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HomeMy WebLinkAbout11/16/2017 PRC MinutesCITY OF DIAMOND BAR MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION SPECIAL MEETING DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL - THE WINDMILL ROOM 21810 COPLEY DRIVE, DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 NOVEMBER 16, 2017 CALL TO ORDER: Chair/Sulakhe called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 7:00 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. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Dave Grundy, Lew Herndon, Kim Hsieh, Vice Chair Benny Liang and Chair Manisha Sulakhe Staff Present: Ryan McLean, Assistant City Manager; Dan Fox, City Manager; Anthony Jordan, Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Christy Murphey, Recreation Superintendent; Anthony Santos, Assistant to the City Manager; Andee Tarazon, Recreation Supervisor; Jason Williams, Facility and Asset Maintenance Technician; Crystal Knox, Recreation Supervisor, and Debbie Gonzales, Administrative Coordinator. MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE: None CALENDAR OF EVENTS: As presented by ACM/McLean 1. CONSENT CALENDAR: 1.1 Approval of Minutes for the September 28, 2017 Regular Meeting VC/Liang moved, C/Grundy seconded to approve the September 28, 2017 Regular Meeting Minutes. Without objection, the motion was so ordered. 1.2 Approval of Minutes for the October 26, 2017 Regular Meeting C/Hsieh moved, C/Herndon seconded to approve the October 26, 2017 Regular Meeting minutes. Without objection, the motion was so ordered with C/Grundy abstaining. 2. INFORMATIONAL ITEMS: 2.1 RECREATION PROGRAM UPDATE — RS/Murphey C/Hsieh asked if staff planned to move the holiday movie to the Diamond Bar Center Grand Ballroom in case of cold weather in the park. RS/Murphey said there were no plans to move the event unless it rained. NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION C/Herndon asked if other cities were doing this and RS/Murphey said she has looked at what other cities are doing and pointed out that San Francisco had a popular winter in the park event. This is new for Diamond Bar and staff is looking forward to seeing how it plays out. C/Hsieh said she saw a series of black and white movies program in Sacramento which was done in a library setting and was well-received so she believes the Diamond Bar program will turn out pretty well. C/Hsieh asked when staff would be going over the financial statement for the Barktoberfest. C/Hsieh said that considering the expenses for these events how often does the City rent PA systems. RS/Murphey said this is something staff is doing more often because the systems the City rents are much better than those the City has purchased. C/Hsieh was wondering if it would be more economical for the City to purchase better PA systems instead of renting them. Chair/Sulakhe pointed out that the event sold 251 game craft cards bringing in a total of $1,755 (on Page 20) which RS/Murphey said was for the Fall Fun Festival. Staff does not collect any revenue at Barktober. Chair/Sulakhe said that she has noticed many people bring their own boom box systems for the room or areas. The City has a couple of systems in the past that have worked okay. The remote wireless microphones have always been an issue. RS/Murphey responded that staff is looking into alternative portable PA systems. Wireless systems are a problem in the parks because of feedback. 2.2 MAINTENANCE REPORT— F&AMTM/illiams C/Herndon said he noticed today as he was driving north on the SR57 within the City limits there was a significant amount of graffiti on the control box adjacent to the freeway at the southern point of the City limits. 2.3 PARKS AND RECREATION USE POLICIES AND FEES — ACM/McLean C/Grundy asked if these recommendations are in line with what other cities have done and ACM/McLean said that he personally probably looked at a dozen other cities with respect to athletic fields. Not every provision is something from another city's policy because Diamond Bar has some unique systems with its own rules. Anytime that Diamond Bar looks at policy recommendations staff looks at other agencies (including Walnut and Chino Hills along with many others in the southern California area) and what they put in place in their policies. ACM/McLean presented staffs report beginning with the new Athletic ,Facility Use & Allocation policy. C/Herndon said that for some time softball teams have been practicing on infields while soccer teams practice on the outfield and wanted to know NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSION how that would be affected by the new policy. ACM/McLean said that as everyone knows, the City has limited available resources and recently, the Facility Attendants have been visiting athletic sites on a nightly basis. During these visits, the attendants have noticed that on a Tuesday night when fields were allocated for both softball and soccer neither group was at the field. Staff followed up on Wednesday and saw that both groups had scheduled practice for Wednesday which put a softball group on the infield and a soccer group on the outfield. What staff would like to do whenever possible, is attempt to stagger those by working with the groups so that if possible, if softball would like to have a practice and soccer is not on the field on a Tuesday, the field would be scheduled for softball practice on that Tuesday. There is limited park space and staff works very closely with those groups to try and find opportunities where practices can be staggered to maximize the best use of the fields. C/Herndon asked how staff arrived at two hours of practice per two hours of games. While he can understand that ratio for younger groups, any teams he has coached better practice a whole lot more than two hours for each game. Secondly, he is concerned about leagues. If he has a league of 200 participants, 140 of which are Diamond Bar residents, what does he do with the other 60 kids? ACM/McLean responded that the two hours of practice to two hours of games was the standard throughout many different policies and agencies. Staff noticed it was a pattern and felt it would be appropriate for recommendation. He noted that this is used as a "starting point" for the allocation as opposed to not having any way of measuring any access and any remaining hours available are then at the discretion of the City to apportion to different groups. Again, the goal of these recommendations is to be fair and equitable across all organizations in the City and to try and do it with the understanding that everyone's wish -list cannot be met. C/Grundy said that his observation is that no matter what fields and time may get only a fraction of what they ask for but they still have the same number of people in the organization and would somehow schedule that to meet the needs of the number of people in the organization which may cut down the number of practice hours or the way games are scheduled, and he does not see that changing with this recommendation. This is just a different way of trying to be fairer and more transparent in how much field time is given. ACM/McLean reiterated that the City wants to partner with organizations and want the youth and adult sports organizations to have access to City facilities. Staff is not trying to limit access, the attempt is to provide access in a more equitable manner. He does not foresee anyone eliminating those relationships or not trying to work with groups to meet their needs as best as possible. C/Herndon said he has lived in Diamond Bar for 48 years and there has been a shortage of fields in the City for all of that time. He would hope NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSION that at some point in the near future that the City would work toward getting more fields for youth. The problem with obesity in youth is at a very high percentage and growing worse and he believes the City should offer more fields as an incentive to youth to get out and play which would require updated and lighted fields that would meet the needs of the community. C/Grundy asked if there was a provision for a group being allocated time and monitoring to see if they use it with some action if they do not use their allocation and not been made available to other groups and ACM/McLean pointed out that in the current policy that provision was rolled over to the recommended policy in which a user group could lose their allocation depending on whether they are not using the allocation or if they are trading their use permit to another group that is not allocated. Public Comments: Antonio Gamboa, Diamond Bar Soccer League asked whether in order to qualify to apply for field allocation, does the City give first weight to the organization or the Diamond Bar residency. ACM/McLean said that for a qualifying organization, the organization must have a minimum of 40 percent Diamond Bar residents which is actually a lower threshold than is in the current policy which requires groups to have 60 percent Diamond Bar residents. This would require groups to turn in their rosters which is something that has been required since the policy was first initiated and once the resident number is verified (meets the minimum 40 percent threshold) the group would qualify for allocation. Mr. Gamboa asked if groups outside the City met the threshold, could they qualify for field allocation since many of those groups might have 40 percent Diamond Bar residency. ACM/McLean said that as it is written in draft form tonight it is open to any group that has a minimum of 40 percent (Diamond Bar residency) and the reason that was done is because this process looked at several local longtime user groups and noticed that some of those groups (non-profit status) were a regional organization and therefore, were not in the Diamond Bar local non-profit but served hundreds of local kids that were based in Diamond Bar but did not meet the standards set by the current policy. The City wants to maximize access for kids that live in Diamond Bar and participate in sports locally. If there is an organization, a smaller travel team for example, that has 40 percent, they still need a minimum of 12 participants and would be subject to the terms of the formula which would limit their hourly allocation because they have a small group of kids. Staff attempted to balance the allocation as best as possible given the modern changing demographics, participation changes and so forth. Kimberly Ayers said that the Tuesday that her soccer league was not practicing on fields is that one Tuesday was Halloween and the Tuesday prior there was a fire and because the air quality was not good the teams NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION did not practice and she is not sure those were the two Tuesdays that staff checked the fields. Normally, the soccer teams are there during their allocated practice hours. In her opinion, it would be a shame for some of the organizations that have put work into the City of Diamond Bar as the Diamond Bar Soccer League has, to be left out of the equation because they do not have multiple teams like Legends that has teams in every City. So in that scenario, her organization can get pushed out by a huge organization who takes all of the kids from Diamond Bar because they can provide better fields. Her organization won the City two state championships, one regional and one national cup title in 2015. It is difficult when Diamond Bar kids are being taken by these other organizations. The City is sensitive to this issue and one of the things it has put into the policy is a section in which any new organization is subject to a six-month review period in which the impacts of that new organization might have on existing allocations are reviewed. In that way, some of the City's longstanding groups that have roots in the City and that have participated with kids or adults in Diamond Bar have an opportunity to remain and not be forced out. Ms. Ayers said she would be happy to take time to sit with Commissioners and staff to talk about how soccer organizations work. Legends is huge and they basically take every player that is good from any area. They could have a player that lives in Diamond Bar that may play on one of their elite teams perhaps in Orange County and who is to say that player is actually going to come and practice in Diamond Bar. They could just be using those numbers to manipulate the kids. ACM/McLean said that Field Attendants go out every night that fields are allocated including the weekends to monitor the use of the fields and staff wants to make sure that the City is visible to the user groups. Ms. Ayers said it would be difficult to monitor. ACM/McLean said if there was an issue in which a user group was not meeting the terms of the policy it would be addressed. Ms. Ayers felt it would be difficult for monitors to know and that is the problem. C/Herndon asked if Legends would be considered a "new" group because it seemed to him that they had been allocated fields in the past and Ms. Ayers said "no." It is a large organization that wants to take over all the field space in every city and it is something she could see happening in Diamond Bar. Mr. Gamboa said Legends had been in existence for 10 years. Soccer organizations are looking for any particular specific small fields where they can practice and they will justify it any possible way. They go from La Habra to Walnut and to anywhere. Many are out to make money. They charge large amounts of money. For example, people pay $4,500 or $6,000 a year to play in Legends while others pay $600 with Diamond Bar Soccer League because they have made it affordable for their City and for the players. Some leagues with very few teams have gone bankrupt. But they were looking for fields all of the time. DB Soccer League works closely with AYSO and his issue is that he believes the City should be looking to help organizations that are working for Diamond Bar because NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION these groups bring revenue to the City. Ms. Ayers said the population is aging and there are not as many kids so Diamond Bar groups struggle. Brea and Fullerton have sports complexes Diamond Bar kids are lost to those facilities. When she has 11 kids that want to play does she not make a team for them or does she take 4 or 5 kids from other areas and provide a team for those 11 kids. Chair/Sulakhe pointed out that because this recommendation reduces the percentage from 60 to 40 it should accommodate more kids. She understands about the Brea facility but it is also very expensive. Most of the fields allocated through the Diamond Bar plan rent from $5 to $50 and that is not offered in Brea. Ms. Ayers asked why Diamond Bar does not charge a non-resident fee and Chair/Sulakhe said that the City is very compassionate. Ms. Ayers said she understands; however, the money could be going toward fields. ACM/McLean said that some of the recommendations this evening include a non-resident fee such as access to athletic fields for one-time uses for which an increase is recommended for non-resident use. C/Herndon asked for Ms. Ayers to comment on the 4 -hour use per team per week and Ms. Ayers said it would be okay for the little kids but for the high school kids they need more time. Also, the high school teams go dormant November through December which means the fields are available for other groups during that time. ACM/McLean said staff is not recommending that the City choose how the hours are distributed amongst the groups. If there are younger kids who have a smaller attention span of one hour perhaps that second hour could be allocated to a different age group. One of staff's recommendations is to have a third allocation during the year so that staff can remain in constant contact with the groups and cover the changing seasons and changing needs. If is often difficult to allocate time for a six-month block given holidays and times when teams go dormant. David Lara, Diamond Bar Pony Baseball, said that with the new proposal there is the possibility of reduced hours for practice fields and asked if his organization would be able to trade times with other organizations as has been done in the past. ACM/McLean asked that this be communicated to the City to ascertain proper allocation. In the past, teams have traded time without contacting the City and when staff goes out to check it opens a dispute about who has the permit to be on the field. Staff is willing to work with the groups provided they communicate their agreements to staff. Staff asks that each group identify two representatives that are responsible for working with the City on the allocation process so if there are any questions related to an agreement between two groups needing to trade hours the representatives are asked to contact Ramiro Valderrama, Recreation Specialist in the Parks & Recreation office who NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 7 P&R COMMISSION handles the field allocations, to work out the details. C/Grundy said that during field allocation meetings, typically, the allocations are presented to the different groups and there is a period of time where in that meeting at the end, the swap takes place in front of staff. ACM/McLean said that practice would continue to accommodate those trades during the meetings. RECESS: Chair/Sulakhe recessed the meeting at 8:05 p.m. RECONVENE: Chair/Sulakhe reconvened the meeting at 8:17 p.m. ACM/McLean continued with his report to the Commission. C/Grundy asked if the Diamond Bar Center fee structure was for new reservations only. The Center is booked for more than a year out and C/Grundy asked if that fee structure and cancellation policy would remain the same under what has been booked. ACM/McLean concurred. C/Grundy asked if someone cancelled and another party signed up for the space in that time slot would the second party be under the new fee structure and new cancellation policy and ACM/McLean responded yes, once it is approved by the City Council it would be implemented in that way. Chair/Sulakhe said she understood the Center was booked out for 24 months rather than just one year. C/Hsieh asked if the fees would be the same for non -profits and others. ACM/McLean said that the only situation where the fees would be uniform for non-profit and other groups would be for weekend rentals in the Grandview Ballroom at the Diamond Bar Center. C/Herndon asked if the senior groups fall under the same residency percentage as the sports group and ACM/McLean responded "no." C/Herndon asked if there was a reason for that and ACM/McLean responded that the City has a number of groups that have long-standing facility use. The City is aware of this fact and is attempting to work with them on an individual basis throughout the five groups which is why staff is recommending that the City continue working with those groups to allocate the facility. C/Herndon asked if the City was losing rental income because of the use of the senior groups and ACM/McLean said that recently the Diamond Bar Senior Club voted to move its Tuesday meeting to Monday which has opened up the mid -week opportunities for commercial rentals during the day. One of the Council's action items in its strategic plan is to market the facility for more potential commercial rental income in an attempt to raise revenue and offset some of the free costs. Primarily, those commercials are mid -week and staff sees this as an opportunity beginning in the upcoming year when the change is in place to aggressively market the space to commercial rentals Tuesdays through Thursdays as the facility is available. Chair/Sulakhe said that Diamond Bar books reservations at the Diamond NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 8 P&R COMMISSION Bar Center 24 -months in advance whereas, Chino Hills does 12 months in advance. As a Commissioner, she has had residents tell her that they cannot get a reservation and when she asks how she can help they respond no, every time they call it is always booked. And when I call into the main City office they are told there are six or eight other reservations before this person can get on the list and this person never has a chance to get a rental because the cancellation policy tells people that the next person in line has to be given 24-hour notice which is not mentioned in staff's proposal. She is not saying the policy is bad, merely stating that people who are trying to get a reservation at the Diamond Bar Center have dim possibilities of doing so when the facility is booked two years in advance. RS/Murphey said that when the Center first opened residents could book 18 months in advance and the facility was so busy with multiple people calling for the same date staff began the lottery system and it works for staff to book that far out for a smoother flow so that staff is not so busy trying to determine what dates might be available. She asked if Chair/Sulakhe was suggesting that staff not keep a wait list so that as dates become available they are open to whoever books first. Chair/Sulakhe said she was not suggesting to not have a wait list, it is just that staff gets very busy and for two years out every Saturday and Sunday is booked through 2019. She understands it is a struggle for staff and that it is also a struggle for residents who want to have an event at the Center. RS/Murphey said if people are not booking 24 -months in advance there would continue to be competition for dates which seems to result in trading one set of problems for another. RS/Knox explained that staff gives priority to residents and local non-profit groups to book up to 24 months in advance. Non-residents can book up to 20 months in advance and the Center is booked out on weekends only about 18 months which means there is an opportunity for rentals on those dates as well as, Fridays and Sundays which are booked out about 12 months. There is still opportunity for rental. The wait list gives staff the opportunity to monitor and make sure that the City is giving opportunities to those dates so that 1) it does not remain un -booked and 2) that staff is able to rebook the dates and giving opportunity to those who have already inquired about space. C/Hsieh said she believed it was a good problem for the City to have. She wanted to have a wedding at the Center but it was booked. She was happy for the City that it was booked but she had it at Orange Hill instead. It is what it is and she believes it is better to have it booked than to have nothing happening. RS/Knox added that when the Center booked 18 months out it was completely booked for those 18 months and what that created was a "lottery" for staff so that on the first of every month staff had to conduct a lottery and pull names and it became difficult for staff but a messy booking NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 9 P&R COMMISSION situation which was not equally fair to those who are trying to rent space. Chair/Sulakhe said that staff is doing a good job. People try to double - book and like C/Hsieh, if she wants to book an event in Diamond Bar she may have to go somewhere else if she is late to the game which can happen to anyone. The Diamond Bar Center is beautiful and she is there almost every weekend. It is fortunate and unfortunate that the Center has such a good record of people who want to come to Diamond Bar for their events. VC/Liang said this is basic supply and demand and he can endorse the current system which he feels is a great system. He has his people try to use the facility on a regular basis and he was very happy to hear from RS/Murphey about how it works and that there will be three more days to market the facility. It is true that Diamond Bar needs to take care of its residents and in the meantime the City needs to be fiscally responsible to make sure it can balance its budget. People who book early are lucky enough to get a space. He has referred many, many folks (20-30) to the Center who have tried to rent the Grand View Ballroom and none of them were able to get the facility on the date of their choice and staff is doing a fantastic job. ACM/McLean continued with staffs presentation (fee related items). VC/Liang asked if the report included insurance coverage requirements. ACM/McLean responded that each policy for facility rental allocations has insurance requirements which are spelled out within the language of the policy. C/Grundy asked if a financial impact projection was done for all of these items to project what the difference in revenue would be and ACM/McLean responded that staff has done some very preliminary approximate estimates and believes that approximately $70,000 per year is a conservative estimate. It is very difficult given staff does not know the volumes of each of these items going into each year. Much will depend on whether the City gets new revenues during the week that have not previously been forthcoming. There have not been any real rentals at Pantera Park which would be a new revenue source. Staff would like to revisit after 12 months to obtain hard numbers which would be brought back to the Commission. VC/Liang asked if staff could begin looking into a marketing strategy to promote facility use. ACM/McLean said definitely, and that is one of the City Council's strategic plan items for which staff will be underway on that very project. C/Herndon asked if the insurance requirements remained the same and ACM/McLean responded yes, that the insurance requirements match the current standards. C/Herndon asked if at some point it would be appropriate to increase the insurance requirements and ACM/McLean NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 10 P&R said that in the policy staff reserves the right to review the insurance requirements and if there is an event proposed that has greater risk the City would ask for additional coverage. ACM/McLean concluded his report and asked for feedback and recommendations to prepare those for the City Council at an upcoming meeting. C/Herndon moved, C/Hsieh seconded, to recommend the Parks and Recreation Use Policies and Fees be forwarded to the City Council with the Commission's recommendation for approval. Without objection, the motion was so ordered. C/Grundy said he is familiar with the Legends group which is huge and if they were to come to Diamond Bar to get some field use for 200 kids of which 80 are Diamond Bar residents which means that group would meet the threshold while their organization consists of 2,000 kids, how would staff handle that scenario? ACM/McLean referred C/Grundy to Page 62 there is a provision which addresses this specific scenario. Item C, contains a provision related to new organizations and/or splits from existing organizations which requires that any group wishing field allocation would submit an application and there would be a minimum of six months for staff to review that application and if it was determined that the new program negatively impacts the allocation of the City's facilities staff has the authority to deny that application. VC/Liang asked if Item C. had been approved by the City Attorney to ensure there is no potential legal liability for the City. ACM/McLean said that this provision has not yet been approved by the City Attorney but it would be reviewed and it is an industry standard that was borrowed from some of the other use policies that staff has seen and he has confidence that it has passed legal muster given the fact that it is a commonly used provision in policies throughout the area. 3. OLD BUSINESS: None 4. NEW BUSINESS: None 5. ANNOUNCEMENTS: C/Grundy said he would not be available for a December Commission meeting and asked if other Commissioners have an opinion on a December meeting. VC/Liang recalled that December meetings for Commissions are usually canceled. ACM/McLean said that VC/Liang is correct. The reason that item was not on tonight's agenda was to give staff the ability to continue tonight's discussion if all of the items had not been completed. If the Commission wishes to adjourn tonight's meeting to January 26th that would be appropriate. NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 11 P&R COMMISSION Chair/Sulakhe asked about PowerPoint presentations being held over until next year and ACM/McLean responded that the customary PowerPoint presentations that are provided to the Commission will resume at the next scheduled meeting. Commissioners concurred to go dark for the December meeting. Chair/Sulakhe said that with all of the great work staff does it is worth a good holiday season. ACM/McLean echoed Chair/Sulakhe's sentiments because the entire staff spent a great number of hours working on this project and were instrumental in putting the packet together for this evening. C/Hsieh thanked CM/Fox and PMS/Jordan for making a special appearance this evening. She asked if staff was sending thank -you notes to students who attend meetings. She thought that had been done in the past. Chair/Sulakhe said that what happens is that the school sends students from their civics classes for which they are given points. C/Hsieh said that staff has done a good job and that the focus of the reports were for Diamond Bar residents. Thank -you to staff for all they have done in 2017 and she looks forward to 2018. Have a great Thanksgiving, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year. C/Herndon, VC/Liang and C/Grundy echoed the aforementioned accolades. C/Grundy complimented staff for the great job on the new policies and fee structures which represents a lot of thought and work. Have a great holiday season. Chair/Sulakhe thanked her colleagues and staff. She believes that writing policies and procedures is a very, very difficult job and reflects a lot of global standards in government and labor activities. She really appreciated C/Herndon talking about the obesity issue and adding new fields which she believes is a great idea. Diamond Bar is always very compassionate about health and provides hiking trails, etc. She appreciated CM/Fox attendance at tonight's meeting and thanked staff for a great job. She wished everyone a very Happy Thanksgiving. ADJOURNMENT: Upon motion by C/Herndon, seconded by VC/Liang and with no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission, Chair/Sulakhe adjourned the meeting at 8:59 p.m. The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this day of 2018. NOVEMBER 16, 2017 PAGE 12 P&R COMMISSION Respectfully RYAN'MeTV-41, SECRETARY Attest: 14CL�4/ elLO MANISHA SULAKHE, CHAIR