Parks & Recreation Commission Has A Full Agenda Ahead

 CHALLENGES AWAIT THE NEW COMMISSIONERS THURSDAY
The Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission meets again on Thursday, April 27, 2017 in City Council Chambers at City Hall beginning at 6:00 p.m., and the agenda, HERE, has some interesting challenges for this new group.

PLAQUE/TREE DONATIONS
On the Consent Calendar - items that in theory can be voted upon in one motion without separate discussion - there are two "donation"s requested.  One, HERE, requests a Memorial Tree and Plaque at Estancia Park and the Second, HERE, is simply a plaque at the same park.  The staff recommends accepting the donations. 

SHIFFER PARK CELL SITE
There are two (2) items on the Old Business segment of the agenda. The first, HERE, involves upgrades to the Cell Site located at that park and the attendant enhancements to the park coincident with those changes.  The staff recommends approval.

OPEN SPACE MASTER PLAN
The second Old Business item is a whopper - the approval of the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation.  The staff report on this item, HERE, is nearly 400 pages long and provides everything you ever wanted to know about parks in our city.  I hope the commissioners have done their homework on this one, otherwise, this could end up being a very long evening.

TREE REMOVAL REQUESTS
Finally, there are three (3) tree removal requests in the New Business segment.  They are:

• 2798 Lorenzo Avenue, HERE,
• 1530 West Baker Street, HERE,  and
• 910 Joann Street, HERE.

The Staff recommends denial of each of those requests.

THIS MEETING WILL TEST THEM...
This should be a very interesting meeting on Thursday.  The new folks on the commission - basically everyone except Chairman Kim Pederson - will tussle with most of the items on the agenda, particularly the complexity of the Open Space Master Plan and the emotion of the tree removal requests.  It should be fun to watch them work.