon and Roberto. M/Tanaka and C/Chang were invited from the audience to participate in the presentation. RECESS: Chair/Grundy recessed the meeting at 7:28 p.m. RECONVENE: Chair/Grundy reconvened the meeting at 7:35 p.m. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Lew Herndon stated that fact number 1 is that Diamond Bar has thousands of kids who are involved in sports each year. Fact 2 is that Diamond Bar does not have enough sports fields for kids to play on, and fact 3 is that this problem is decades old with no foreseeable plans to solve this issue. Fact 4 is that there is an epidemic in Diamond Bar with only one in three students having recorded a passing grade in the physical fitness test. This evening he speaks as a concerned individual. He understands that through the sale of Site D the City could gain approximately $1.8 million from the sale of its property at Site D. He is currently gathering signatures on a petition that he presented to the Commission which asks the City to set aside the proceeds from the Site D sale to help solve the sports field problem. Within the last few months he has turned in over 1,400 signatures on this petition to the City Council and CM/DeStefano. He has an additional 300 signatures ready to turn in and he is still collecting signatures. He has collected about 95 percent SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION of the signatures. When he asks for signatures he asks if the individual is a resident of Diamond Bar and if the answer is yes, he asks if they are of voting age and if yes, he then asks if they would sign the petition. Those who have already signed the petition volunteer that they have done so and state that it would not be appropriate for them to sign more than once. A little over a year ago he began a quest to get many people to come to the Parks and Recreation Commission to help solve the problem. He is now reminded how it was to raise his six kids. After working hard all day there was transportation to baseball, football, choir, Boy Scouts, Campfire Girls, Y -Indian Guides, School Open House, play practice and tutors on top of helping with homework as well as, other parental responsibilities. He asked that the subject of this petition be placed on the November Parks and Recreation Commission agenda for discussion and possibly forwarding it to the City Council for adoption. CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented by CSD/Rose. 1. CONSENT CALENDAR: C/Roberto moved, VC/Owens seconded, to approve the Consent Calendar as presented. Without objection, the motion was so ordered with C/Liang being absent. 1.1 Regular Meeting Minutes for August 22, 2013 — approved as corrected 1.2 Transmitted thank -you letter to Boy Scout Troop 8888 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 2.1 Recreation Prograrn Update — RS/Murphey Chair/Grundy asked for a definition of Project Runway under the fall session of classes. RS/Murphey responded that it is a class for students who learn to design and model their clothing. Chair/Grundy remarked that the Commissioners were excited to see the number of kids and parents who filled the room tonight to participate in the Volunteen presentations. VC/Owens asked where "continue to schedule more classic rock bands during the (Concerts in the Park) series" came from. RS/Murphey said she believed those were the most popular nights for the Concerts. CSD/Rose said that "more" does not mean additional nights, rather consistent with the number of classic rock concerts. 2.2 Parks Report — PMS/Jordan 2.2.1 Power Point Presentation on the Sycamore Canyon Park Mesa Trail — PMS/Jordan C/Hemdon asked if the City had any recourse with respect to plant damage on the trail. PMS/Jordan responded "probably not" SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION because some of the issues were with programming of the irrigation system after the City took over the project. Quite a few plants remain. The cactus is thriving and the natives are taking off and it is his hope that once the rabbit situation is under control that the hydro seed and plants will begin to establish. 2.3 CIP Projects — CSD/Rose 2.3.2 Dog Park — CSD/Rose reported that the existing walkway will be connected to the entry gates. Geronimo Concrete was awarded the $37,200 contract. There will be three walkways and one staircase constructed as well. The dog park will be closed during construction. Staff has a pre -construction meeting next Tuesday and at that time, the schedule for the project will be determined. 2.3.3 Grandview Trail and Grandview Trail Link — CSD/Rose stated that plans went back to Building and Safety for a third plan check. Comments were forwarded to TKE today. Staff is hopeful that plans are close to being concluded so that the bid process can be started and a contractor engaged to begin construction. 2.3.4 Site D Park Design — CSD/Rose reported that the Commission will be discussing the draft conditions of approval for the Site D project by Lennar Homes. 2.3.5 Diamond Bar Center Improvements -- CSD/Rose stated that the vast majority of the work has been completed. Guests have commented that they are impressed with the LED lighting above the stage and dance floor. Still to be finished are the doors to the offices which are on back order and expected to arrive about October 8. 2.4 List of Pending Commission Requests — None Offered. Chair/Grundy asked for and received unanimous concurrence from the Commissioners to place C/Herndon's request for consideration of a recommendation to the City Council regarding allocation of Site D City owned property sale proceeds to fund the Parks Master Plan on recommended projects the October 24 agenda. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: 4.1 SITE D PARK CONDITIONS OF APPROVAL - CSD/Rose presented staff's revised report. Once the developer has approval of the tentative tract map development will move forward. The Commission is considering the Conditions of Approval based on the public SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION input received from residents in the neighborhood and community at large. The developer incorporated those concepts into the conceptual plan that is being presented to the Commission tonight. The primary issue is that this is a general document, but if it is included in the conditions for approval the developer must include that in the project. Once the plans have passed through the plan check process, the park design that ultimately gets approved will have all of the details included in the final construction documents. No construction will be done until the plans are approved which must first be approved by the Community Development Director and Community Services Director, after which the plans will come to the Parks and Recreation Commission for its recommendation for Planning Commission approval. With respect to parking, there is no parking allowed along Brea Canyon Road or Diamond Bar Boulevard. The only other area that allows access to the site is at the cul-de-sac at Pasado Drive. The traffic engineer stated in the traffic study that for this to be a viable operation there would need to be a parking lot in the area coming off of Brea Canyon Road which is envisioned to be similar to the type of parking lot at Sycamore Canyon Park. There are public safety concerns because of the amount of traffic traveling down the narrow Castle Rock Road it is possible that people will park across the street and not use the crosswalk. Therefore, it is listed that the parking would be required at the City's discretion unless a better solution is provided that leaves the matter open to eliminating the parking lot. However, it is most likely that a parking lot will be included in the area. About 1.8 acres of the 2.2 acres available for the park/rain garden can be used for walkways, trails and seating areas. C/Hemdon was concerned about the problems that might be created by a rain garden. PMS/Jordan said that staff looked at a similar project in Aliso Viejo. Essentially, the rain garden is a detention basin that has been architecturally enhanced. There are ponds below and from that point it slopes up. In terms of the maintenance, the plant material will be water borne plants such as cattails and similar types of plants conducive to a marshy environment. There will be decomposed granite trails throughout the area at slightly different elevations and nuisance water would not be at that level on a daily basis. In the event of a larger rain event such as a hundred year storm it would possibly submerge the development and would take 36 to 48 hours for the water to subside and the area to dry out. On the slopes the plant materials would be acacias, Xylosma and other similar type plants that are typical to many of the City's parks. In terms of maintenance it will be different and felt it would be overall manageable. CSD/Rose said that maintenance of the site has been a major portion of the discussion since early 2013 which was another reason for the site visit to Aliso Viejo. The City also received a maintenance proposal for maintaining the rain garden which was about 2.5 cents compared to usual park maintenance of 2 cents per square foot per month. The water SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION area will have fencing and gates which will normally be open for access to trails. However, if there is a large storm the gates would be locked to prevent access. The project in Aliso Viejo is a very nice amenity in the passive area of the park and the majority of the proposed park will be considered a very passive neighborhood park with a unique amenity that is not available at any other location in Diamond Bar. Chair/Grundy asked if the wrought iron fencing for the tot lot, protective fencing along Brea Canyon Road and protective fencing for the rain garden area should be shown on the plans and CSD/Rose said he was told that including the wrought iron fencing would provide too much detail for initial approval. Chair/Grundy felt it would be better to include detail if the Commission believes it should be included and CSD/Rose said it would be added. C/Herndon asked what a corner entry feature was and CSD/Rose explained that there is a Planning Department requirement in the development that there be an entry statement as part of this project. The Planning document speaks to a certain percentage to the overall value of the development and the last number he saw was as much as $200,000. Staff felt a windmill would be appropriate. An entry statement will be something that represents Diamond Bar and is yet to be designed. Chair/Grundy asked if the conditions were subject to change after recommendation and CSD/Rose responded that the item most likely to change is at what point in the construction period the park would need to be completed. The other details are up to the Planning Commission. C/Roberto asked if all of the concerns about people walking along the south side of the development being able to look down into the back yards of residences had been addressed where there is a significant slope on the south side that goes down to the houses. Chair/Grundy suggested that a condition be added to provide for the planting of sufficient landscape to create a visual barrier (hedge) between the walkway/path and the houses down slope from Pasado to the rain garden. C/Hemdon said he did not see swings on the plans. CSD/Rose said he would include "swings" for the tot lot. C/Hemdon moved, VC/Owens seconded, to recommend Planning Commission approval of the Conditions of Approval for the Site D Park. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Herndon, Roberto, VC/Owens, Chair/Grundy NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Liang SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: VC/Owens thanked staff for the reports and said he was impressed by the number of people that were present for tonight's meeting. C/Herndon thanked staff for their usual great jobs, reports and hard work. He reported that he has suggested a proposal via email regarding the Pony League fields. The Diamond Bar Foundation appears willing to fund the rental of the Pony fields for the months of August, September and October which were reported to be critical months requiring additional space for sports organizations. The Pony League president suggested the fields might be rented for $200 per week so for the three months it would be a little less than $3,000. His recommendation was that a) the Diamond Bar Foundation provides one-half of the funds to the City and the City provides the other one-half and includes those fields in the City's field allocation system or b) if the City did not want to participate that the Foundation would fund the full amount. The president said he would present those options to his board and he presented the options to the Foundation and wanted feedback from the City as to the City's willingness to participate. C/Roberto thanked staff for the reports and thanked CSC/Meyers and her staff for the wonderful job with the Volunteen Programs. He agreed with C/Herndon that $3,000 for 3 months for allowing kids additional fields would not be a tremendous burden for the City to pay the entire amount and include the fields in the field allocation program. VC/Owens asked if the field allocation item should be placed on the agenda for October 24 in order for the Commission to make a formal recommendation to the City Council. CSD/Rose said he would do so with respect to the request from the Cornmissioh. Chair/Grundy thanked the City for the Volunteen Program. Seeing such a large group at tonight's rneeting and witnessing their enthusiasm and involvement he is glad that the program was not limited to a certain number. It is a good thing to get youth involved and he hoped that the City would continue to look for ways to invite and allow as many teens as possible to participate and have that opportunity. He congratulated and thanked CSC/Meyers and asked CSD/Rose to thank all of the other individuals who were involved in running such a great program. He thanked staff for the reports and all they do day in and day out. ADJOURNMENT: VC/Owens moved, C/Roberto seconded, to adjourn the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. With no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission, Chair/Grundy adjourned the meeting at 8:58 p.m. SEPTEMBER 26, 2013 PAGE 7 P&R COMMISSION The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 18 day Of, November_, 2013. Respec,tfull X",q bmitted BO$Rbto"CRETARY st: DAVE G'PO/ NDY, CHAIRMAN