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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/22/2015 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 OCTOBER 22, 2015 CALL TO ORDER: Chairwoman Hsieh 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: Commissioner Owens led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Dave Grundy, Ted Owens, and Chairwoman Kim Hsieh Absent: Commissioner Benny Liang and Vice Chairman Lew Herndon were excused. Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Mickey McKitrick, Recreation Specialist, and Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Coordinator MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented by CSD/Rose 1. CONSENT CALENDAR: 1.1 Approval of Minutes for the August 27, 2015 regular meeting - as presented. C/Owens moved, C/Grundy seconded, to approve the meeting minutes of August 27, 2015 as presented. Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Grundy, Owens NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSTAIN: COMMISSIONERS:. Chair/Hsieh ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Liang, VC/Herndon 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 2.1 Recreation Program Update — RS/Murphey 2.1.1 Power Point Presentation on Youth Baseball Picnic and Field Attendant Duties — RS/McKitrick OCTOBER 22, 2015 PAGE 2 P&R COMAUSSION C/Owens asked how responsible the user groups are in picking up after themselves and RS/McKitrick responded that it depends on the size of the user group. Smaller groups respond to staff and the bigger the group the slower they can be to respond. It also depends on who heads the organization. One of the bigger groups that had a change in leadership has improved. C/Owens asked how responsive the school district had been to provide seating in the gymnasium. RS/McKitrick said he called last week and asked for the chairs to be put out or for the bleachers to be opened on that side and he was told it would be done and unfortunately, it did not happen. He asked them to go to Lorbeer and take pictures of the chairs teams were sitting on so that they could see the difference between the two gyms. He asked for 10 chairs on both sides which to him was not an unreasonable request and hoped the chairs would be put out this week. C/Owens asked if people who attended had places to sit and RS/McKitrick said there are not very many spectators at the games. Typically, bleachers are open on the fan side of the court. Chair/Hsieh asked if the parking issue had been ongoing for some time and RS/McKitrick responded "yes." Summitridge in particular is not routinely allocated because of the parking issues. The problem is with people parking on both sides of the roadway and blocking access to and from the Diamond Bar Center. Peterson is not typically an issue but has been during construction. C/Owens asked if there had been any squabbles among the people who have been parking there. RS/McKitrick said that people are concerned about kids having to walk to the parking lot to their parent's cars and are upset when people pull into the parking lot and drive carelessly. RS/McKitrick said that since the parking lot signage installation the traffic officers have been responsive to the parking situation. C/Grundy asked if staff had attempted to contact skate park users about the trash. RS/McKitrick said that staff is not aware who is using the skate park on any given day. However, one of the park patrons is well known to a city employee and sometimes staff is given advance notice about a planned event which allows staff to respond. RS/McKitrick explained to Chair/Hsieh that there are no reservations required for use of the skate park. RS/Murphey stated that one group contacted the city about filming at the skate park and were provided information about the insurance requirements, deposit and expectations. Chair/Hsieh said that because the city OCTOBER 22, 2015 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION was providing free use of the park it was unacceptable for individuals and groups to trash the park so all groups should be required to contact the city and clean up after using the park. She suggested that notices be sent to the individuals who are running these group activities that the city will make it more restrictive for use if the groups cannot be self -policing. C/Owens asked if the screens for the batting cages belonged to the city or the user groups and RS/McKitrick responded that they are owned by the city. They are chained down and can be flipped to accommodate right and left-handed hitters but they cannot be removed. 2.2 Parks Report — PMS/Jordan C/Hsieh asked if the shrubs could be trimmed back from the sidewalk at Pantera Park. PMS/Jordan explained that the shrubs are trimmed to the back of the sidewalk which does not leave much room for them to grow. The shrubs are mature and woody and if they are cut back too much they will look bare. C/Grundy asked if there had been any vandalism or theft of copper recently and PMS/Jordan responded "no." 2.2.1 PowerPoint Presentation on Diamond Canyon Park— CSD/Rose Chair/Hsieh asked if the city would be planting more drought - tolerant plants and CSD/Rose responded yes. In fact, the medians along Diamond Bar Boulevard have been sprayed and the turf is being removed and the area will be refilled with mulch and drought - tolerant plantings. Also, there are areas of "gratuitous" turf in parks and at City Hall that will be replaced in a similar manner. Obviously, the urgency of these upgrades will depend on the winter rains. Ultimately, the effort is to move municipalities to a much more drought -tolerant landscape and/or more use of recycled water. 2.3 CIP Projects — CSD/Rose A. Steep Canyon Trail Connector and Pantera Park Trail — Plans have gone through the first round of plan check and revisions are being made by the landscape architect for the second round of plan check. Once plans are approved the project will go out to bid. B. Diamond Canyon Park Design — as reported under 2.1.1 PowerPoint presentation. OCTOBER 22, 2015 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION C. Design of Heritage Park Improvements — The consultant team has developed the concept plan for all of the park improvements which has been presented to the City Manager's office for consideration. Until the concept plan is approved construction documents will not be developed. D. Design of Longview Park South and Stardust Park Improvements — Play equipment at both locations has been removed. The design was presented to the City Manager's office and Architerra Design Group has been asked to do some revisions to the design for which Architerra Design Group submitted a proposal which will be presented to the City Council for consideration. E. Rubber Resurfacing at Peterson Park and Heritage Park — The City Council awarded a contract to remove and replace the rubber surfacing at both parks. The rubber surfacing has been removed at Peterson Park. However, when the surfacing was removed it revealed that the support posts to the play equipment were rusted through. Staff halted the replacement and the City has received three bids for replacement of the play equipment. Funds will need to be appropriated by the City Council for the project to move forward since there are no funds budgeted for replacement of the play equipment at this time. Rubber surfacing for Heritage Park is on backorder and the earliest the work will be completed will be the end of November. The tot lot remains open. F. Installation of Swings at Longview Park North — The survey work was completed and the installation will include a two -bay swing set for ages 2-12 and replacement of the accessible walkway from Longview Drive to the tot lot. The rubber surfacing at the play equipment was completed. G. Larkstone Park Design and Construction — As previously reported, Lewis Homes recently sold its interest in the housing project to Lennar Homes and the park will be built as part of the housing development similar to the construction of the Diamond Canyon Park as part of the Willow Heights project. Park plans are currently undergoing the first round of plan check which should be completed next week. The timeframe for construction of the park and the homes is yet to be determined. However, it appears that Lennar is anxious to begin both projects. Chair/Hsieh asked about the city's plans for addressing possible landslide issues in light of the impending EI Nino. CSD/Rose explained that the Emergency Operations Team continues to meet on a regular basis to identify areas of concern in the city and make sure that storm drains and OCTOBER 22, 2015 PAGE 5 P&R V -ditches are clear, make sure that residents are aware that drains around their homes need to be kept clear to prevent landslides and erosion. Drains on private property are the responsibility of the property owner. Staff is sending out information communitywide, information is being publicized in newsletters and in some cases, staff members are going door to door in areas of concern to remind people they need to be prepared. Staff is staging and deploying materials (erosion control devices) in areas of concern to channel water away from slopes. Sandbags will be deployed in many areas where the city has responsibility and sand and sandbags are available at all three fire stations free of charge to the public. Staff is employing equipment to other locations from the storage unit at the back of Sycamore Canyon Park which is inaccessible during rainstorms when the creek overflows. In fact, LA County and all cities in southern California are going through the same exercise and preparation for what has been described as the biggest ever EI Nino event and the forecast is for heavy rain during January, February and March. CSD/Rose responded to C/Owens that Public Works and Community Development are working with the City of Industry to put together an erosion control plan. During the July rain significant mud flowed down through the condominium complex on Washington down to Lycoming so City of Industry is planning a significant amount of erosion control material for that area. C/Grundy asked about Sunset Crossing/Minnequa. CSD/Rose said that area was repaired and where staff is able to do so the drainage areas will be kept free of debris. In areas away from staff's view the property owners will be advised to make sure their areas are kept free of debris. C/Grundy asked if there was anything the city could do this time to avoid being caught up in landslide lawsuits. CSD/Rose said the reason the city was involved in a lawsuit was because the City Council decided the city would help repair the hill which was privately owned and when it slid again it suddenly became the city's fault. Remediation was done during that time. 2.4 List of pending Commission requests — CSD/Rose 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Grundy said he refereed at Lorbeer Middle School a couple of weeks ago. In spite of the heavy use he was impressed that the field was holding up pretty well and had really good coverage. OCTOBER 22, 2015 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION Chair/Hsieh thanked staff for their hard work and the reports. She asked how many kids attended the baseball party and RS/McKitrick said that all of the teams were present this year. Within each team there were some who were not present. There were at least 400-500 people during the day. ADJOURNMENT: C/Grundy moved, C/Owens seconded to adjourn the meeting. With no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission, Chair/Hsieh adjourned the meeting at 8:22 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 28thday of January 2016 Attest: KIM HSIEH, CHAIRWOMAN