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HomeMy WebLinkAbout05/26/2016 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 MAY 26, 2016 CALL TO ORDER: Chair/Grundy called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:02 p.m. in the City Hall Windmill Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: VC/Sulakhe led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Lew Herndon, Kim Hsieh, Benny Liang, Vice Chair Manisha Sulakhe and Chair Dave Grundy Staff Present: Bob Rose, Community Services Director; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Andee Tarazon, Community Services Coordinator; 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 April 28, 2016 Regular Meeting. C/Herndon moved, C/Liang seconded, to approve the Minutes of the April 28, 2016 regular meeting as presented.. ,Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote: AYES: COMMISSIONERS: Herndon, Liang, VC/Sulakhe, Chair Grundy NOES: COMMISSIONERS: None ABSENT: COMMISSIONERS: Commissioner Hsieh left the meeting at 8:00 p.m. 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 2.1 Recreation Program Update — RS/Murphey 2.1.1 PowerPoint Presentation —Concerts in the Park— CSC/Tarazon MAY 26, 2016 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION C/Herndon asked if the City broadcasts were available on dish and CSC/Tarazon said she did not know but they are available on the City's You Tube channel. VC/Sulakhe asked if attendees were mostly Diamond Bar residents and CSC/Tarazon responded that she believed a majority of the attendees were. Chair/Grundy asked if there was a record of attendees or if the City was guessing about the attendees and CSC/Tarazon responded that there is no way to know who is and who is not a resident although staff looks at the public information booth to see how much interest there is because unless a person is a Diamond Bar resident they would not have much use for the information provided at the booth. 2.2 Parks Report — PMS/Jordan C/Herndon asked about the water problem at Sycamore Canyon Park and wanted to know if there was any way to capture water from the creek to irrigate the park. PMS/Jordan said that with respect to the water leak, there was a drinking fountain by the third base side of the softball field that had a sticky valve and would intermittently remain on. Apparently, on one such occasion it had run for a considerable amount of time and created a puddle behind the fence and some of the water flowed out onto the field. PMS/Jordan said he did not believe it would be feasible to use creek water to irrigate the park. CSD/Rose said that at one point the City contacted Walnut Valley Water District about the steady source of water at the park and asked if there was some way to put it into a container and pump it into the irrigation system and they were not interested. He believes that PMS/Jordan is correct that to do anything would require a permit from Fish & Game which could be looked into. Chair/Grundy asked that thank -you notes be sent to the Church group and the Boy Scouts for their help. C/Sulakhe asked why the tree was were being cut down at the Kmart Center and PMS/Jordan said staff received calls on Monday about the large Ficus tree being taken down. The tree is on private property and is privately owned and Ficus is not considered a "protected" species. Chair/Grundy asked if there was a proposed use of the Kmart property and CSD/Rose responded that there is a new development going in that is unknown by staff at this time. C/Sulakhe said she heard it was going to be movie theaters. 2.2.1 Power Point Presentation on Heritage Park walkthrough — PMS/Jordan. MAY 26, 2016 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION C/Herndon asked if there had been many sightings of Coyotes in the City and PMS/Jordan said he had not heard of any increased Coyote activity. CSD/Rose said it is typical in this type of natural area to see Coyotes from time to time. In fact, staff saw one from` the window of City Hall recently which was scampering around the parking lot and then ran up the hill behind the building. C/Sulakhe said it did not look very clean around the drinking fountain area. PMS/Jordan said the debris was sand that had been spilled. On the day staff did the walkthrough the cleaning crew was onsite and took care of it that day. 2.3 CIP Projects — CSD/Rose A. Steep Canyon Trail Connector & Pantera Park Trail — Staff found a couple of minor issues with the plans. Going forward, each trail that the City constructs has to meet a certain level of Americans with Disabilities Act access and what was used at Grandview Trail was a rope that people could hold onto to guide themselves down the trail. Staff found that the rope was being vandalized beyond repair and after consulting with Building and Safety it was recommended that a chain be installed in place of the rope and as a result, the design team was asked to revise the plans for the Pantera Trail to include a chain in place of the rope. The revised plans have come back and this project will go out to bid in the next week or so. B. Diamond Canyon Park— Construction continues. Staff anticipates the park will be open by the end of this summer. In the meantime, individuals have been using the park and kids have been using the play equipment. This is in the hands of the developer who understands people must be kept out of the park until it is completed. The next portion is installation of the pedestrian bridge and as of yesterday, the developer did not have a scheduled time. Staff expects it will be July. C/Herndon reiterated his concern about the lack of fencing between the play equipment and the roadway and asked if that had been investigated. CSD/Rose said this was discussed with Lennar folks and staff is looking to see what potential solutions are available. C/Herndon asked if CSD/Rose agreed there needed to be more protection for the kids and CSD/Rose said that the children using the tot lot need to be protected but exactly what that entails has not been determined. C. Design of Heritage Park Improvements — On hold MAY 26, 2016 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION D. Design of Longview South & Stardust Park Improvements — As previously mentioned, the City received a $300,000 grant from State Parks Act (LA County) for Stardust Park which means this project can now move forward with sufficient funding. Staff met with Architerra Design Group and incorporated the value engineering and has verified that the specified improvements for Stardust Park meet all of the Grant requirements. Architerra gave staff a revised concept plan and cost estimates. Staff is awaiting approval to move forward with the construction documents. Staff plans to combine Peterson, Longview South and Stardust parks into one single project to provide economy of scale. Architerra has completed the survey work for Peterson Park and should have a concept plan to staff by next week. As soon as the concept plan is approved construction documents will commence and the three projects will be packaged to go out to bid. E. Installation of Swings at Longview Park North — On hold until the new fiscal year at which time Public Works will assume the lead on this project. F. Larkstone Park Design — Nothing has happened since the first plan check except that grading is being done on the site. Staff is told Lennar wants to have the park done as soon as possible and this project will also be taken over by the Public Works Department. G. Trail Information Panels at each Trail Head — Working with Architerra the panels are designed and Architerra will put them in their final format to get the panels made. Staff expects the panels to be in production by the end of this fiscal year and installed next fiscal year (July/August). There are nine panels each of which will be placed at the nine trailheads in Diamond Bar. Chair/Grundy asked if the City has liability while the Diamond Canyon Park, is under construction and CSD/Rose said no, the liability falls to Lennar. Chair/Grundy asked if CSD/Rose knows why the Heritage project had stalled and when it might become active again and CSD/Rose said he was told by the City Manager that at this time the project is on hold. 2.4 List of pending Commission requests — CSD/Rose RS/Murphy will provide information regarding the number of annual events (weddings, etc.) at the Diamond Bar Center at the Commission's June 231d meeting. PMS/Jordan said he would have an update regarding additional lighting outside the kitchen area at the Diamond Bar Center at the next meeting as MAY 26, 2016 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION well. C/Herndon asked CSD/Rose to elaborate on Sycamore Canyon Park "lighting solutions at other locations are being considered. CSD/Rose explained that the first consideration is the Pony Baseball Field and adjoining YMCA property and next, the middle field at Lorbeer. The five year CIP program lists the South Point Middle School project but if the Pony and Lorbeer projects happen he is not sure that the South Point project will remain on the five-year CIP list. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Liang congratulated and praised CSD/Rose for over 40 years of service to the community. Since joining the Commission 10 years ago he has appreciated the work CSD/Rose does and has learned a lot from him. He also appreciates CSD/Roses demeanor— he is a gentleman and a scholar and C/Liang hoped for a great retirement for CSD/Rose. He thanked CSD/Rose for all that he has done for the City of Diamond Bar. C/Herndon echoed C/Liang's sentiments and said it has been a great pleasure working with CSD/Rose and he will be missed. He offered CSD/Rose to come back and visit but did not expect that he would. He asked if CSD/Rose could elaborate on the structure post CSD/Rose's tenure. CSD/Rose explained that the Community Services Department will cease to exist as a department as of June 30. The recreation portion of the department will be called the Parks and Recreation Department and RS/Murphey will continue in her position. There are discussions about recruiting a Parks and Recreation Director and the difference with that position is that the Director would be in charge of the recreation, the Diamond Bar Center activities and scheduling of facilities for Heritage, Pantera and other park sites used by User Groups and residents for picnics and private events. The parks maintenance and other maintenance activities will continue under PMS/Jordan and he will be transferred to the Public Works 'Department and report directly to PWD/Liu. PWD/Liu as Public Works Director will ultimately be responsible for the parks portion. As far as Commission meetings, Commissioners will continue to see PMS/Jordan and RS/Murphey and at some point there will be a Parks and Recreation Director. For the immediate future ACM/McLean will be RS/Murphey's immediate supervisor and it is possible that during that time he may attend the Commission meetings. AC/Gonzales will continue putting the agenda together and Commissioners should pass along their information and requests to her. Recreation individuals will continue providing reports as they have in the past unless and until there is a change in the format requested by the new Parks and Recreation Director. It is likely that there will be no recruitment and hiring for a MAY 26, 2016 Director for about six months. PAGE6 P&R C/Herndon thanked CSD/Rose for the update and again wished him the best. VC/Sulakhe wished CSD/Rose well. While she has known CSD/Rose for a short time she has been a long time resident of Diamond Bar and has enjoyed all of the parks and appreciates all of the work that has gone into making the parks enviable. She wished CSD/Rose a lot of golf time. Chair/Grundy said he joined the Commission 15 years ago and CSD/Rose helped him to understand what it meant to be a Commissioner, toured him around the City and helped him gain a lot of insight. There were a few different faces then but CSD/Rose has been here the entire time. Chair/Grundy said "Thank -you, Bob for all of the support and effort he puts into the Parks and Recreation programs." It shows that CSD/Rose cared about this City and he will be missed. He thanked CSD/Rose for all he has done for the City. ADJOURNMENT: With no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission, Chair/Grundy adjourned the meeting at 8:09 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 26 day of may 12016 Attest: j f DAVE DRUM , Chairman