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HomeMy WebLinkAbout02/23/2017 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 FEBRUARY 23. 2017 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: Vice Chair Sulahke led the Pledge of Allegiance. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Lew Herndon, Kim Hsieh, Vice Chair Manisha Sulakhe and Chair Dave Grundy Absent: Commissioner Benny Liang was excused. Staff Present: Ryan McLean, Assistant City Manager; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Andee Tarazon, Recreation Supervisor; and Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Coordinator. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: Ryan Gately was happy to be present tonight as part of his Eagle Scout project "Citizenship in the Community." Tomorrow he will be assisting the VFW in renovation of their parking lot. CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented by ACM/McLean. 1. CONSENT CALENDAR: 1.1 Approval of Minutes for the September 22, 2016 Regular Meeting — C/Herndon moved, C/Hsieh seconded, to re -approve the Minutes of the September 22, 2016 Regular Meeting as presented and delivered to the City Council. Without objection, the motion was so ordered with C/Liang being absent. 1.2 Approval of Minutes for January 26, 2017 Regular Meeting. C/Herndon asked for the days to be corrected under Item 2.1.1. This item was continued to the March 28 meeting. FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION ACM/McLean updated the Commission on impacts on fields as a result of recent rainstorms. There have been cancellations of field availability. Maintenance of those fields is important to provide to the user groups. The City has experienced significant drought years and has experienced more rain this year than for many past years. Two of the strongest storms in the last 10 years occurred this month (February), which has led to significant amounts of water puddling on the fields and it takes a very long time for the fields to dry out. In addition, the storms have raised the water table. Diamond Bar has a very high water table and the storms have exacerbated that issue. When staff looks at field availability, it makes that decision based on protecting the community's asset to make sure that the field availability is not impacted or destroyed going forward. Staff believes it is very important that if events must be canceled for a period of time during the winter season due to the condition of the field, it offers a better alternative than practicing on it, damaging it and having to shut it down for periods of weeks or months. Staff will continue to make decisions regarding the availability of fields on a case-by-case/day-by-day basis to make sure that the field remains in good condition. Chair/Grundy said he has been involved with field work for 10 years as an active volunteer of the local AYSO and he continues to run on the fields as a referee. He knows what kind of damage can occur to these fields if they are accessible after rainstorms. The damage can last for months and months, and as opposed to a two-week inconvenience it could be potentially up to six months of damaged fields and inconvenience. He concurs with staff that it is appropriate to close the fields when there is a potential for lasting damage because in the long run it serves to provide the user groups with better quality fields over the long run. C/Herndon said that late this afternoon he received copies of emails. One such email was dated February 14 and timestamped 6:18 p.m. and read: "Just for your information I arrived at Heritage Park at 5:15 and immediately notified the City to turn on the lights and they were stalling. We are here with no lights. I keep getting (told) the attendant is on his way, since 5:15. The field attendant finally arrived and was very nonchalant. He didn't say sorry for being late or express compassion for the parents or kids stuck in the dark. I asked the guy, Brad, if he could prevent this from happening again and his response was surprising. He actually said the situation may happen again and did not offer a solution. He was just plain rude. C/Herndon said he hates to hear things like this and perhaps there are two sides to the story. While he can understand where some things happen where someone cannot show up he felt that if there was a problem how it might better be handled. ACM/McLean stated that the City expects staff that interfaces with any resident, whether it is in Parks and Recreation, Planning, Building, to treat the customer with respect. He is not personally familiar with this situation and this email was not shared with any staff member so he would not be able to comment on the details of the situation but will look into the matter and report back. He asked FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 3 P&R C/Herndon to provide him a copy of the email and said he would speak with C/Herndon after the meeting to learn more. C/Herndon asked if there was a shortage of field attendants and ACM/McLean said there had been some turnover but there has been staff to backfill those positions when they are vacant and have continued to have the position hours covered. VC/Sulakhe asked if there was an option for people who are missing practices. ACM/McLean responded that it is very difficult to make up rain days with a different option because the fields are outdoor fields and impacted by rain and there is not a large enough, facility to provide indoor facilities. Most of the time, Southern California is blessed with great weather and field convenience. This year the area has suffered significant storms that are unusual to the region. Staff works with groups to maximize the space available but in the event of an Act of God, the City has few options. VC/Sulakhe asked how staff notifies users about the closures and ACM/Lean responded that staff uses the same process that it has for many years which is to determine whether the field is playable or not by going onsite to make that determination. Staff uses hotlines and emails to notify the user groups of closures. Chair/Grundy said that in the space of one game he has seen a field look perfect but when you go onto the field it is squishy and by the time the game is finished, mud fields have developed where there has been active play and if one visits the field three months later, those mud fields are now dirt spots because the grass was killed off. As he previously stated, the momentary closure versus lasting damage of the field is still a value -proposition for the users. He would prefer to have quality fields over being able to have that one - day use. C/Herndon said that he plays softball in other cities and they have the same policy which is very understandable from the user group point of view. The fields have to be protected or they can become almost unplayable. Most user groups he knows certainly understand the situation. C/Hsieh felt staff could look for additional ways to notify users and citizens in advance such as sending out memos. ACM/McLean said he would look into other options. In the meantime, staff meets frequently with user groups to let them know what is happening with fields and what the City's process is for notification about closures, etc. C/Herndon said that he is aware of one city that has a 1-800 number people can call anytime and receive current information about the state of the fields, information on field closures and other matters. In addition, perhaps a notification can be placed on the City's website. Also, as a reminder, the City's website is being updated and once that is done each department will have a greater ability to make information available on the website and a dedicated page for field conditions could be included and updated daily. FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 2.1 RECREATION PROGRAM UPDATE — RS/Murphey 2.1.1 PowerPoint Presentation —Military Banner Program — RS/Tarazon C/Hsieh asked why the hardware has to be replaced and RS/Tarazon explained that new brackets were installed because once they are taken down they have to be re-evaluated. The City switched to a new contractor and at that time began changing over to a high wind resistant bracket as the banners have been replaced. As far as how long photo banners would last compared to the current banners, RS/Tarazon said she spoke with her contractor which is a very large banner company and his recommendation was that photo banners look nice in the beginning but fade significantly faster due to the photo coloring. C/Hsieh continued pursuing the option of photo banners. ACM/McLean said it would be very difficult to quantify the fading process because there are so many factors involved that it would be unlikely a good date could be produced on which to base such a decision. Staff has to use the information the professionals who create the banners provide. Staff presented the request for information to that contractor and the contractor gave staff his professional opinion which was that due to the vibrancy of the colors necessary to create a photo that, as a result of his experience he has stated that there is a greater amount of fading on banners with color photos than banners that use standard colors only. ACM/McLean said he would hesitate to put a certain amount of time to the facing process because staff cannot confirm that it is actually the case. C/Hsieh continued her pursuit of photo banners and suggested that if people who completed applications for banners were able to upload the photo into the application it would bypass staff having to chase down the photos. She felt that with respect to cost, there may be another company that could make the banners and she wanted staff to get bids toward making the project happen. ACM/McLean said that whenever these types are done staff goes out to bid. He knows there are other companies that could do the banners and staff could ask their opinion on the fading issue. He added that this has been an investment over a long period of time and the City Council has set aside monies to produce these banners. In addition, the City produces an annual event on Veterans Day that is very well attended which is another opportunity to show veterans how much they mean to the community and how much their service is valued. Staffs recommendation at this time is to maintain the current banner program for the reasons outlined in staffs report. FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION Chair/Grundy commented that his opinion is that he supports staff's recommendation and he does not feel he would be interested in pursuing the costs as shown in staffs report. VC/Sulahke commented she believes the cost for bracket and hardware is important for safety reasons. Keeping in mind the emotions of C/Hsieh, she believes it is wonderful and awesome that the City provides banners and a Veterans' Day event which are included in the budget that has been planned. C/Hsieh's recommendation is good but it means additional costs to the City for further evaluation it should not be done because "fading" is not quantifiable as stated by staff. She would not like to have people looking at faded banners and feeling sad about it. C/Herndon said he appreciated the passion of his colleague. The two banners that were presented show the name of the veteran is much larger than what is currently displayed. People who travel Diamond Bar Boulevard at a significant rate of speed would benefit from the larger print. The cost of the pictures would definitely increase the budget if they needed to be replaced more frequently. He would recommend that the Commission accept staffs recommendation to continue with the current banner program. He has attended Veterans' Day Celebrations which are very well done and the veterans are very appreciative of those ceremonies. He believes that the City does a pretty good job of honoring its veterans and he wants to see the program continue. 2.2 MAINTENANCE REPORT — PMS/Jordan 2.2.1 Power Point Presentation — PMS/Jordan. 2.3 CIP PROJECTS—ACM/McLean 2.3.1 Larkstone Park — This is the City's next new park and follows the recently opened Diamond Canyon Park. Construction of the park is underway near South Pointe Middle School and the new Lennar Homes development, and it is being constructed by Lennar as part of the development agreement for the project. The park consists of 4.68 acres with 2.18 acres developed and usable for patrons. This is a primarily passive neighborhood park made up of grass areas, a walking trail that traverses the perimeter, a tot lot playground area and other walking paths and unique landscaping features. The park offers a unique layout that attempts to maximize interesting topography similar to Diamond Canyon Park. This facility is separated into two pads, an upper portion which is where the restroom facilities and playground are located and a lower portion approximately 80 feet downslope from the upper pad. The parks are not connected by internal pathway, walkway or trail. Patrons will walk up the sidewalk to the other side of the hill to access the upper portion. There are grass areas on both pads with walking FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 6 P&R paths that circle the perimeter. The lower pad has a "Yoga Garden" which is a standalone area with berm, turf and boulders, a quiet area separate from the park area. There is a seat wall on the lower pad where people can sit and enjoy the quiet and scenery, various picnic tables and benches, drinking fountains, information kiosks, tubular fencing and the City's updated park monument signage will be included. There are 184 trees of varying species including Crepe Myrtles, Coast Live Oak and Sycamore. Staff estimates it will cost the City $40-$50,000 per year to maintain and staff estimates the park will be open to the public toward the end of 2017. C/Hsieh asked how many parking places there would be and ACM/McLean responded 20 total with one (1) handicap parking space in each of the pads (two) located on the upper and lower pads. Chair/Grundy said that as is evident, people with dogs will create their own paths where there seems to be a natural traffic flow. Hopefully, there will not be too many people but there will be some traffic on the hillside going between the two pads. ACM/McLean said this site is slightly different from Pantera where there is a connection between the sidewalk and the street to the slope that goes down to the dog park. This park will have bench drains and the hillside is very steep. If those kinds of incidents begin to happen, that issue will be addressed at that time. Chair/Grundy hoped that staff would monitor the situation once the park is open. ACM/McLean said that as with any new facility, staff will monitor the site and take proactive measures to make necessary corrections and adjustments. C/Herndon asked if there would be fencing at the top of the hill and ACM/McLean said he did not believe there would be. C/Herndon said it appeared that the tot lot was fairly close to the top of the slope which could provide a safety hazard. He suggested that some kind of fence be placed at the top of the slope if only adjacent to the tot lot. Chair/Grundy thought it was a good idea even if it is only toddler high. If the slope is that steep the City needs to think about the possibility of an accidental fall. ACM/McLean said he would look at the plans and determine whether fencing is proposed at the top of the slope and get back to the Commission at the next meeting. C/Sulahke asked if the walkways go up and down the park and ACM/Mclean reiterated that the walkways circle the perimeter of each pad and there is no walkway that connects the two. The sideway adjacent to the park is the only access to both pads. FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 7 P&R COMMISSION 2.3.2 Stardust Park — This project was completed in December 2016. This is a project that has new play equipment and pour -in-place surfacing, ADA Accessibility Improvements, landscaping and drainage improvements all of which was fully funded via a County Grant. Photos are included in the Commission packet. He showed a time-lapse video of the park that is available on the City's website as well as the City's YouTube site. 2.3.3 Peterson Park Playground Equipment — This project was a four month process that was also completed in December 2016 which involved replacement of old play equipment that was installed in the 90's and needed replacement. Also installed was pour -in-place surfacing and a perimeter fencing. He showed a time-lapse video of the park that is available on the City's website and on YouTube. 2.3.4 Pantera Park/Steep Canyon Trail — This project is making significant progress and should be completed in April, weather permitting. 2.3.5 Longview South Improvements — This project is similar to the Stardust Park project. Improvements will include new play equipment, ADA improvements, landscaping improvements, new tables, benches, etc. The City Council rejected the first bid and it is back out for re -bid with new bids expected to be opened on March 7th. Provided there is response by a responsible low -bidder, the matter will go to the City Council for Award of Contract. ACM/McLean said there has been a significant number of projects with more to come and he thanked the Public Works Department and Parks Department staff who have been working hand -in -glove to complete these projects on-time and under budget. It is nice to see kids on the play equipment at Peterson Park. Chair/Grundy said the videos are an effective way for the Commissioners to see the construction and understand the amount of effort by staff and consultants to make the parks look the way they do. It takes a lot of people, equipment and care and it shows. 2.4 LIST OF PENDING COMMISSION REQUESTS — ACM/McLean 2) Request for trail descriptions to be placed at the base of each trail. The panels are at City Hall and scheduled to be installed in batches over the next few weeks. Staff is recommending that once installed, that this item be removed from this list at this point. Dated June 23, 2016: Request for an updated trails map. This is a very recent update. As of Tuesday night, the City Council adopted the mid- year budget. Unfortunately, the Snowfest had to be canceled due to the weather which added to the savings related to cancellation of that event FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE S P&R COMMISSION from which it was decided to fund several maintenance items and projects that have been postponed due to budget and timeframe, one of which was the Trails Map for which funding was included to produce a new and updated Trails Map in the mid -year budget. As a result, staff will be going through the procurement process and working with the proper consultants to develop the Trails Map this year. Request for Review of the Military Banner - Presented to the Commission this evening and with the Commission's recommendation, staff would recommend this item be removed from the list. C/Herndon spoke about VC/Sulahke's request for outdoor lighting at the Diamond Bar Center near the rear entrance. He is aware that there is inexpensive solar powered lights available that could possibly serve as a temporary lighting source for that and wondered if staff could look into the viability of that type of solution. ACM/McLean said he would ask PMS/Jordan and his crew to look into it to see if there was something that would work because he does not know what options are available or what might work in that particular instance. 2.5 YOUTH BASEBALL UPDATE—ACM/McLean This item dates back to the October 2016 Parks and Recreation meeting during which staff presented updated participant information about the Youth Baseball Program. Over the years staff has noticed a decline in participation and more particularly over the last three years in which the City has experienced the lowest participation in the last decade. Summer of 2016 saw the lowest participation since 2006 and 2015 and 2014 were the second and third lowest respectively. Given the continued decline in enrollment, staff has been forced to reorganize the divisions which presents certain issues. In 2014, the four and five year old division (T -Ball) had only 26 kids and the six and seven year old had only 25. Obviously, with baseball requiring a minimum of nine players for each team, this trend makes it difficult to produce a league in which the City has enough teams to play games and have a regular schedule. In 2015, because of the lack of players, staff condensed the divisions with a four to six year old division with seven year olds moving up to the eight and nine year old division which is T -Ball coach -pitched to kid pitched and nine year old participants were moved to the 10-11 year old division. This presents an issue because there are kids of significantly differing ages in maturity, strength and skill levels and presents concerns for the overall comfort level and enjoyment of the younger participants in the program. Participants and parents have indicated that the summer presents a more difficult time to have a dedicated league because of vacations, summer school and other commitments during non -school days. So having a practice and two games per week can sometimes be challenging and may be impacting participation over the last three seasons as well. Staff has been collecting information on demographic changes, trends throughout the Diamond Bar community. Staff has noticed that the Pony Baseball program has experienced a significant decline in participation. In the past there were seasons FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 9 P&R COMMISSION where Pony Baseball had in excess of a thousand participants which is now down to approximately 300. He has spent a considerable amount of time looking at demographic data over the past two census years (2000 and 2010) as well, the recently released 2015 estimates. Staff is noticing that Diamond Bar is a rapidly aging community and there are not the number of children in the City that there were in 2000. There is a significant decline in the 0-14 year old group which has witnessed a 30 percent decline since 2000. Diamond Bar is now home to more residents 60 and over than 0-14 which is nearly a flip-flop of what it was in 2000. There are a number of factors that can play into that includirig home prices and changing demographics. Staff has noticed that the Baseball program and other field sports participation has seemed to decline. Staff has seen increased participation in court sports. The Basketball Program is at an all-time high this year with 475 or so participants. The City is bursting at the seams with the Basketball and participants in the Tennis Anyone contract class program which is the City's most popular athletic contract class. Staff believes these trends show a growing interest in these sports and staff hears of growing interest in badminton in the community. The High School has a CIF championship winning program and they have a former Olympian in Diamond Bar that participated with the US Team in the last Olympics. As staff reviews all of the programs and attempts to develop programs that expand the reach and better reflect the interests of the community today, staff has made the decision to eliminate the baseball program this summer, which was not a decision that was made lightly. It is very difficult for him as a participant in years past to see the changing interests. But he also recognizes that it is important to provide programs that reach the most people and provide opportunities for the things residents are interested in. Staff will eliminate the baseball program this summer and look at developing other opportunities by developing pilot programs and short weekend -based programs and may look at other types of leagues. Staff will spend time brainstorming and developing new opportunities and programs for youth which will become part of the next budget year. Based on declining participation, he believes that the elimination of the baseball program will help the Pony League in that they can be the source of baseball for local youth and it opens availability of Heritage Park for other user groups that may provide baseball to a target audience. C/Herndon said he agreed that stopping the City's program for baseball is a good move based on ACM/McLean's presentation. Rather than declining participation, he believes the problem was an extensive shortage of sports fields in the City because with the decline, the City continues to have a shortage of sports fields. He believes some of the sports programs are beginning to grow again. He spent time with the President of the Pony League last week and he told C/Herndon that there were six more teams this year than last year. And they do not have enough practice fields. If Heritage Park is released that will be helpful because it is a lighted field. He has also spoken with the Diamond Bar Soccer League and they tell him they have more kids participating this year than FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 10 P&R in past years. Girls Softball continues to practice on infields with soccer in the outfields which tells him there are not enough sports fields available. In short, he hoped the City would not be short-sighted by all of the statistics and spend more time with the youth sports programs and determine what they mean when they say they have a shortage of access to fields. Rather than seek new opportunities for the City to provide sports, he felt it would be helpful to do everything possible to support the youth sports programs already in existence. Chair/Grundy said that as C/Herndon said he believes it makes sense to discontinue offering Pony Baseball but it would be nice if the City continued to maintain information about what baseball programs are available so that the City can make recommendations, should they be asked. ACM/McLean responded that every employee has a copy of the "Employee Black Book" which contains information on youth sports programs including the Diamond Bar Pony League and should someone call the City, any employee can provide direct contact to that program. ACM/Mc/Lean stated that it was staff's intention to provide attachments to the staff report on this item which was a complete breakdown that showed participation over the time period 2000 to 2016 for each division for Diamond Bar residents versus non-resident participation. ACM/McLean said he would send out the information to the Commissioners on Monday. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINES: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Hsieh thanked staff for the reports. C/Herndon said he was pleased to see how the parks have been updated. His great grandkids thoroughly enjoyed the facilities at Diamond Canyon Park He is sure the other neighborhood parks will be put to great use. Again, he hoped that the City would not try to statistically justify not getting kids more sports fields as he previously indicated because he knows that lighted fields are at a premium. He thanked staff for their reports and all that they do for the City. VC/Sulahke thanked everyone for the detailed report. She particularly likes how complaints about the weather were handled and that people were notified. When nature takes over there is not much that can be done but it is good that there are sandbags available and that everyone was made aware of the cancellation. Because the public is not always aware of sources of information the more frequently that information is given out will make it easier for residents. In addition to the website and hotline perhaps the City could send out reverse calls in emergency situations. FEBRIARU 23, 2017 PAGE 11 P&R COMMISSION Chair/Grundy echoed the comments of his colleagues. Love the videos. Again, he fully supports closing fields to make sure the City is proactive for the long- term and not short term. ADJOURNMENT: C/Herndon 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 8:40 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 23 day of February 2017. Respectfully RYAN MgLEAN,SECRETARY