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HomeMy WebLinkAbout10/27/2016 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL - THE WINDMILL ROOM 21810 COPLEY DRIVE, DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 OCTOBER 27, 2016 WIJIW 'V:914z; Chair/Grundy called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:03 p.m. in the City Hall Windmill Room, 21810 Copley Drive, Diamond Bar, CA 91765, PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Commissioner Hsieh led the Pledge of Allegiance. �T* �X' O7T111 Present: Commissioners Kim Hsieh, Vice Chair Manisha Sulakhe and Chair Dave Grundy Absent: Commissioners Lew Herndon and Benny Liang were excused Staff Present: Ryan McLean, Assistant City Manager; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Mickey McKitrick, Recreation Specialist, and Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Coordinator. ITT CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented by ACM/McLean. 1.1 Approval of Minutes for the September 22, 2016 Regular Meeting (continued to the November 17, 2016 meeting for corrections). pvllnll• �, TI 2.1 Recreation Program Update — RS/Murphey VC/Sulakhe said she believes the Sunshine Seniors meet on Friday, Saturday and Sunday mornings. C/Hsieh asked if the Armed Forces banners were slated to be removed. RS/Murphey responded that there are no immediate plans to remove them. People can still fill out applications for family members who are serving. 2.1.1 Power Point Presentation — City of Diamond Bar Youth Baseball - Summer 2016 — RS/McKitrick OCTOBER 27, 2016 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION Chair/Grundy noted a dramatic decline in the number of Girls Softball participants and asked if it was more of a reporting anomaly or an actual decline. RS/McKitrick said he believed it was both. Depending on who completes the forms, some are more realistic about their predictions. In real numbers, it has taken a substantial hit over the years. Chair/Grundy asked if there were any thoughts on how participation could be encouraged and RS/McKitrick said he has not seen the total numbers, but it has been his perception over the years the City's population is aging and there are not as many young families residing in the community. ACM/McLean felt that some of the shifts in "preferred sports" have changed. There has been a significant increase in court sports such as basketball and tennis participation as opposed to the field sports. Some things he has heard from the community as well as, trends for the baseball, softball and soccer programs indicate a reduction in participation. Chair/Grundy said he was interested in learning whether the City sees a decline in participation that indicates a lessening in sports overall or as mentioned, a migration from one sport to another or demographics (age). RS/McKitrick said he believed it was "all of the above." For this area, years ago baseball was the biggest sport the City offered. Prior to indoor soccer there was flag football. When it was football, basketball and baseball only, baseball was by far the City's biggest program with 500 kids versus 160 now. For the basketball program, the City used to be in the high 200's — low 300's and with two months to go before the beginning of the season, the count is at 320. Staff has it capped out at 464 and last year the number was fairly close to that figure. While basketball is growing, he believes there is less overall participation. Chair/Grundy felt that it does not matter what sport the kids are playing but that it is good for the City to want to offer a variety of programs that encourages activity and participation across the board and it would be good to track that so that if the City is seeing overall participation going down across a broad spectrum of sports, perhaps there could be consideration to what could be offered to bump up the participation. It is good to have people out, interested and active. ACM/McLean said he believed RS/McKitrick's presentation was very good and demonstrates what the City is doing across the board on all of the programs. The City is attempting to look at all of the programs with respect to trends and data that may not have been considered in the past. It is pretty evident that when one looks at a 10 -year window like RS/McKitrick did in his presentation, OCTOBER 27, 2016 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION that there has been a change and staff will use this data to look at Diamond Bar Center usage and baseball program participation, etc. so that the City can step back and make decisions that can provide the maximum benefit to those who participate. In short, staff shares Chair/Grundy's thoughts on his "food for thought" issue. 2.2 Maintenance Report — PMS/Jordan Chair/Grundy asked what "raise Elm trees" at Peterson Park means and PMS/Jordan said it was indicated to be a light pruning to raise up the lower branches that are impeding with walkways — essentially, raising the canopy. 2.2.1 Washington Street Park — PMS/Jordan. Chair/Grundy asked how the tiles that were done by the kids were holding up and PMS/Jordan responded that they are holding up very well. In fact, when he and C/Herndon walked the park he was very pleased to see that they are in pristine condition. They are contained in two seating walls directly adjacent to the play area. 2.3 C I P Projects—ACM/McLean 2.3.1 Stardust Park — This grant funded project that must be completed by the end of December is on schedule and will likely be completed by the end of November or sooner. New concrete has been laid down, new play equipment has been installed and some of the landscaping was done when last observed. The drainage and landscaping is substantially complete with the process scheduled to wrap up next week. 2.3.2 Peterson Park Playground Equipment — This is a very heavily used park with youth sports. Due to the age of that equipment, the City chose to replace it. The fencing surrounding the play area has been installed and painted. The equipment is on-site and will be installed beginning next week. This area should be completed and opened to the public by the end of November. 2.3.3 Diamond Canyon Park — This new neighborhood park will be open to the community in December. The community dedication event is scheduled for Saturday, December 3rd. Staff has conducted its second punch walk and is following up on a few outstanding items. The wrought iron fence has been installed. Placement of trash cans, tables and other minor amenities is forthcoming. The fence, the bridge, replacement of the power pole and installation of the monument signage is complete and ready for the December opening. OCTOBER 27, 2016 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION 2.3.4 Longview South Improvements/Longview North Swing Set Projects — These items are in the bid process package which should be out for response the middle of November. Staff anticipates taking its recommendation to the City Council for award of construction contracts in November and once completed, the projects will proceed in the first quarter of 2017. 2.4 List of pending Commission requests — ACM/McLean Regarding concern about the need for additional stairs at the dog park, the Pantera Park Trail and Steep Canyon Trail projects will address that issue. Bids have gone out and staff anticipates taking the contract award recommendation to the City Council in the next month or so and if all goes according to schedule, the project will move forward the early part of 2017. The request for a breakdown of the number of events at the Diamond Bar Center is underway as staff proceeds with its Use Analysis for the facility. Staff has completed data collection for fiscal year 2015-16 and the analysis will begin next week. The data will be analyzed for observations and recommendations. Additional fencing at Brea Canyon Road and Diamond Canyon Park has been installed and the item will be eliminated from the list of pending items for the next meeting. The request at the last Commission meeting about placement of advertising under the Diamond Canyon Park sign has been considered and at this time, staff has no recommendation to move forward with any advertisement or video boards at Diamond Canyon. The City's Public Information office is looking into other electronic signage options at other locations in town, one being improvement of existing signage at the former library site near the fire station. Staff completed a letter of appreciation requested by C/Herndon to the Diamond Bar Community Foundation for their donation to the Concerts in the Park event. Chair/Grundy said that based on community input he was pleased to hear that the additional stairs at the dog park project was moving forward. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Hsieh thanked staff for the great reports and said she is so proud to be a OCTOBER 27, 2016 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION Diamond Bar resident and having such great staff members. She thanked RS/McKitrick for "loving our children" and said he should keep up the good work. VC/Sulakhe is very proud of the City's parks and recreation department. She thanked ACM/McLean for taking on responsibility for these areas and thanked RS/Murphy, RS/McKitrick, and PMS/Jordan for doing a great job which she greatly appreciates. Chair/Grundy commended staff for the very informative reports and for providing good visuals of what is going on in the City. Lately he has seen some of these things firsthand. Lorbeer has been a perennial trouble spot but when he recently visited a couple of weeks ago he found the field to be in good shape compared to other years. The Restaurant Week was fun. He appreciates that the City joined in sponsoring this type of event and that the City has future Restaurant Weeks. He is looking forward to the opening dedication of Diamond Canyon Park on December 3. ADJOURNMENT: Chair/Grundy moved, C/Hsieh seconded to adjourn the meeting. With no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission, Chair/Grundy adjourned the meeting at 7:55 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 27 day of OCTOBER 2016. Respectfully Subm n.y.irky