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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2011-07-21 PRC MINS City of Chula Vista Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes Thursday 6:30 p.ro. July 21, 2011 Public Services Building 300 B129 276 4`'' Avenue Meeting called to order by Chair )an Buddingh at 6:30 pm. Staff Present: Buck Martin, Director of Recreation Richard Hopkins, Director of Public Works .John Gates, Principal. Recreation Manager Mary Radio:, Landscape Architect Guests: Art 'Torres, Youth Sports Council Roll Call/Motion to Excuse Members Present: Chair Buddingh, Commissioner. Vogel, Commissioner Garza, Commissioner Serrano, Commissioner Chambers, Commissioner Cien-'aver Staff distributed Commissioner Elizabeth Scott's letter of resignation from the Commission, which is effective immediately. 2. Oral Communications - none 3. a. Approval of Minutes of May 19, 2011—MSC Garza/Serrano to approve meeting minutes (Vote 6-0-0-0) b. Approval of Minutes of June 30, 2011—MSC Cien-Mayer/Vogel to approve meeting minutes with the following corrections — Page 8 —change Deputy, to Deputy Mayor and change Ms. Hopkins to Mr. Hopkins. (Vote 6-0-1-0 Chambers abstained) c. Park Naming Competition, Park and Recreation Commission name suggestion short listing (Mary Radley, Landscape Architect) MSC Vogel/Garza to move Item 3c out of order and consider it when staff is in attendance. 4. a. Recreation Department Budget— Nothing new to report. b. Consideration of the Recreation Department Strategic Plan Initiatives — Mr. John Gates (Principal Recreation Manager) discussed the Five-Year Strategic Plan -Initiatives and explained the process and input received from various audiences that included staff, community groups and general public. He noted that various portions of the Initiatives had been updated to reflect new input. The Parks and Recreation Commission endorsed the five year Recreation Department Strategic Plan Initiatives as presented. Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting—July 21, 2011 2 c. Parks and Recreation Master Fee Field Information—tMlr. Richard Hopkins (Director of Public Forks) reported that Park Field .Maintenance Report was completed two-weeks ago, and that field conditions were favorable due to heavy rains from the past winter. Mr. Hopkins reviewed the Parks Operations Park \laintenance Program. Outline. Chair Buddingh asked if the fertilizers that are utilized are hypoallergenic, leave a residue or affect park users. Mr. Hopkins responded that he was not sure,but would find out. 1_}iscussion held on 2--year cast-a--head, field-poor, and various maintenance programs. Mr. Hopkins responded that casta-a-head denotes planning with the YSC on field closures/rest period/and providing maintenance to them. Field-poor denotes open patches of ground, hump heads that require leveling. Poor denotes that the field is still useable but approaching closure. Commissioner Garza commented that the report does not identify how the parks are policed and asked if fields that are closed, are fenced off. Mr. Hopkins responded that illegal use of fields and field policing are topics being addressed with the YSC. Public Works is working with the City Attorney's office and develop an ordinance that would empower the park rangers with code enforcement authority. Regarding field closures, 11r. Hopkins responded that the fields would be fenced off. Mr. l lopkins discussed the current joint--use agreements between the City and schools; utilizing volunteers for park maintenance, graffiti abatement, and park enforcement as directed by the City Council. Chair Buddingh. suggested that Public Works contact C'C Riverside and Cal Poly Pomona and inquire about interns for. a "field Condition Assessment. Chair Buddingh asked how the fees on the YSC Ball.Field Rental lees program were devised. SFr. John Gates (Principal Recreation Manager) responded that the City compiled allocation information from the 2008-09 season and assumptions were made that not all organizations utilized fields for the entire 26-weeks of the allocation period. lie noted that the current allocation assumption was based on total number of hours that are allocated to an organization and figures were based on a full 26-weeks of use, which turned out to be a large number. Mr. Gates explained that City staff met with the YSC President's committee, and that an understanding was reached that not all groups were utilizing the fields for the 26-weeks allocation period, an assumption was made that about 70",0 use is an average (there arc groups that use the fields the whole 26-weeks). Mr. Gates also pointed out that it was clear that there are more Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting—July 21, 2011 3 city fields being used by the YSC.; now than 2 'z years ago. Additionally, there has been a significant increase in teams registered (last year there were 705 teams, this year there are 751 teams registered). Chair Buddingh responded how field use is tracked. Mr. Gates responded that the groups requesting fields, would have to make a guesstimate of use, however, travel teams wouldn't know their field needs and staff would need to work through the process and make adjustments accordingly. Mr. Crates also noted that lighting surcharge/fees was not included in fees. Commissioner Garza noted that he had a hard time agreeing with. assumptions on page 1 of the handout and feels that assumptions of field usage are overstated. It should be noted that teams also utilize school fields and the YSC have not added additional members. Mr. zkrt Torres, YSC: President responded that although additional members have not joined the YSC, there a lot more teams using fields. Discussion held on fees, field usage, and prop 26. d. Feedback from Youth Sports Council regarding Master Fee Schedule •--Mr. .Art'forces (YSC President) shared that he sent an c-mail to YSC groups/members and informed them that the City Council rescinded the fee increase at the council meeting on July 12, 2011. He also noted that the fees were rescinded with the caveat that the YSC would work closely with city staff to close a $375,000 shortfall required to keep the fields from falling in disrepair. He explained that the effects of not keeping fields from falling into disrepair could adversely impact members who depend on city fields to run programs. Additionally, he explained that the Presidents Committee requested that each member confer with his or her boards and submit any solutions that could and/or would improve the fees the organization would face. Discussion held on YSC members having exclusive use of a field for the entire allocation period therefore, they could take ownership and keep it good playing condition. Pros and cons of this idea were discussed. 3. c. Park Naming Competition, Park and recreation Commission name suggestions short listing - Ms. Mary Raffle), (Landscape Architect) briefed the commission regarding the proposed 3.9-acre public neighborhood park site on Fourth Avenue at Orange Avenue. She recommended that the Commission select 5-names from the short-list provided for residents to vote for the name they like the best. MSC Chambers/Garza (Vote 6-0-0-0) to approve the park name suggestions for the short list and place on the City's website for community input (Bienvenidos Family Park, Knowledge Park, Old Farm Park, Orange Park, Unity Power Park and El Paraiso Park) 5. Unfinished Business None 6. New Business —None Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting—July 21, 2011 4 ?. Written Communications — Elizabeth Scott's resignation letter was read by Mr. Buck Martin as requested by Commissioner Scott's e-mail to the Recreation Department. 8. Staff Comments -. a. Recreation (Buck Martin) The monthly report was briefly reviewed. \lr. Martin also shared that one of the challenges, as previously spoke at other commission meetings is to find funding for operation of recreation facilities 5-days per week. b. Public Works —Alr. Hopkins reported that Council approved S50K for the ranger program and that his department was directed by Council to report back in November on how volunteers could be utilized for the park ranger program; his department has received numerous complaints about gazebo conditions and as a result, a lot of refunds have been issued (10"'0 of revenue). Recreation Centers have solar panels installed. 9. Commissioner Comments - CCommissioner Garza inquired if an further discussion/requests had been made by Council to merge Library and Recreation Departments, and also asked about the date of the Council Workshop in. August. i\Ir. Martin responded that he was unaware of any requests for merger of both departments, and noted that the Council Workshop is scheduled on Thursday October 6 (a 4:00 pm. Commissioner Cien-Mayer asked if once economy improves wouldYSC fees be decreased. Mr. Hopkins (Director of Public Works) responded that the City is currently developing a Recovery Plan on how monies would be utilized once the economy improves, Chair Buddingh inquired about the KOA site off of North 2"`' Avenue, and noted that this is a great site to hold dog shows. Mr. Martin responded that the challenge to this area is access and that there are no PAD lees. 10. (Other None Adjournment at 9:00 p.m. to the regularly scheduled meeting of September 15, 2011 Submitted: