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HomeMy WebLinkAbout06/20/2019 PRC Minutes CITY OF DIAMOND BAR ', MINUTES OF THE PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION ' DIAMOND BAR CITY HALL - THE WINDMILL ROOM ' 21810 COPLEY DRIVE, DIAMOND BAR, CA 91765 JUNE 20, 2019 ' CALL TO ORDER : Chair/Orona called the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting to order at 6 : 36 p . m . in the City Hall Windmill Room , 21810 Copley Drive , Diamond Bar, CA 91765 . PLEDGE OF A�LEGIANCE : Commissioner Liang led the Pledge of Allegiance . ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Benny Liang , Aaron Salo, Vice Chair Kim Hsieh , and Chair Tommy Orona ' Absent: Commissioner Manisha Sulakhe was excused . Staff Present: Ryah Wright, Parks & Recreation Director; Anthony Jordon , Parks and Maintenance Superintendent; Robin Crawford , Administrative Assistant; Jeff Scott , ICG . MATTERS FROM THE AUDIENCE : None CALENDAR OF EVENTS : PRD/Wright 1 . CONSENT CALENDAR: 1 . 1 Approval of Minutes for the May 23 ; 2019 Regular Meeting . VC/Hsieh moved , Chair/Orona seconded to approve the Minutes of the May 23 , 2019 regular meeting . Motion carried by the following Roll Call vote : AYES : CONiMISSIONERS : Salo , VC/Hsieh , Chair/Orona NOES COMMISSIONERS : None ABSTAIN : COMMISSIONERS : Liang ABSENT COMMISSIONERS : Sulakhe 2 . INFORMATIONAL ITEMS : ' 2 . 1 JUNE RECREATION PROGRAM - PRD/Wright 2 . 2 JUNE 2019 MAINTENANCE REPORT — PMS/Jordan 3 . OLD BUSINESS : 3 . 1 HERITAGE PARK AND SUNSET CROSSING CONCEPTUAL DESIGN — PRDM/right and Jeff Scott, President, ICG . JUNE 20, 2019 PAGE 2 P&R COMMISSION PRD/Wright gave a Power Point Presentation on the design process , provided survey results , park options (designs) and asked for Commission feedback and questions . Once the designs and costs are established , the City Council may determine to fund the project through a variety of options , including the General Fund options , grant opportunities and possible propositions . PRD/Wright responded to VC/Hsieh that with respect to the splash pad , at both workshops , staff heard from other agencies that have them and from residents who use them that they are very popular features and believe that many residents would use them . The YMCA at Sunset Crossing would be excited to have one and so would Pony Baseball . At Heritage Park , the Summer Day Care program would love to have a splash pad as would Castle Rock Elementary School next door. There is no doubt that they would be heavily used and the question is which location , as well as , cost to construct and maintain moving forward . Because staff is confidant they would be significantly used , one can imagine the extent of the ongoing maintenance that the maintenance team would need to monitor on a daily basis . While they are nice to have , the cost must be considered as well as , the number of pools in Diamond Bar parking/traffic and which neighborhood might use them more . VC/Hsieh said that because Sunset Crossing would have a parking issue , Heritage Park might be a better candidate for a spiash pad . She asked if the cost could be cut by shutting the pad off in the winter. PRD/Wright explained that if it is winterized there continues to be maintenance costs . Residents were concerned about parking at Sunset Crossing as well . If this is an important amenity to the City it does bring into question which park would be best suited to accommodate a splash pad . Generally speaking , a splash paid is an unmanned facility similar to a skate park. There is a liability issue for the City if it is staffed . VC/Hsieh felt the City needed to spend more money at Heritage Park . C/Liang said it is nice to have , rather than need to have . Currently, the economy is good and Diamond Bar is in good shape . However, while a one-time construction fee is okay, the ongoing maintenance costs always go up and the City needs to look at this from a fiscal perspective to see what is of more benefit to the community. Comparing Heritage with the Sunset Crossing reminds him of the small Washington neighborhood park because it is right next to the YMCA and the Pony League fields and his belief is that whatever goes into Sunset Crossing would need to cater to those two fields so that more youth could utilize Sunset Crossing . PRD/Wright said he believed C/Liang 's assessment was fair based on the neighbors and both nearby organizations . C/Liang reiterated that to compare Sunset Crossing to Heritage Park is not a reasonable comparison to him . With Option 4 , the only major change is to move the restroom from its current location at Brea Canyon Road to the back of the park. PRD/Wright said yes , option 4 relocates tne restroom , updates the JUNE 20, 2019 PAGE 3 P&R COMMISSIOIV ' tot lot and renovates the baseball field and leaves the basketbali court in ' its existing location . C/Liang asked if there was a wall behind the baseball ' fieid to block it from the park and the neighborhood . PMS/Jordan ' explained that on the south end down below, there is a fence that separates the baseball field and the park from the school . On the east end of the park (the Iower portion) , there is a wall between the residences on Bronco Lane and those streets that separates the park. PRD/Wright agreed with C/Liang that based on the earth work that would be required to maintain the ball field , the cost of Option 4 was pretty close to the other options without the amenities . C/Liang asked if the City really wanted to maintain a baseball field at ' Heritage Park. He understands that the Community Center at Heritage Park is a very old building that needs some upgrading . ' C/Salo said that it seemed to him the City would keep as much open space as possible and have balifields and soccer fields , although they may not necessarily be used strictly for those particular activities . Once those are taken away it is difficult to find a space to have these types of activities in the future and he would like to see the baseball field remain at Heritage Park. It seems like it would have a lower overall ongoing maintenance cost. He wondered what the ADA fixes would have to be and whether it was the slope or sides of the field or the field itself. Jeff Scott pointed out on the map the entire area that needed to be ADA retrofitted . The bleachers and dugouts need ADA and the lighting is old sports field lighting and would have to be retrofitted to LED . In addition , by adding the fencing it is still not a regulation baseball field and is , at best , less than a Pony field and is essentially a practice field only. In order to do that and because of regulations , if you have an outfield and it is shorter than a normal field , there has to be a field fence with netting because the weekend warriors will hit balis and may hit kids in the playground and neighborhood . Not only does there have to be a chain link fence and wall , there has to be netting in the outfield . To just bring it up to standards to lower the liability risk , it becomes extremely costly. It might be the right thing to do but this is what has to be done from a liability risk to the City. Once you touch any portion of Heritage Park , the entire site has to be ADA retrofitted , but if you have a phased project which just touches the site and you don 't touch the buiiding , the building can be kept as- is for now. However, the entire site would have to be fixed including all of the walkway paths that do not currently meet ADA requirements . C/Salo asked why the bathroom would not be moved to the existing , Community Center/attach it to the building . PRD/Wright said there is no space to do that. Typically , the restroom needs to be located as close as possible to the tot lot. The building , especially on the east side where the picnic area is , has a lot of slopes and curves and it would be very expensive . The west side of the building JUNE 20 , 2U19 PAGE 4 P&R COMMISSiON is right up against the parking lot. The only option would be on the north side where the new indoor restrooms are proposed . Some folks have asked if they can be indoor/outdoor and the answer is they could be , but from staffs view, that would be discouraged because for those that have rented the Heritage Park Community Center for small family birthdays or gatherings , the expectation is that the restrooms are there for them and their guests . Staff believes there is sti{{ a need to have two sets of restrooms in such a large community park and since the ADA issue of the new restrooms has to be addressed , it is actually cheaper to relocate than replace the existing . C/Salo said he likes the idea that the City is upgrading the existing Community Center and LED 4ighting . He disagrees that the sp{ash pad should go with Heritage because of the fact that the park is very shaded with lots of trees . He prefers that the splash pad be installed at Sunset Crossing . Jeff Scott explained that it is only 225 feet of outfield fence whereas , normal baseball fields are 250 , meaning it is 25 feet short. And what happens is that trees end up being eliminated . The trees in this park are really beautiful and rarely seen in a park setting , and he believes those trees should be saved at all cost. VC/Hsieh reiterated her desire to have the splash pad at Sunset Crossing Park . PRDNVright explained that there is no opportunity to add additional , parking at either location . VC/Hsieh said that there are more young kids who would use Sunset Crossing and they would be more inclined to use a splash pad . C/Salo said that for Heritage perhaps staff could consider disk golf which is pretty popular. It seems to him it would not cost too much to instal{ baskets and seems like an extra feature that could be added throughout the park . Chair/Orona said he liked Option 2 for Heritage Park which would give residents the Pickleball courts they have requested . In his opinion , at feast one of the parks needs such courts. Option 1 is also good . With respect to Sunset Crossing he likes Option 1 because it has everything included in the available space , it is close to the YMCA, it is close to the Pony Basebali and he believes that this park wiN be used a lot. Whife parking may be a concern , a lot of people walk to this park anyway. Overall , he likes Options 1 and 2 for both parks but prefers Option 1 for Sunset Crossing and Option 2 for Heritage Park . C/Salo asked if the City has looked into capturing the water that goes into the splash pad to water the grass . PMS/Jordan said he is not completely familiar with that concept. However, in order to do that, one wauld essentially propose a total loss system in terms of the splash pad itself. � There would have to be enough underground infrastructure to capture that water and there would have to be an extremely large cistern to capture JUNE 20, 2019 PAGE 5 P&R COMMISSION that water and later reapply it onto an irrigation system which would also ' , have to be completely revamped . He knows that the cost of implementing ' ' such a system would be pretty significant. ' PRD/Wright said that water would have to be treated prior to re-releasing it because it would be treated with chemicals for the splash pad . Other agencies (9 out of 10) are recirculating the water. C/Salo said he wasn 't sure but thought it might be a requirement that the water be captured . ' C/Salo said he has heard rumors that they may try to sell the Pony ' League field since they are looking at building Sunset Crossing and ' wondered if that would be something the City would consider acquiring and developing . PRD/Wright said the City has not been approached about that issue and it would be a City Council decision if they were approached to do so. What he can say is that all four of these options would not prohibit any future development based on the lay of the land . C/Salo felt that 190 responses out of 56 , 000 households would not be a good representation of people's opinions , but it is obviously valuable because it is the best the City has . VC/Hsieh said that Option 2 for Heritage seems to work well because of the Pickle Bali field , but considering a splash pad for Sunset Crossing ' would be a good idea if it could replace the Pickle Ball field . PRD/Wright concluded that the plan moving forward is to consolidate everything from Commissioner's feedback and surveys to the options from the public, with staff's recommendations and consultant information . This will be taken to the City Council for further discussion and conclusion and , it would be beneficial if the Commission as a whole had a general consensus for a recommendation at each location that staff could forward to the City CounciL Chair/Orona asked for Consensus . Commissioners reiterated their individual preferences . Resufts : 4 for Option 1 at Sunset Crossing 3 for Option 4 and 1 for Option 2 for Heritage Park ' 4. NEW BUSINESS : NONE 5 . ANNOUNCEMENTS : JUNE 20, 2019 PAGE 6 P&R COMMISSION C/Liang thanked staff for providing such detailed information about the options for the two parks and tonight he feels very grafeful that the Commission nas been able to have an in-depth discussion on this matter. VC/Hsieh thanked staff for their input and help in presenting options for the Commission 's consideration . She felt this was a very productive meeting . Staff has done so much work for the City and she is very happy to be able to ofFer her input. C/Salo thanked staff for their work in putting together the designs for the two paCks . It is also very nice to see the progress at Pantera Park with the lighting . He also likes hearing about the progress at Sycamore Canyon Park as well . Good job , staff. Chair/Orona thanked staff for the hard work they do every day. The Concerts in the Park are a lot of fun and he is excited to attend this year's series . He looks fonvard to the 3�d of July celebration which he believes will be fun . Thanks again to staff for the work that went in to preparing the presentation this evening and thanks to Jeff Scott for being present and providing input and expertise on the subject. He is excited to see what happens down the road with these parks and witness the progress moving forward . ADJOURNMENT : With no one objecting and no further business before the Parks and Recreation Commission , Chair/Orona adjourned the meeting at 7 : 58 p . m . The foregoing minutes are hereby approved this 25 day of July , 2019 . Respectf�y Submitted , � ��� , I /� � � RYAN RIGHT , SECRETARY Attest: -""'L_ TOMMY ORONA, CHAIRPERSON