Recreation, Music & Parks Commission
Recreation, Music & Parks Commission
Wed, September 20, 2023
Agenda items
Vote records
Discussion summary
Transcript
Meeting summaryAI-generated
Recreation, Music & Parks Commission — September 20, 2023
This was a regular meeting of the Recreation, Music & Parks Commission featuring two substantive presentations: an urban forestry tree-planting update from the nonprofit ReLeaf Petaluma, and a final concept plan for a new skate park at Lucchesi Park requiring a formal recommendation to City Council.
Item 1: Urban Forest Management Grant — Fall 2023 Tree Planting Plan (ReLeaf Petaluma)
Wendy Jacobs, chair of ReLeaf Petaluma, and Carolyn Lichera (ReLeaf's public relations lead) presented the upcoming fall planting plan funded by a Cal Fire Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG). A total of 77 native trees will be planted across three Petaluma parks: Arroyo Park (28 trees), Miwok Park (29 trees), and Wiseman Park (20 trees). Species include Valley Oak, Coast and Interior Live Oak, Red Alder, White Alder, California Buckeye, Cottonwood, Oregon Ash, and Western Sycamore — all selected for their native habitat value and climate resilience.
Lichera highlighted the cumulative impact of ReLeaf's partnership with the city: 748 trees planted to date, over $1.4 million in grants secured, and more than 5,600 volunteer hours contributed, including a teen internship program. Interpretive signs will be installed at each planting site to educate the public about native trees.
California Buckeye concern: Commissioner Karen Now raised a public comment received that day from a neighbor near Arroyo Park who requested removal of California Buckeye from the plan, citing toxicity concerns for honeybees, dogs, and humans. Lichera responded that ReLeaf had contacted Poison Control, which indicated a person or animal would need to ingest a significant quantity to be seriously harmed, and that the tree is toxic primarily to non-native European honeybees while benefiting native bee populations. Staff noted the Buckeyes in this plan are at Miwok, not Arroyo, and committed to further research.
Big Leaf Maple request: A community member, Elliot, spoke during public comment. He expressed strong support for the planting plan and thanked ReLeaf for incorporating his earlier suggestion to add trees along a shadeless stretch of Villages Drive near Arroyo Park. He requested that Big Leaf Maple trees be added to the plan. ReLeaf explained that Big Leaf Maples were tried at Wiseman Park but all were lost — likely due to the salinity of reclaimed irrigation water — and since Miwok and Arroyo are in the same area, the species would likely fail again. Staff indicated Big Leaf Maples might be considered for parks on the west side of town.
Donor dedication: Commissioner Now noted a constituent named Clarisse (on Lombardi Street) had donated to ReLeaf in memory of her late husband and wished the funds to support tree planting at Miwok Park. ReLeaf confirmed they could direct that donation accordingly.
*No vote required — informational presentation.*
Item 2: Approval of Minutes — August 16, 2023
Minutes from the August 16, 2023 meeting were moved and seconded for approval.
Vote: Approved unanimously.
Item 3: Lucchesi Skatepark — Final Concept Plan (Public Hearing)
Project Manager Bjorn Griepenburg (Public Works), Parks & Recreation Director Drew Halter, Communications Coordinator Jessica Medina, and Matt Fluhe (CEO, Grindline Skatepark Design) presented the third and final concept plan for a new skate park at Lucchesi Park.
Background: The existing skate park, built in 1997, is one of the oldest in California and is widely considered outdated and undersized. The project launched in December 2022 when City Council authorized hiring Grindline, a nationally recognized skate park design and construction firm. After extensive community engagement — including three design workshops (the first drew over 75 attendees), roughly 400 survey responses, social media outreach through Grindline's own network, and multiple rounds of design revision — Lucchesi Park emerged as the clear community favorite location.
The Plan: The final concept covers approximately 23,000 square feet in the northeast corner of Lucchesi Park (near the soccer field, Little League diamond, tennis courts, and Boys & Girls Club). The design is divided into two phases:
Phase 1 (~13,000 sq. ft.): Includes a "flow bowl" (similar to Olympic/X Games park-style terrain), street-style features (stairs, rails, ledges), banks, and ramps. Designed to function as a complete, standalone park.
Phase 2 (~10,000 sq. ft.): Adds a community-selected "Nepali Oval" pool-style bowl and additional street features.
The design incorporates existing mature trees and natural berms along the north edge for shade. Earth berms (rather than retaining walls) will surround the park perimeter.
Funding: The City's adopted FY23–24 budget includes $1.5 million for full design of both phases and construction of Phase 1. A funding gap of under $300,000 remains for Phase 2. Total estimated project cost is approximately $2.8 million (subject to refinement as detailed design proceeds). The timeline targets breaking ground in summer 2024.
Commission discussion highlights:
Commissioner Megan Kelly raised concerns — drawing on past experience — about amenities (seating, shade, lighting, water fountains) being left out of construction budgets and never getting funded. Staff confirmed the current budget does include some amenities (seating, potential smaller shade structures), with lighting conduit potentially laid in Phase 1 even if full lighting is completed in Phase 2. Restrooms would require a separate budget.
Commissioner Marianne Berticelli asked about irrigation rerouting and mowing compatibility at the park perimeter. Griepenburg confirmed utility conflicts were reviewed; Fluhe (Grindline) noted perimeter slopes will be graded at 4:1 to allow standard mowing equipment.
Chair Greenspan raised gopher management, noting the area will be excavated. Fluhe confirmed a narrow perimeter strip could be fitted with gopher wire during construction.
No public comments were received on this item.
Commissioners were uniformly enthusiastic. One noted the project had been a community priority for over four years and praised the community-driven design process.
Motion: Commissioner Megan Kelly moved to approve the final concept plan and recommend it to City Council. Seconded.
Vote: Approved unanimously (Berticelli, Chisholm, Earl, Kelly, Now all in favor; Greenspan presided). The recommendation will be included in a staff report to City Council, tentatively scheduled for the October 16, 2023 Council meeting.
Staff & Commissioner Updates (Notable Items)
New tree grants: Staff disclosed the City was awarded $1 million from the U.S. Forest Service (had applied for $1.9 million). Details on scope adjustments are still being worked out internally. ReLeaf is also expected to return soon, having received additional funding for a second round of fall plantings at Fox Hollow, Turnbridge, and Lichera Park.
Urban Forestry Management Plan: A kick-off meeting was held September 19 with arborist consultant Ben Anderson to begin drafting the long-term urban forestry plan, running in parallel with a street tree list update and tree ordinance revision.
Schulenberger Park closure: A PG&E gas pipeline replacement project will require weekday closure of Schulenberger Park's trail system and public parking lot starting mid-October. The park will remain open on weekends and holidays (including the Turkey Trot). PG&E mitigation funds will support repairs to boardwalks and pathways in the park.
Oyster Cove subdivision: Council Member Now noted the City Council unanimously approved the Oyster Cove subdivision near Steamer Landing and the Petaluma River Park on Monday, which will bring improved lighting, landscaping, and new parking/easement access to the area. A public event celebrating the installation of a Mark di Suvero sculpture (~45 feet tall) at the River Park is planned for the first Saturday of October.
Recycling and hand sanitizer stations: Commissioners raised concerns about missing recycling bins and deteriorating hand sanitizer dispensers in parks. Staff noted a Cal Recycle grant is in process to expand the waste/recycle stream in parks citywide; Recology is a key partner. On sanitizer stations, staff will refill functioning units but are not replacing damaged ones at this time; commissioners were encouraged to report issues via the city app.
Key Takeaways
The Lucchesi Skatepark final concept plan was unanimously approved for recommendation to City Council, with a target council date of October 16. The $2.8 million, 23,000-square-foot, two-phase park would be one of the largest and most community-designed skate facilities in the region, with Phase 1 construction aimed for summer 2024.
77 native trees will be planted this fall at Arroyo, Miwok, and Wiseman Parks through a Cal Fire grant administered in partnership with ReLeaf Petaluma; community concerns about California Buckeye toxicity will be further researched.
The City received a $1 million U.S. Forest Service grant for urban forestry (less than the $1.9 million requested); staff are determining how to adjust scope.
Schulenberger Park will be closed on weekdays starting mid-October due to a PG&E pipeline replacement project; residents should plan alternate walking routes (Ellis Creek area suggested).
A long-awaited Mark di Suvero sculpture will be unveiled at Petaluma River Park on the first Saturday of October, open to the public.
AI-generated summary from voice-to-text transcript. Not the official record. Verify important details with the source documents linked above.
What happened at this meeting
Schedule as part of the Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG) award. Petaluma Park sites scheduled for new plantings include Miwok, Arroyo, and Wiseman Parks. Wendy Jacobs, ReLeaf Petaluma and Cindy Chong, Superintendent of Parks and Facilities.
# Urban Forest Management Grant Summary
Staff presented the Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG) award from Cal Fire and the U.S. Forestry Service, totaling $1.4 million in secured grants, to plant approximately 75-80 native trees across Petaluma parks including Miwok, Arroyo, and Wiseman parks this fall 2023. Cindy Chong explained that this planting effort is part of a larger urban forestry management plan that includes tree ordinance updates and tree mapping analysis, with the city partnering with ReLeaf due to limited park staff resources. ReLeaf representatives Wendy Jacobs and Carolyn Lichera emphasized the importance of planting native species—particularly Oaks, alders, buckeyes, cottonwoods, and sycamores—for climate resilience, biodiversity, carbon capture, and water retention, noting ReLeaf has already planted 748 trees in the community. Staff addressed public concerns about California buckeye toxicity, clarifying that native bees benefit from the trees and that European honeybees typically avoid them, while also accommodating community requests such as a donation for Miwok Park and exploring cottonwood additions. Commissioners praised the comprehensive community outreach, interpretive signage plans, and the positive momentum of the urban forest program, which includes a 30-40 year management plan expected to bring significant changes within 6-8 months.
Staff presented the Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG) award from Cal Fire and the U.S. Forestry Service, totaling $1.4 million in secured grants, to plant approximately 75-80 native trees across Petaluma parks including Miwok, Arroyo, and Wiseman parks this fall 2023. Cindy Chong explained that this planting effort is part of a larger urban forestry management plan that includes tree ordinance updates and tree mapping analysis, with the city partnering with ReLeaf due to limited park staff resources. ReLeaf representatives Wendy Jacobs and Carolyn Lichera emphasized the importance of planting native species—particularly Oaks, alders, buckeyes, cottonwoods, and sycamores—for climate resilience, biodiversity, carbon capture, and water retention, noting ReLeaf has already planted 748 trees in the community. Staff addressed public concerns about California buckeye toxicity, clarifying that native bees benefit from the trees and that European honeybees typically avoid them, while also accommodating community requests such as a donation for Miwok Park and exploring cottonwood additions. Commissioners praised the comprehensive community outreach, interpretive signage plans, and the positive momentum of the urban forest program, which includes a 30-40 year management plan expected to bring significant changes within 6-8 months.
Approval of Minutes for the meeting of August 16, 2023.
# Approval of Minutes for the meeting of August 16, 2023
The commission reviewed and approved the minutes from the August 16, 2023 meeting by motion and second.
The commission reviewed and approved the minutes from the August 16, 2023 meeting by motion and second.
Lucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan – Review, Discuss and Provide City Council with a Recommendation on Adoption of the Lucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan. Bjorn Griepenburg, Project Manager Public Works and Utilities, Drew Halter Director of Parks and Recreation, Jessica Medina City Communications.
# Lucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan Summary
Staff presented the final concept plan for a new 23,000-square-foot Lucchesi Skatepark developed by Grindline Inc., which emerged as the community's preferred location after a comprehensive site analysis and engagement process led by Jessica Medina that garnered over 400 survey responses. The two-phase design ($1.5+ million budgeted for phases one and two construction, with a potential funding gap under $300,000 for phase two completion) incorporates both street-style features and transitional elements suitable for all skill levels, preserves existing mature trees, and will address community-requested amenities including lighting, seating, shade, and water fountains during the detailed design phase. Commissioners raised practical concerns about amenities, irrigation rerouting, mowing accessibility, and soil conditions, which staff confirmed would be addressed in the final design phase and through a project-specific Geotech report. The commission voted unanimously to approve the final concept plan (with commissioners Mary, Amber, Stacey, Earl, Megan, and Karen all voting aye), and staff requested the commission's assistance in promoting the item when it advances to City Council for approval.
Staff presented the final concept plan for a new 23,000-square-foot Lucchesi Skatepark developed by Grindline Inc., which emerged as the community's preferred location after a comprehensive site analysis and engagement process led by Jessica Medina that garnered over 400 survey responses. The two-phase design ($1.5+ million budgeted for phases one and two construction, with a potential funding gap under $300,000 for phase two completion) incorporates both street-style features and transitional elements suitable for all skill levels, preserves existing mature trees, and will address community-requested amenities including lighting, seating, shade, and water fountains during the detailed design phase. Commissioners raised practical concerns about amenities, irrigation rerouting, mowing accessibility, and soil conditions, which staff confirmed would be addressed in the final design phase and through a project-specific Geotech report. The commission voted unanimously to approve the final concept plan (with commissioners Mary, Amber, Stacey, Earl, Megan, and Karen all voting aye), and staff requested the commission's assistance in promoting the item when it advances to City Council for approval.
Agenda items (3)
General Business
1General BusinessSchedule as part of the Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG) award. Petaluma Park sites scheduled for new plantings include Miwok, Arroyo, and Wiseman Parks. Wendy Jacobs, ReLeaf Petaluma and Cindy Chong, Superintendent of Parks and Facilities.
What happened
# Urban Forest Management Grant SummaryStaff presented the Urban Forest Management Grant (UFMG) award from Cal Fire and the U.S. Forestry Service, totaling $1.4 million in secured grants, to plant approximately 75-80 native trees across Petaluma parks including Miwok, Arroyo, and Wiseman parks this fall 2023. Cindy Chong explained that this planting effort is part of a larger urban forestry management plan that includes tree ordinance updates and tree mapping analysis, with the city partnering with ReLeaf due to limited park staff resources. ReLeaf representatives Wendy Jacobs and Carolyn Lichera emphasized the importance of planting native species—particularly Oaks, alders, buckeyes, cottonwoods, and sycamores—for climate resilience, biodiversity, carbon capture, and water retention, noting ReLeaf has already planted 748 trees in the community. Staff addressed public concerns about California buckeye toxicity, clarifying that native bees benefit from the trees and that European honeybees typically avoid them, while also accommodating community requests such as a donation for Miwok Park and exploring cottonwood additions. Commissioners praised the comprehensive community outreach, interpretive signage plans, and the positive momentum of the urban forest program, which includes a 30-40 year management plan expected to bring significant changes within 6-8 months.
Procedural (1)
2ProceduralApproval of Minutes for the meeting of August 16, 2023.
What happened
# Approval of Minutes for the meeting of August 16, 2023The commission reviewed and approved the minutes from the August 16, 2023 meeting by motion and second.
Public Hearing
3Public HearingLucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan – Review, Discuss and Provide City Council with a Recommendation on Adoption of the Lucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan. Bjorn Griepenburg, Project Manager Public Works and Utilities, Drew Halter Director of Parks and Recreation, Jessica Medina City Communications.
What happened
# Lucchesi Skatepark Final Concept Plan SummaryStaff presented the final concept plan for a new 23,000-square-foot Lucchesi Skatepark developed by Grindline Inc., which emerged as the community's preferred location after a comprehensive site analysis and engagement process led by Jessica Medina that garnered over 400 survey responses. The two-phase design ($1.5+ million budgeted for phases one and two construction, with a potential funding gap under $300,000 for phase two completion) incorporates both street-style features and transitional elements suitable for all skill levels, preserves existing mature trees, and will address community-requested amenities including lighting, seating, shade, and water fountains during the detailed design phase. Commissioners raised practical concerns about amenities, irrigation rerouting, mowing accessibility, and soil conditions, which staff confirmed would be addressed in the final design phase and through a project-specific Geotech report. The commission voted unanimously to approve the final concept plan (with commissioners Mary, Amber, Stacey, Earl, Megan, and Karen all voting aye), and staff requested the commission's assistance in promoting the item when it advances to City Council for approval.
Additional votes recorded in minutes
Approve minutes from August 16, 2023 meeting
aye 1
voice voteaye
Approve final concept plan for Lucchesi skate park and recommend to city council
aye 4
Karen Nowaye
Marianne Berticelliaye
Megan Kellyaye
Stacy Earlaye
Verbatim transcript available
48 transcript segments indexed
let's start with the Pledge of Allegiance I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands one nation under God indivisible with liberty and justice thank you clerk would you like to take roll call of course Marianne berticelli here Cody Chisholm here Stacy Earl here Kate Greenspan Megan Kelly here Hannah Simmons Karen now here thank you I have not received any general public comments do we have any this evening we did receive one and it has been posted to the agenda great thank you so we would like to move on with uh item number one our presentation from relief at Petaluma the presentation is on the upcoming fall 2023 tree planting scope and schedule as part of the urban Forest management Grant award Petaluma Parks sites sites scheduled for new plantings include Miwok Arroyo and Wiseman parks we are having this presentation by Wendy Jacobs from relief um and Cindy Chong and while our chair well our presenters get settled maybe I'll have Cindy um kind of introduce the speaker and their partnership here Cindy works very closely with relief so um maybe just put you on the spot Cindy and just kind of introduce the the team here and kind of a little bit of backstory with relationship with how they work with staff in the city thank you Cindy and hear me let me know I'm happy to have their student Partners when you leave here on my left over the past gosh has it been 18 months Monday about 18 months we've been um urban forestry
management grant that was provided to us by Cal Fire And as part of that Grant we have to plant 70 about 75 trees about 75 to 80 trees so this is that plan that they're bringing forward so just to kind of give you a little bit of back on this dovetailing to some of the other hundreds of trees that we've planted this is a much smaller piece but this piece is important because it's part of the bigger plan of the urban forestry management plan the update to the tree ordinance the tree mapping and the analysis of it so this is you know kind of a small scope but a really really big one and really grateful to have relief as partners to be able to handle the planting because as you know your Park staff is a little bit overloaded so it would have been a big ask to do a tree planting so we kindly have our Community Partners here presenting on what the plan is tonight so I will turn it over to Carolyn and relief good evening I'm Wendy Jacobs this is my first time you in person thank you for all your support in the past I'm the chair of relief and I wanted to introduce our public relations lead person Carolyn lacera who will make tonight's presentation uh we're going to be talking about the tree plantings in the parks by relief for the early fall we hope to be back to you in a in a month or so to talk about the later fall but for tonight Carolyn will lead it off with with her slide deck presentation thanks hi again I'm Carolyn lichera I'm really pleased to be here you know when I moved
to Petaluma I knew Petaluma was a special place and 25 years later I'm really proud to be living in a city where you're all working together to solve the major issue of our time which is climate change um so working together with the city and relief and all of our partners we're taking action to address the climate crisis according to Alini miraveli the global heat officer to the United Nations she said the strongest weapon that we have for lowering temperatures are trees and the best thing we can do for the cities are green corridors that connect existing green areas we have to lead with trees to begin with and then use technology and materials to figure out other ways of cooling spaces could you please um move that oh thanks um so relief is um mission is to plant native trees and that's because they're best adapted to our area and they support biodiversity according to Douglas Tyler May the professor of Entomology at University of Delaware he especially marks Oaks as being important we need to include Oaks in our landscape because they are the best tree genus in North America for supporting the food web that supports Birds insects the that they eat and thousands of other species they also capture more carbon than any other trees and hold more rain water on our properties than any other plants so working together as Wendy has said we have planted 748 trees which will provide temperature reducing shade zinc carbon protect water quality filter pollutants and create habitat for
Native wildlife with the city we've secured to date over 1.4 million dollars in Grants to support the planting of trees this includes the Cal Fire ufmg money in that number um uh we have dedicated 5668 hours of time from relief volunteers and the Petaluma community members to plan and care for the trees and we've employed 10 teen tree core interns for eight days of learning Urban Tree Forestry so um here is the here are the parks that we will be planting in a total of 77 trees will go toward um three Parks Arroyo Park will receive 28 trees Wiseman Park 20 trees and Miwok park 29 trees our funder for this is Cal Fire Urban Forest Mark management Grant our partners that we work with are Rebuilding Together Petaluma Petaluma people services and of course you all the city of Petaluma so these are the native tree species and quantities that we will be planting there's a total of 77 trees there'll be 15 red Alder five white Alder seven California Buckeye 10 Cottonwood 13 Valley Oaks 10 coast and interior Live Oaks 10 Oregon Ash and seven Western Sycamore here's the budget for our expenses whenever you're all ready and we have completed our community outreach we had sandwich signs in parks telling residents that trees were coming soon to their park we tabled in each Park to an Engaged community members to talk to them about what would be happening and to get their suggestions and comments and we had a community input zoom on September 11th with a slide presentation questions and
answers and discussions and we did leaflet the homes in Middle immediately surrounding the parks to let everybody know what was happening and put flyers all over town so this is what our Sandwich Board signs look like that were in the Parks and we will be placing interpretive signs at the parks which will stay there so this is an example of what the interpretive signs will look like so we're trying to teach community members about why native trees are important so this is the first placement map and this is Arroyo Park and as you can see let's see I need to get to my we will be planting so the blue dot is a white Alder we'll be planting five wide Alder the red dots are Oregon Ash the yellow dots are the one Coast Live Oak and the green dots are the 12 Valley Oaks foreign this is the placement map for Miwok Park um the Red Dot is red Alder the yellow dots are Buckeye the blue dots are interior Live Oak and the green dots are Western Sycamore these are the replacement trees that we're planting in Weisman Park they'll be red Alder six red Alder two Coast Live Oak 10 Cottonwood one Valley Oak and one Western Sycamore thank you for listening to this presentation we look forward to working together again to make Petaluma a cool Hometown in every sense of the word thank you thank you very much uh Commissioners do you have any clarifying questions councilwoman now um thank you we had a public comment on Buckeyes so I thought maybe you could um talk about that I believe the public
comment she lived in the Arroyo Park neighborhood but now I see they're going to be at me walk and I know that there's some beehives in that neighborhood so the Buckeye and and bees you haven't seen the public comment oh she um I would have to find it um I I'm just wondering what the question is we just received it today oh she was concerned that the Buckeyes were toxic to bees and also to people and animals thank you I'm like trying to find it yeah she said um she was the removal of the California Buckeye from the plan the while this is a native tree it's known to have a pleasant fragrance and appearance it's also known to be toxic to humans to honeybees and um they didn't want it in the neighborhood and I'm like well why would we want it at me walk okay um Cindy do you want me to answer that or do you do you want to make a comment I can I can I don't know anything about the tree so so I didn't do the planting plan so I would not be able to really answer there has been just discussion about it and this was at the kind of the public forum for Arroyo not for Miwok Park and I wasn't I wasn't part of Miwok Parks community meeting either so I'm kind of operating here in the dark okay here operating in the dark so the comment that came back was that buck eyes are potentially poisonous to dogs and to humans but you would have to ingest them so if you're going up to the trees and you're eating the tree then it would be an issue but if you're not eating the tree that it wouldn't be
an issue is is what I I know this is honeybees so I don't know about the honeybees I think what we have to do is do some research unless a relief has some more information on it but and it's not something that's just come up before and it wasn't something that my staff had concern about it's not one of the issues that they brought up I just wanted to bring it up because we just got that email today and maybe Drew you can share it with them um so um the buckeye tree in terms of honeybees um you know the non-native European honeybee from what I understand it is toxic to honeybees but at the same time from from what we've heard the honeybees tend to stay away from it and not nectar on it it also is very beneficial for our native bees which are decreasing in population I did reach out to poison control to ask um you know is the buckeye tree a problem from what they said they said that um with any of the plants in that species you would have to eat a lot of it to get very sick from it okay and it doesn't taste good and the other thing she said is um so you know if somebody takes a bite out of one of the little nuts um that she wouldn't really be concerned or took a bite out of a leaf she would only you know so it sounds like you'd have to eat a lot of it but we can continue to do research on it and also to talk to other experts in the field okay thank you because I didn't know and it just came through today yeah yeah I'm like I don't know anything about it but I know um the
schools can't have tomato plants a lot of times because they're toxic yeah and like I've never seen a child eat a tomato leaf so yeah and also there are a buckeye is really um a part of our landscape and it's in a lot of parks and I haven't heard of any problems okay um the second question um I had um a neighbor in my district reach out to me I guess she made a donation to relief and she wants the money to go to trees in Miwok Park so um it would have been like in the last year her name is calories lives on Lombardi Street the first name is coloris and they're on Lombardi oh so so the um the comment is that somebody made a donation to relief and they would like the money to go to Miwok Park is that possible can we make that happen sure of course okay okay so her name is Clarisse I have that I don't have her last name right here in front of me and she lives in Lombardi her husband passed away and so she gave a donation to me walk as her in his Park in his memory oh that's really wonderful and she was first concerned that there were trees getting cut down and removed and I explained that you were coming in but I didn't know at that time what your plan was well that would be wonderful we would love to plant trees okay with that money in Miwok Park okay thank you that's all thank you any other clarifying questions no do we have any public comment on this item we do have one great come on up you can hand it to the chair hi I'm the she that made the comment uh with regards to the
to the Buckeyes um so thank you for considering that that comment um so I I just and I want to thank also relief um for uh can you hold up just one second um normally we have just a timer on uh for public comment not that it's an important thing but we do normally have a um a timer on and normally I take that lovely sheet of paper too yeah I can address you thank yous sure um so I and I want to thank relief in the city of Petaluma for advancing uh the planting with trees um I I strongly agree with the premise that the city does need more trees the Arroyo Park needs more trees I'm definitely in favor of more trees um and I do appreciate relief responding to our comment about the Buckeyes um just in consideration of that they also did respond to a comment that I submitted to them to the city with regards to using this as a great opportunity to improve a shadeless side lock sidewalk along Villages Drive which has no shade right now it's a hot stretch and so planting trees across that uh next to Villages drive and along Garfield will improve that so I'm very very grateful uh to relief in the city for responding to my comments I did have an additional request and I did want to ask about it and and sort of forward it is the planting of big leaf maples which is a large magnificent tree um that you know provides great fall color uh grows fast and expands and provides a great canopy for uh you know once it's once it's reached maturity which it does so very quickly so I would like to
request if if that tree could also be included in the plan um the cottonwoods that there was a stretch in this plan that uh in the earlier version that had sort of shorter trees in there and they replaced that with cottonwoods um and that's that's an improvement absolutely so I want to thank everyone for for considering that comment but I'm curious as to whether it's possible to incorporate big leaf maples also into this plant thank you thank you Elliot do we have any other public comment do we have any comments from commissioners well I'd be curious to hear what it relief says about big leaf maple and I'll go ahead and step in there question so Elliot thank you so much for your common sense in the our community meeting we're not looking at planning them only because we planted a host of them at Wiseman and due to the reclaimed water There's issues where we lost all of them and we're replanting them that's part of this plan so unfortunately as per the requirements of the grant too if we lose the trees we do have to pay to replace them so we're choosing to move forward with species that we know will prosper in the space as opposed to ones we know we've lost completely and wiseman's so close that we feel that in that vicinity that it would have the same issues so we will look at maybe planting them in other Parks but maybe not on the east side of town possibly on the west side of town for that reason but we did choose them in the beginning because they do grow really quickly
they're beautiful our staff likes them they just didn't work we lost every single one of them so we don't we don't want to run into that issue again and that was because of the reclaimed water yeah the salinity is what we believe is the issue yeah okay thank you thank you Cindy and then I just have a few other comments thanks for clarifying that um I just always relief always just blows me away every time that you come I I think that you are such an asset to this community and the awareness that you're creating in the community about global warming and cooling the city through trees and um and all the efforts have just been so incredible so thank you for that thank you for all the Outreach efforts to reaching populations and people um that may not totally be in touch with what's going on um you you definitely made efforts in getting out to the community and letting them know what's happening um and then also the community building aspect of this of bringing people together and using volunteers and incorporating our young people into the process is just really really beautiful so thank you for all of your hard work great I loved your presentation I really love that you are putting interpretive signs up I think that that's going to add a really key piece um and I love that addition for this planting thank you very much okay we will move on to item number two which is approval of minutes from our meeting at the on August 16 2023 a motion to approve the minutes from the August
I move on to number item number three this is um our public hearings about Lucchesi skate park this is our final con I'm trying to read and I realize now you can't hear me because I turn my head um the final concept plan which we're all excited about uh we will review discuss and provide city council with recommendation on the adoption of Lucchesi skate park final concept uh Bjorn is going to take us here he's the project manager manager um Drew are you going to be saying anything to kick it off or do we go right to Bjorn yeah I'll I'll let Bjorn get settled it looks like he's ready to go but um thank you chair thank you commission community staff excited to be bringing forward this item tonight for discussion uh this is the final concept plan for the new skate park to be constructed at Lucchesi Park really I'm going to just introduce the project team involved before Bjorn really kicks us off and kind of walks us through the evolution the Outreach and then into the weeds of design so we've got Bjorn grapenberg he's our project manager with public works and utilities uh on joining us Zoom remote from Seattle is uh Matt fluhe he's the CEO of grindline Inc and uh his design associate Brett Johnson as well and then we also have Jessica it's actually I actually got Kyle a little our skate park procurement specialist with me tonight they've got so many specialists we just can't keep track but just a special so thank you for that Matt in the public record and we've got Jessica
Medina with our Communications uh Who's Back joining us so I do want to call to attention before Bjorn starts us off we are seeking a recommendation tonight after the discussion and that recommendation will be included in the staff report as well as kind of highlighted for for the public here in the community at the end of the presentation and what we're looking for is a recommendation to submit the final concept designed to city council and and that's really kind of what we're looking for feedback input on design as always but um just want to let everybody know at the end of this we are we are seeking that recommendation tonight to move this forward to to city council so with that I will give it back to Bjorn to to walk us through this thank you Drew good evening Commissioners and members of the public good to see you all again um so really quickly our agenda for this presentation um just a really really brief recap of everything we've done to date including our robust Community engagement uh process for this project and then we'll really the meat of this presentation will be focused on Matt walking walking everyone through the latest concept plan um it's actually the the third concept plan that he's developed following a few rounds of community feedback and then we'll go uh we'll we'll revisit the recommendation that Drew just alluded to talk about possible next steps and then take questions and comments so really quickly with the overview this project was launched not that
long ago back in December of 2022 when we were lucky enough to have our city council authorize the city manager to um bring grindline skate parks on board they're a world-class skate park design and construction company really the best of the best it's clear throughout this whole process that they really are the experts in this field and every time they Matt and his team show up to our community workshops it's um it feels like we've got local skating celebrities uh or we've that we've got skating celebrities uh joining us our goal for the project was pretty open-ended we wanted to create a vision for skating in Petaluma we knew we know that there are issues with the skate park with the existing skate park it was built in 1997 it's one of the oldest now in the state and to say the least it's a bit dated and it lacks some of the amenities that we'd want to see at our at our Parks we heard from the community loud and clear that they want a new larger skate park of around 20 000 square feet so with that in mind we then took a look at eight city parks we whittled that list down to four and did a site analysis exercise with grindline in the community looking at leghorns lucasi Kenilworth and Wiseman parks and out of those four Kenilworth and lucasi were identified as the clear favorites and then out of those two lucasi was identified as the clear favorite we heard that from the skating Community we heard it from you all when we presented to you back in March and then we also heard
it from city council when we presented to them in April so following all of that great momentum that we built um from from December through April um going into the budget process with city council I think they they really latched on to that excitement in the community for this project and they uh their adopted budget for fiscal years 23 and 24 included over 1.5 million dollars for the full design of phases one and two as well as the construction of phase one we'll get a little bit more into the phasing later um the there is a small funding Gap currently anticipated for phase two of uh under 300 000 and what we're working with right now is a is a very rough high-level estimate of 2.8 million dollars for uh the delivery of the full 23 000 square foot skate park that is definitely subject to change as we go into the next phase of the project we'll get a much more uh precise cost estimates for all of the work involved but for now we do feel pretty good about the 1.5 million dollars that we have uh budgeted for this year for getting that first phase constructed so with that I'm going to pass it over to Jessica Medina who's our Communications coordinator for this project okay Community engagement for this project um from the start this has been a really Community focused project we knew we wanted to collaborate look closely with our community on this and so we took a really Community Driven approach we got great engagement both in person and online and we're just very grateful to
our community for the way they showed up and engaged with us and shared their perspective and their ideas and everything it's been a really fun process for us to collaborate in that way for example each round of input has driven what we've done next like we started out the project as Bjorn explained not knowing whether we wanted to build a new skate park or make improvements to the new one and so getting the community's feedback on that really helped direct where we went next which was great and we've received really valuable feedback all all the way through next slide please um so The Usual Suspects here with our community engagement things to some degree and then with some new players as well we have a project web page that outlines the details of the project where people can sign up to receive project updates and we post information about upcoming meetings and things like that we had multiple online surveys and an example of the great engagement we received prior to the first Workshop we already had 200 online survey responses which was really great and over the course of the project and all the surveys we've had roughly 400 survey responses so that's a really great turnout for us and again we really appreciate the way the community showed up and shared everything with their networks and got the word out the workshops themselves the first one we had over 75 people in attendance which was really exciting and there was a really great energy we saw an opportunity to rebuild
trust with the skating community and also to get to know the skating Community better so that was really meaningful to the project team too so it's been a cool experience in that way I think for all of us we presented here at rmpc and at city council we've included this topic multiple times in our community update email and on our social media channels um either promoting meetings or encouraging people to take take the survey we sent out project emails to people who signed up to receive project updates and we also and this this was a great thing that I think helped us and gave us a lot of street cred was we had grind lines um our contractors social media audiences and their networks that they pushed out messaging to so that really helped get the word out and I know I was seeing friends husbands who I didn't even know knew about this posting the grindline posts and I think that helped us get a lot of really great engagement um next slide please and some of the things we heard were obviously we wanted to construct a new skate park the preferred location was lucasi that people wanted this to be a multifunctional and inclusive space meaning that all abilities and I guess modality skating scooting BMX scene and more could enjoy this space for generations to come we heard about desired amenities like lighting and seating and water fountains and we also heard really great technical feedback about the elements of the park and I think that's been really valuable in the design process
so again really grateful to the community for showing up and sharing all their knowledge and experience and that's all I got back to you thank you Jessica um so before we pass it over to Matt just quickly kind of um get your your frame of reference here so um again we're talking about uh the unprogrammed sort of passive uh part of um Lucchesi park near the bounded by the soccer field Little League diamond tennis courts and Boys and Girls Clubs I guess that would be the what north east corner of the park and what we heard last time we came and visited you and this was really some of the basis for grindline's uh concept plan as they were figuring out the the optimal footprint for the skate park within this much larger area was to preserve and incorporate existing trees where possible um and so that's something that they kind of planned around they had mapped out all the mature trees in this area and and the berms and and looked at trying to figure out the best way to preserve those trees and also kind of incorporate them to the edges of the of the park so that people can enjoy shade from the trees or even um you know maybe sit up on the berms while they're taking breaks from skating and then when we went to council so originally we had actually had a much smaller first phase based on our we had a we had a lot less available funding we were anticipating um I think about a half million dollars for design and construction and uh Council when we went to present to them in April and
they heard all the excitement for this project they kind of challenged us they said let's let's try to get a bigger first phase let's get something that would stand up on its own if phase two isn't constructed for a while something that um that people will really enjoy skating and acknowledge that 3000 feet is really too small so we got that that direction from them and um uh with that in mind grindline started um designing the park with a two-phase project first being about 10 10 to 13 000 square feet and then the second phase being the remaining square footage to fill out that 23 000 square feet that we envisioned so with that I'm going I'm pleased to again introduce Matt and pass it over to him and he'll walk us through uh the the third and recommended concept plan that his team has developed and I will try my best to point out things as he's talking about them but um may not be successful there's a lot of very technical details on on these designs all right thanks Bjorn good evening everybody um happy to be here um you know we've been able to share this uh concept with the skating committee and all-wheeled use community and uh you know City staff and now here with you and we're looking forward to sharing it with the world because we're definitely really proud of this one um this is just a view of the overall concept here and the concept it features a variety of skateable terrain um there's a there's several street style what we call street style features and and those are
features that kind of emulate what you'll see out in the urban environment like what you might see in a Downtown Plaza sets of stairs um railings seat walls which we call Ledges as well as transitional features and and those include the bowls which are kind of this you know swimming pools or basins that you see here um the different banks and ramps and and things like that um and we did knowing that this was a multi-phase project we we made sure to sprinkle a little bit of each into each phase so that you know phase one independently on its own can function as a as a park for um for all types of of terrain and skill levels ages all that sort of thing um also we wanted to make sure that this design would provide ample terrain for local youth to train for a competitive level um there's some some kids in the area already that are doing that and we just wanted to make sure that you know we we do a design that supports that um Bjorn if you want to go ahead and cruise through we'll just look at a couple different uh overview angles of the park so there on the um sort of lower to the left you see the larger Bowl which is the we call the flow bowl and I don't know if any of you have watched the you know X Games or Olympics or anything like that but that's kind of the style of both they call the Park um portion of the skateboarding competitions um and surrounding that above that you see some of the street features I mentioned earlier above and also to the right um go ahead and move on
to the next one and this is a little uh sort of showing phase two here which we'll we'll look at the phasing plan here in a second but um phase two included a a pool style Bowl um which we definitely got a lot of input on uh was really important to the community that they got um a bowl that would have the shape of nothing nothing else in the area so we basically created a large menu of different shape um cool style bowls and um did a survey on that specifically and uh this was the overwhelming Choice by the community um and then again just some some different street features sprinkled throughout this area Banks pump bumps quarter pipes things like that go ahead and move on to the next one VR there's another view of the bowl that's the nepili oval this is what we call that one and then again a view of the of the flow Bowl that's part of phase one and then just uh yeah plan view showing the different phases here um again phase one being about 13 000 square feet and phase two being ten and this is just a this was a graphic you know created more for the community input meeting so we could kind of list out all the features um that were in the design and I'm not going to go through every single one of them uh tonight but as you can see we feel like this was a nice you know cohesive design that flows really well but includes numerous different skate features for the uh end users and this is just a kind of General elevations um showing the different you know uh Heights and depths
relative to the existing grade zero would be basically at existing grade in the area and then um you know going going upwards of um and some of the ends and whatnot six feet or so um but what we like to do in these Parks we we do we do no minimum to no retaining walls around the outer edges we actually create Earth berms around the edges so that really the the park you know feels like it was supposed to be there and then just a couple couple more views of the different street features you see the kind of handrails and and stair sets and and ledges hey thank you Matt thanks on to my I will just wrap it up really quickly here and then we'll we'll go back to you I'm sure with many questions um so uh just reiterating our recommendation tonight is to review discuss and adopt the concept plan and submit a recommendation to city council for approval next steps would be seeking Council approval of the of the concept plan tentatively scheduled for uh their October 16th council meeting and then initiate detailed design so taking this concept plan now and and getting into the really getting into the weeds of actually designing it all out and um that's a obviously it's a very complex uh project and so there'll be a lot of a lot of work involved in that um and then uh and I mentioned earlier sorry that we were that we are still planning on trying to break ground in summer of 2024 we're keeping up with a pretty ambitious timeline here but it's one that we we think we can accomplish and
then in the meantime we're just still exploring other access improvements and upgrades to amenities at the existing skate park we haven't forgotten about that so our timeline here um let's see I pretty much just said all this so it's just reiterating our goal would be to finalize that detailed design and invite bids for construction of phase one next spring roll into construction of phase one summer in summer and fall of 2024 and then the timing on phase two would really be dependent on funding but um one of the great you know with our approach here we will have design both phases fully designed environmentally cleared and ready to go and so it'll really just be a matter of waiting on those those last dollars in before we can break ground on phase two so with that I think we're ready to pass it off to commissioner questions unless Drew or Jessica anyone have anything to add good all right great thank you okay Commissioners do we have any clarifying questions I'll start with you commissioner um so thank you um frequently this is a question for the city not guideline as much because I understand that you're doing the design of the actual skate park but um the physical Park but we frequently build playgrounds and we don't think or we don't include seating tables shade and whatnot into the budget and then it's like a scramble after or it doesn't happen or it's oh we're only using this money for the physical side of the playground um and we've heard that that's been a big concern
at our current skate park for a long time and when I look at the design there I think I saw three sets of I think three benches and I'm wondering I'm trying to picture it in lucasi where it is if there's tables nearby as well are those trees big enough for a little shade to sit under anything around that that you can clarify thank you yeah great question I I did actually mean to uh to mention that so with the concept plan um grindline really did not spend uh much time and attention on the actual amenities of the site so for example you're not seeing any lighting they do show a couple of seating areas but those you know really their their focus was on the skating elements um that being said in the next phase of design we would focus in on the placement and types of amenities we heard very clearly from the community that they you know they want lighting they want shade they want seating areas they want water fountains and those are all really important to this project um Drew I'm not sure if you have anything else to add on the sort of the timing Pro and programming of other Park improvements yeah no I think that's those are critical elements and that's a big reason why we're here tonight um you know collect your feedback um you know look at this project through those that have come forward through the commission before we're putting this within a very active Park we really are trying to tap into um you know age friendly multimodal multi-use so we really do have to take this
opportunity to plan for an array of Ages abilities and mobilities in this project grindline's budget up to this point has been pretty safeguarded just to deliver but um Matt if you want to weigh in on some of the mindset and looking at how you know use of berms or kind of how you played with the Contours as is and maybe some ideas that you want to share but that's definitely feedback that we're looking for tonight yeah absolutely um yeah during the um you know Community input process conceptual design the the main focus was on being able to finalize a skate park concept and the footprint itself um and like Drew said part of the you know part of the site opportunities that kind of led us to that shape is there's a nice natural berm um along the north Edge there's separating the soccer fields with um fairly mature trees as well providing natural Shades so you've got that option but definitely as we get into final design we'll be incorporating amenities as requested into the peripheral design and deciding that the you know the best most accessible connection points to the park um we um seating potential you know shade structure options or or anything like that so in terms of the budget that was proposed there are the amenities included in the budget because I I've just seen this happen before where it's not included in the budget right so I just want to make sure that that's all inclusive and we're not scrambling for money after the fact yes the the budget does allow for some
for some amenities um seating and some maybe smaller potential shade structures um and then I think anything beyond that as far as restroom or anything like that would be would need to be looked at at a different budget sure and there's yep perfect thank you thank you so much and thank you for having the foresight to think of those things as well within the budget so thank you I'm going to move on to other Commissioners but this is directly related lighting is part of that I had heard I had heard you you say the uh the lightning okay that's so that's something we have uh we've talked about a little bit with Matt whether it would be feasible to accomplish lighting within phase one or maybe in Phase One you know the We Lay the conduit and get it prepped for uh installation of full Lighting in phase two I think that really that's one of the key items we need to focus on as we get further into the design process and start figuring out how much money would be needed for the lighting specifically yeah does that help Megan great okay uh commissioner verticelli well coming from the maintenance background I have a couple maintenance related questions one are is money being put into rerouting and relocating the irrigation all around this area so that it will function properly after the skate park is built Cindy do you have a is there Irrigation in this area that yeah this area is irrigated and it's irrigated by the lake currently so it would have to be something that's considered and
as part as phase two I don't think it was included in the concept plan and correct me if I'm wrong Bjorn no we we did look for major utilities and other you know I don't think irrigation would be considered necessarily a major disruption or challenge to overcome for this project um given the amount of earthwork that's needed we were we did look at utility conflicts yeah I've just been had experience with things that oh we're just going to put this thing right here and then word left the gardeners or the people on the ground are left to just oh there's a big brown spot that we have to Water by hand now all the time so yeah stuff like that um the other maintenance related question I have is about mowing um are the edges the perimeter of this um the skate park or is it going to require string trimming or will the mower just be able to mow right over the edges of the turf there we typically try to grade everything out around the peripheral parameters of the the skate park at a four to one so it's a mowable slope um so ideally to just be able to run the mower right up against the edge of it great thank you any other clarifying questions I just want to say thank you to um the staff for all the Outreach to the community because that's what built this idea and that's what's going to get the reality done that they want so thank you I have a clarifying question um the whole area when you when the skate park is being built that whole area will it have to be dug out Bjorn well I have to
be completely yeah I can yeah good right it will right do you know where I'm headed if I can if I can jump in here just uh based on we still have to get a Project Specific Geotech report done for this um this project which will happen in in final design but based on the reports uh looking at the the soccer field and I think it was a pump house um it looks like some over excavation is going to be required in replacement with select fill just due to the soils in the area okay and then it'll need to be soldered after anybody see where I'm at uh perimeter the perimeters would need to be seated seated or sodded I mean just as far as the landscape restoration areas okay great uh I'm wondering if we can add gopher wire to that if it's already going to be completely cleared out and we it would be a H that's where I was heading that the clearings would would sort of follow the perimeter of the um skate park but offset um I you know it depends on what the Geotech report recommends but probably five feet or so so um but that little five foot strip around the around the edge could certainly be go for proof oh okay that's what I was wondering about that whole area you know because there's that larger perimeter that and maybe it just looks larger in this picture than it actually is but uh here in Petaluma we have um very eager Gophers so we're always trying to manage them great uh thank you and thank you for this presentation do we have a public comment for this item we do not have any
public comment for this item I didn't see any um online either so let's go to commissioner comments I'm sorry commissioner um I just again want to say thank you this project has been energizing I've been at a few of the meetings and it's been really powerful to bring the community together um I think this is amazing I think it's going to add an amazing aspect to Petaluma and bring in people but also fill a void that's here already for our multi-ages for multi-ages so I'm in full support of this project great thank you commissioner berticelli yes I think the design is amazing it's I think it's going to be a world-class skate facility and something that Petaluma can be very proud of so it's exciting I already said Thank you so good okay foreign yeah I just really liked seeing how the design process came from the community engagement because I'm working with a group trying to figure out how to do the same thing so that was really inspiring thank you very excited to see this uh project move forward it has been four years well it's been longer than four years but four years since the community really put the heat on the city and so I think this is awesome I can't wait I can't wait to um show it off to people so my recommendation as well okay so now so I'll make a motion to approve the final concept plan for the OKC skate park I'll second the motion great shall we take a clerk can we take a um a call on this a vote apparently I can say all in favor aye Mary Amber jelly in favor
criticism aye Stacey Earl yes Megan Kelly yes Karen now yes now the record shows we've got both both versions of it so thank you that's perfect appreciate the description great thank you for this presentation thank you for all of your hard work on this project I know our community is really excited and with that that uh is the end of our major matters we are going to be headed to committee comment or commission comment um council person Kelly please start us off um okay you did say council person I'm definitely not a council person no thank you um can commissioner um so I just want to highlight the circus being in town I know that that's not a city program but it was a great use of the fairgrounds and I'm really glad that we had it I went twice and it's just fun and it's it's great for the kids and the adults in the community um I can't remember how long ago it was that we made the agreement the city made the agreement with um for the poly class building to come um to what it is today but I remember taking that tour and having the long talks about it and it was actually my first time last week going into the building since everything's been done and it was it really has turned into what this commission what the city envisioned it to be it's a community building or Community um generating building and I just felt so good to be in there and be around um hear different things happening and see um see how it looks so I'm really proud of that um soccer fields you know soccer
season I'm bringing up every time but I just I'm in awe of how smoothly Prince works and how it looked and how baseball and soccer are happening at the same time and all of the above just in all of it at the Museum we did open the 150th year anniversary for Petaluma High so please come visit that that's really awesome I know that there's some special things happening I think the freshman at Petaluma High are interviewing alumni and there's some little little treats happening um around that in the community so that's really exciting and then also not a commission related thing but a community related activity um I had the opportunity to go with Brandt Elementary to see Nicole Mann the astronaut and God I'm proud of Petaluma for bringing a HomeTown hero and and having our mayor make a proclamation and just the the awe from the kids I mean it was just amazing to see from fourth graders app through adults just sitting on the edge of their seats listening to that presentation and so it just really made me proud of Petaluma thank you thank you commissioner berticelli well I want to talk about the tree committee meeting and it was not earlier today we're working on a plan for Street trees and creating update grading the updating the list of approved trees for Street trees and working on a Heritage tree um assessment uh talking about how to protect the um larger trees the more significant trees in the city um so I'm excited to be a part of that group and they're working on a lot of
important things um I think with the you know the whole issue of climate change and Petaluma wanting to be a cool City that street trees are a critical part of that equation and so I'm hopeful that this work will be will lead to uh a lot more trees in Petaluma which would be a wonderful thing um I did not get a chance to go and and really look at many of my Parks this month um but just driving around casually and looking at the different parks that I've been going by I think overall um once again I have to complement the maintenance staff because we are well aware of the challenges that they face even if a lot of the city is not but um they are doing I think an excellent job with the resources that they have and I hope we can get them some more resources to continue that work and I think that's it for me thank you thank you uh Council Personnel um thank you um I've had a lot of fun this last month my um grandchildren needed to be entertained after school so we have been to probably every Park in Petaluma and um we even went searching for the goats and the sheep and I got a hold of staff and on their non-urgent line because I couldn't find them at the Manion Knolls Park and it was they were way up at the top of the property which I've never walked to next to the cemetery and the grandkids were way ahead of me running in proper shoes I did not have but it was really great to see that grazing happening the Sheep herder is this Spanish-speaking young man who's just leaning
against a tree and I used every little bit of Spanish I knew to talk to and communicate with them from all my travels to all the different parks um only mother nature dropping branches or irrigation um you know being maybe too wet is the only thing I found wrong with any of the parks and I just jumped on the app and one day I even found the the devil Landscaping people I said can you grab that Branch because that child is playing with it and I just told him that maintenance guy would pick it up because it was like 10 feet long and it had just fallen and they were gonna poke each other with it and um anyway um good news um I had a call from somebody in the south gate neighborhood who is putting together the friends of South Gate Park and they're not being reactive to anything they're LEDs or their park they're being proactive and they want to help make it a better Park and they're already involved in relief and I met with them and we I took pictures sent it to Drew of things that might be problematic and there was a water faucet leaking the water department came out and fixed they possibly want some more lighting maybe the lamp posts doesn't illuminate enough but anyway they're a very nice group and they're being proactive they want to help and they want to come up with Solutions maybe a pollinator Garden instead of an Edible Garden in those empty big troughs that have irrigation but it's recycled water so edible landscaping isn't maybe the solution but maybe a pollinator type
Garden that may be the Bounty or one of those groups would like to help with so um thank you so much for working so hard stuff and I hope I didn't ask for too many uh things to be repaired but it looked like an easy fix picking up branches so and the Parks look great the zip line is a big head if we ever get to do another Park put in a zip line because those kids love that thank you thank you commissioner Chisholm thank you first I want to thank Mr halter because I did my rounds of the parks and sent a long email with any issue I saw on each one and he very efficiently responded and has taken care of all those so I think that's working out it should thank you um also just want to put out for anyone listening um for the for the steamer Landing Park specifically I know there's been a lot of issues revolving around the parking lot the public parking lot and a lot of bad stories in the newspaper about things that have happened um but if you are looking to access them or landing park or the Pelham River Park those issues are are an exception that'll happen all the time and if you're feeling nervous about going out there start by going in a group Another River Park leads groups as well to get people out to show them that it isn't as scary as it looks in the beginning it's a bottleneck that can be intimidating but it's not as bad especially if you go in a group give it a try and you'll probably be surprised uh and on the phone Note Saturday I'll be headed to Japan and I'm dedicating
some time to looking at parks in Tokyo and Kyoto and seeing if I can come back with some new insight thanks that sounds fun uh you want to add something council person now I just wanted to to mention that Monday night we approved unanimously the steamer Park new subdivision that's going in called Oyster Cove so it will have um a lot of public money going into landscaping and helping improve the lighting and everything in this there'll be a lot of construction in the next couple of years in that area and a beautiful Community that's going to be built called oyster Crow Cove right off of D Street so there'll be a lot of amenities and I can add to that I think that'll also include a new easement so a different way in in different parking as well to access both parks out there and one more fun thing this coming Saturday I believe the first set the first Saturday of October sorry it'll be a big public party for anyone who wants to come out to their Pelham River Park past the Red Barn uh we will be uh unveiling that a sculpture that's being put in the world famous Mark de suvaro sculpture about 45 feet tall so that would be really cool thing on the first Saturday of October great thank you and we have dinner on on the river we just bring it it's great um my Parks have looked really great um I definitely saw one tree limb down at Cherry Park and the kids were climbing and I can't lie I was like go get them um there's grass it's great um and I did not get to attend uh pee back
because my whole entire family we were we were sick so I don't have any updates from them this month um do we have some staff comments from either Cindy or Drew we we do go ahead absolutely um your Park staff is always busy I think you guys know that this month has been particularly challenging um our larger mowers were down so we were on our smaller mowers to give you an idea um to support the tournament last weekend would normally take one person one day it took five people and five mowers so yes they I don't know how they do it sometimes but it's a lot of teamwork they're a great team they try really hard so thank you for your appreciation I sent your comments back last time they were very grateful and they're like really I go yeah like your Commissioners think you are amazing so they really appreciate that outside of that you know we've just it's been a lot the Gopher the NorCal gopher guy has been out there we've caught a few we won't get any numbers um but you know if you walk McNear you probably will notice a considerable difference he's been out in Wiseman Prince Park Eagle Park he should be finishing up Del Oro so and we'll expand that program because it's been pretty successful and part of maintenance is part of doing that right to make sure our turf is better so we are working on that too outside of that um yesterday night we had our kickoff meeting for the urban forestry management plan for the visioning process so we'll start writing that plan with our arborist
consultant Ben Anderson which dovetails with the tree ordinance update so those are two really big things but two really really positive things you will most likely see relief come back to you because I got news that they were awarded more funding to plant more trees this fall so you know that's um that's kind of a big one but you know just to maybe get Wendy's not here but to give you kind of an idea of things Fox Hollow turn Bridge along the pathway literacera those are three of the parks that are on the list for that outside of that you may have heard wind and you know there has not been a public notice yet but your chair a tree committee went ahead and shared so I'll share it here the city was awarded a pretty substantial Grant from the U.S forestry service and we did go for 1.9 million dollars we did not get 1.9 million we were awarded 1 million so we have not had a chance yet to meet internally talk about what that project looks like what me what we might have to scale back but that's huge news so on the tree front you are moving forward fairly rapidly so there will be change sometimes it feels like it's not coming as quickly as we would like but it's getting there a lot of change is going to happen especially I would say like in the next six to eight months you know with the urban enforcement management plan which is a 30 to 40 year plan right and then on top of that the ordinance kind of update those are two really huge things but you're also just going to see a lot
more trees and a lot more stuff around trees so we're busy relief is and they're with us so we really appreciate it my comments thank you Cindy the Highlight I'm going to go through a few events of of late uh our annual movies in the Park series continued with the top gun Maverick last Friday at Lucchesi park it was well attended and then our final movie night for the year will take place Friday October 20th and this will be a throwback to the the 1991 version of The Adams Family and yes Halloween costumes are encouraged and so help us spread the word that's going to be a fun event uh softball the adult softball slow pitch program uh kicked off at Prince Park we've got 25 teams registered for the fall spread across a few divisions including our co-recreation leagues so this will be a kind of a condensed seven week pretty intensive season followed by uh playoffs in November really trying to wrap things up before um hopefully another wet when winter sets in in addition we are in the middle of Hosting our annual slow pitch softball tournaments we typically do that uh end of August through kind of September on several weekends so last weekend uh 12 of the men's teams came out to Prince Park and then this Sunday you'll see 10 of the co-ed teams out there participating for the the coveted shirt essentially but bragging rights for a year um the Food Bank distribution added the community center as another stop it's an incredibly popular and well-used program we serve as a very good
location for them it serves us and our community very well so they're expanding from the community senior centers and ppscs uh purview over across the park for more locations so I'll be Thursdays from 11 30 to 12 they'll be out there um Bocce Courts at Lake horns Park that was a a punch list item that that really proud of the the crews and coordinating with staff uh and an independent installer to help top dress uh material at the bocce courts and get that ready um we a lot of uh of our Die Hard pachy Apache coalitions are really thankful but um the maintenance is ongoing so hang with us it takes us a little while to to settle that material into its play form so if you're over there please discourage kids from digging it's not a Sandbox um but I I get it it's uh it's it is play so the um the Joseph Verdu statue I think we toured uh at McDowell Park just wanted to give an update on that the commemorative Stone was recently repaired with help from Joe Verdu um and jlp Landscape so I wanted to highlight that if you go back out there um you know it was fairly recently we were out there so just a feel-good project one that paid kind of homage to one of the original founders of pysl um so just happy to see that family kind of come together and work with us and um to help kind of Honor that statue over there the bond Park Core board these are the communication boards was installed and it's been very well received so this uh special thank you to Carly Crossing who helped uh with us
and kind of do the design and and use some of the speech and language services to review the graphics so just every time these get installed in the Parks you know they're not the standard yet but we're making it our way towards it being one so it's just another Victory and and the next one is is set to go and let me walk coming soon lastly a new class creative drama class for kids is being offered at the community center I want to highlight that it's been well attended so far and we're planning to continue it to offer more more programming in the winter and spring but looking for creative things to do extracurriculars um especially you Council them now or council member now with your plethora of grandkids they're out there or you can go back in and do another tour of the 47 Parks you know whatever comes to it but um thank you for the discussion tonight thanks for hanging with us the skatepark design and relief both really good items and really appreciate a lot of good impact input have gotten us to this point so really appreciate the discussion and when we have the council date confirmed we'll send this out and we really need your help spreading the word when it gets to Council on on at least the skatepark item and then relief I think they'll be back here fairly shortly because we've got another few good items to come so thank you yep um you didn't mentioned last Monday we talked about the pipeline that's going to go through schulenberger and it's going to give the parks
department a little chunk of change well yes it's a um so it's a little bit of background there's a PG e gas line replacement project uh scheduled and coming down the pipeline very quickly so thank you for calling attention to that it's a small section of pipeline relative to the size of schulenberger Park but it's a critical section that runs underneath the Petaluma River from the south east section across the Petaluma River it's currently an elevation of I think 12 feet under the river yeah it's going to go they're going to move at about 60 feet through a pretty um pretty quite remarkable process where it's kind of like zero boring better for dredging yeah but it will impact it'll have impacts and what it means for us is schulenberger the trail system and access to the public parking lot will be closed during the weekdays Monday through Friday because heavy equipment will need to be moved on on the causeway or the pathways and the only safe way to do that is to stop Public Access there which means the communications that are going to be pushed out is utilizing the Ellis Creek and the waste Rudder treatment facility almond Marsh but that is going to be an impact for our us and our our residents it will be fortunately open on the weekends and there is a holiday schedule too so we have a Turkey Trot event for example that we've been given assurances from PG e that it will not impact because it is on the holiday and so the park will be open but for the most part when that kicks
off I think mid-october there'll be a lot of messaging around that and then the council member referred to there is some money that PG e puts forth to help with the mitigate the impacts and there are several boardwalks and Pathways that are in need of replacement as is and repair so we're we're excited on Monday night that you know Council and and the community really pushed for you know some of those impacts to be be shared immediately after the project and some of the improvements around the walkways and and boardwalks that are under repair so yes good good things can come and um we're just hoping to get everything in place and get the messaging out um because that's uh it's hard it's hard to close a really flat accessible area like schulenberger that is such an asset and we were talking about maybe um telling the public other alternatives for walking that maybe they could choose a different area to exercise during the weekday when it is closed and um yeah yeah absolutely it's part of Ellis Creek because of habitats is closed right because it's the nesting season right and there's um the wetlands Alliance has a docent program out there so um we're going to be relocating that to a section of Ellis Creek just for the fall but yes the maps need to kind of get out there and really show people what's open what's not and um yeah Monday night was really the um yeah now it's time to we have a plan so now it's time to help PG need and us better understand what those impacts are yeah
um one thing I did want to bring up is I guess maybe during covid we put hand sanitizer boxes on posts in all the parks and now they're not filled up and many are broken you know because they've been through you know a couple of years of weather do we want to remove those or continue to repair them and refill them and also I was wondering if why we didn't have recycled containers out there in all the parks um because when we finish our picnic if there's not a recycling container I take it back with me but other people I was noticing at Bond bark there was plastic in with garbage after a weekend after barbecues and what have you so those were two things that I don't know enough about the parks history and the hand sanitizer and recycle containers yeah I'm happy to feel these questions the the waste recycle three string that's a larger conversation and I think we're really fortunate to be in a place where um you know city has again been able to secure a pretty sizable cow recycle Grant so it's not just in the Parks but the downtown area that lacks the um the waste recycle stream uh it's being coordinated as part of a larger effort so we we had some success partnering with the rotary clubs to install you know up to 38 cans so a few Parks have them but um you know we really need to Triple that to make an impact and with this cow recycle Grant we're going through the process of developing those standards then actually getting money to purchase the cans so we can get them installed
so I'd love to bring that back and kind of present that as an item and let you guys weigh in on it did you wanna in San Francisco we turned our Park garbage collection over to Recology we had the same yes we have a franchise with Recology but most of the parks as you guys see are not the fixed cans we've got the the totes um and yes Recology plays a big role in that um and we're we've been really um yeah that's been the model for us so now it's um those standards getting them out and then talking about what that program is um and then the hand sanitizers yes uh Cindy and I yeah I mean this is uh it's like PTSD getting back to those days but um you know I think it it who's us to go back to the to the crews talk about kind of the feedback we've received we don't necessarily immediately replace but if they're low on sanitizer or hand sanitizer we will refill them but if they're damaged we're not and we didn't we didn't intend to do the replacement we really put them out and installed them to get people out and feel more comfortable in their park spaces that was the original intent um and it was also part of um a commitment on one of the iterations one of the 27 iterations of the health and safety codes put out by the county so um for all those reasons it was good practice I I'm encouraged to keep them out there but if they are damaged Beyond a replacement we need to revisit when we replace versus um money we can put in other areas of the playground do you want us to tell you
when we go to a park if it's empty if it's broken yeah what would you like to report back or would you like to use the app um because Wiseman was in good shape but there was nothing in there you can just send it use the app or send an email to jurora one of the things is that those units were actually metal and they were in Planet in ground so if they're really damaged to the point where we have to them the hand sanitizer part is plastic yeah so that bottle gets replaced is what I'm saying so if the post that it actually goes in again the posts are damaged then somebody's really trying really hard so yeah no the posts are there it's just that um where you you push down it's disintegrated probably from lots of use where manian doesn't get as much use so the containers there but it was empty yeah just send us some sausage or use that either one's fine his grandma I still bring it with me so okay um I did forget to ask one question but when you brought up the city council meeting it reminded me um when is the turf recommendation going to city council don't have a date as of yet um we know it's not going to be before November likely we're about six weeks out of any Council agenda and we've got some work to do to position that so I don't have a date yet to share um but I know it's not going to be before November okay will you let us know when it gets scheduled yes great absolutely yeah great thank you you're welcome okay well I think that means that our meeting is adjourned for