Reconstituted Bike Committee Is Off And Running

MOST MEMBERS ATTENDED
The Costa Mesa Bikeway and Walkability Committee, re-configured following the last election, met for the second time last night and tackled a full agenda.  All the members attended except one.  The three liaison members - Mayor Katrina Foley, Dr. Kirk Bauermeister and Brent Stoll - were also absent. 

ERICKSON AT THE HELM
The committee met in the cozy confines of Conference Room 1A at City Hall, a new venue for them and one that might prove to be problematic if everyone shows up for future meetings.  New Chairman, Jim Erickson - a hold-over from the previous group - took charge of the group with skill and time-awareness, keeping things moving throughout the evening.  Cynthia McDonald continues as Vice Chair and former Chairman Ralph Taboada remains in the group, so the continuity of the process is retained.

SMALL AUDIENCE, AGAIN
The audience attendance continues to be small - a maximum of six people showed up, with only a couple of us remaining through the full two-hour meeting.

OCC IMPACT
During Public Comments Marc Perkins provided a handout to the committee to add emphasis to his request for better integration of Orange Coast College into any future bikeway plans.  His contention was that the large concentration of bicycle riders at the college does, and will, have a significant impact on traffic and public safety as the campus continues to grow.  He cited the on-campus housing planned to provide for an increase in foreign students, whom, he postulated, would be mostly bicycle riders.

ACTIVE TRANSPORTATION PROGRAM PROJECTS
Director of Public Services, Raja Sethuraman, guided a discussion of the Active Transportation Program projects that are part of the budget.  A budget study session apparently will be held next Tuesday evening, also in Conference Room 1A, and members were encouraged to attend to observe that process.

INPUT ON BIKE RACK LOCATIONS
Committee members were asked to provide input on their perception of the need for bike racks around the city, so the discussion went around the room with most members providing specific locations for the needs at both public and private locations.  There was the presumption that every public park in the city needs a full compliment of bike racks.  Emphasis was placed on the situation at Wilson Park, a venue that is under siege from homeless individuals.  Other areas of focus included the business corridors of 17th and 19th Streets.  The City has budgeted $50,000 for bike racks around town, so the staff will take the input provided and come back to the next meeting with a list which the committee will prioritize so the installation of new bike racks can commence - most likely being done by City maintenance workers with oversight from senior staffers as to placement.

BICYCLE MASTER PLAN
There was a discussion of the Bicycle Master Plan Project, HERE, and the new members were encouraged to go online to familiarize themselves with the document.

NEXT AGENDA ITEMS
Items planned for the agenda at the next meeting include:

• A discussion of prioritizing installation of bike racks
• The Bicycle Master Plan
• The feasibility of a "Walking Audit" - a tour of sites around the City
• A discussion of possible sub-committees to focus on specific ideas/areas.

PERSONAL BIKE RACK ASSESSMENT
During Committee Member Comments members Rick Huffman and Cynthia McDonald provided a handout describing their own recent drive around town to assess the need for bike racks.

BIKE PODS
John Merrill described a recent conference he attended at which Santa Ana's installation of "bike pods" - locked bike storage units accessible only via membership - and suggested that kind of infrastructure could be discussed by the group in the future.

DANGEROUS SITUATION AT NEWPORT BLVD/INDUSTRIAL WAY
A member of the public, who had arrived late with her son, asked to be heard as a "public comment" regarding a dangerous situation she and her son faces.  She apparently lives in the new condo units near Newport Boulevard and Industrial way and her son rides his bicycle to Ensign Middle School, being forced to cross both Industrial Way AND Newport Boulevard to do it.  He apparently had an accident where a car knocked him off his bike.  He spoke, describing his situation.  They asked the committee to pursue some kind of safety measure - a signaled cross walk, for example - to make it safer for folks traveling that route on bikes, or walking for that matter.

REVIEW THE OPEN SPACE MASTER PLAN
Member Flo Martin referred the group to the Master Plan of Open Space on the City website, HERE - all 384 pages of it.  She referred to several excerpts from that document for their enlightenment.  McDonald reminded us that the cutoff date for written comments on that document is next Wednesday, May 10th.

TWO PROBLEM AREAS
Member Bob Graham provided a short presentation on areas of concern - cables that complicate bike riding across the street from Estancia High School and what he described as a growing junk yard at the Costa Mesa Golf Course.  He showed slides of each and asked the staff to investigate solutions.

OC MARATHON THIS SUNDAY - BE PREPARED
Before Erickson closed the meeting at 8:34 p.m., Sethuraman reminded the group of the upcoming Orange County Marathon on Sunday, which will snarl traffic in several parts of the City, beginning with the far Eastside and including areas in the north and northwest sides before concluding at the Orange County Fair and Event Center.  You can read more about it HERE, which also includes links to specific road closures.

ANOTHER GOOD GROUP - DOING GOOD WORK
My impressions of this new group is very positive.  The new members bring new energy and I'm encouraged that they will follow in the footsteps of their predecessors and continue to make Costa Mesa a much more bikeable and walkable city.  Thanks to them all for volunteering to take on these challenges ahead.

Parks & Rec. Commission Kicks The Can - Twice

 SORRY FOR THE TARDY REPORT...
Although I was out of town and did not attend the Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission meeting of Thursday, April 27, 2017, when we finally returned home this weekend I carved out some time to watch my recording of the meeting, a meeting that lasted just over 4 hours and played to a large crowd - both of which are very unusual for this group.  It was not surprising, though, because there were a couple items on the agenda that I expected to take some time, and they did.  You can read the full agenda HERE.

KICKING THE CAN...
The most interesting part of this meeting for me was the fact that this group of very smart, very inquisitive commissioners, found it necessary to push both Old Business items off for further consideration.

Let's take it from the top...

PEDERSON'S ADMONITION FELL ON DEAF EARS
At the very beginning of the meeting Chairman Kim Pederson told the audience - a large crowd had assembled in the City Council Chambers for this meeting - that two items that were part of the presentation of the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation were begin removed from the package.  Those were the mention of a possible public pool at Tanager Park and the reference to a Sports Complex at Fairview Park.  It was apparent from the reaction to this announcement that most of the folks in the room were there to talk about the pool at Tanager Park.  The latter item was a typo - a misunderstanding by someone who typed the report.  There is NO plan for a sports complex at Fairview Park - the item should have read "Fairview Developmental Center".

The commission approved the minutes of both the March 15th Study Session and the March 23rd meeting.

PUBLIC COMMENTS
During Public Comments nine (9) people rose to address the commission.  Among those who spoke were:

• Flo Martin, who presented a Power Point of a tree that fell in Wilson Park last Wednesday while many people were in the park.
• Mark Korando, his wife and Granddaughter addressed the inability of the public to use Lions Park because of so much of it being fenced off, lack of restroom facilities and containing locked gates.
• Jay Humphrey - making his first appearance at a meeting in council chambers since his serious back surgery - addressed the need to protect Fairview Park vernal pools, citing a recent event when some bozo in a pickup truck drove through some of them and had to be towed from the park.
• Ed Guilmette again rose to address the issue of Urban Mushers in Fairview Park and complained that the City was doing nothing about it.
• Kim Hendricks also spoke about Fairview Park, opining that we need to do a better job of protecting it and follow the lead of 70.9% of the voters who voted in the last election to protect it from any kind of development.

COMMISSIONER COMMENTS

• During Commissioner Comments Commissioner Leah Ersoylu had no comments.
• Vice Chair Liz McNabb spoke about the many recent events around the City and about the then-upcoming Action Arts In The Park, scheduled for last Saturday.
• Commissioner Krissie Bogner spoke about a fundraiser for Fresh Beginnings Ministry.
• Commissioner Arlis Reynolds thanked the members of the public for attending and participating.  She spoke about the need for Vernal Pool training and asked about the fallen tree in Wilson Park and wondered how the staff determines if a tree is so distressed that it may fall, citing a Public Safety issue.
• Chairman Pederson thanked Realtor Valerie Torelli for again hosting the Eggstravaganza over Easter weekend.  He also suggested, in response to one speaker comment, that the commissioners consider a tour of all the parks in the City, observing that the Brown Act makes it dicey.

CONSENT CALENDAR
They approved the Consent Calendar - which included two tree/plaque donations - on a 5-0 vote without discussion.

SHIFFER PARK CELL SITE PUSHED OUT
The first Old Business item - upgrades to the Shiffer Park Cell Site - took about a half-hour of discussion, which included one public comment.  During the discussion there were several questions unanswered by the staff and representative of the organization managing the site - including those involving revenue and whether this plan is impacted by Measure Y.  At the end the commission voted, 5-0, to kick this can down the road to their meeting in May so those questions could be answered.

ANGRY CROWD GREETS OPEN SPACE MASTER PLAN
At just after 7:00 p.m. the commission began the discussion of the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation.  Consultant Zach Mueting of RJM Design Group and City Engineer Bart Mejia made the presentation.  This presentation was familiar to those of us who have followed the progress of this process.  You can read the lengthy staff report - including the 384 page Master Plan - HERE. The discussion of this item lasted nearly 2 hours, including the seventeen (17) speakers who addressed it.  Most of those, despite the fact that the pool at Tanager Park was being deleted from the plan, spoke to that issue.  It was clear that overwhelming community sentiment against a pool at that park - in fact, most speakers wanted NO CHANGES in that park - had been whipped up over the past couple weeks.  As indicated in Luke Money's excellent coverage in the Daily Pilot, HERE, the commissioners voted unanimously to bring this issue back to them for further review at their next meeting.  Public Comments will be received until May 10th and a report issued to the commissioners listing all the suggestions made at the recent Study Session and this meeting plus new public input by May 12th.  The next meeting where this will be discussed is May 25th.  Again, the commissioners kicked this can down the road.

ALL TREE REMOVAL REQUESTS DENIED
Following a short break the commissioners tackled three separate tree removal issues and voted to deny every one of them.  Interim Manager Tom Coughlin made the presentations. The first two were unanimous, but Bogner voted NO on the third one.  See the staff report, above, for the details.

PARKS PROJECT MANAGER'S REPORT
Mejia presented an update of previously approved projects that are either underway or are being put out to bid.  These included:

• Fairview Park parking lot paving
• Paving in TeWinkle Park
• Playground resurfacing in TeWinkle Park
• Tanager Drive Bike Trail
• Repaving Balaeric Park Play Area
• Conceptual design of a new Skate Park.  Public input will be sought in May.

RECREATION MANAGER'S REPORT
Recreation Manager Justin Martin provided added information about the re-surfacing of Angel's Playground in TeWinkle Park, indicating that it will be completed by May 13th.  He then listed a roster of participation at many recreation programs around the city, each of which has shown an uptick in participants.  He included comments about the progress of the rehabilitation of fields 3 and 4 at the Jack Hammett Sports Complex by the Los Angeles Chargers and mentioned their contribution of $50,000 toward the new mobile recreation van.  He also spoke about his interaction with Urban Mushers and those opposed to that activity in our parks, primarily Fairview Park.  He was encouraged that both sides will be able to make things work.  In response to an inquiry by Reynolds Martin advised the commission of awards bestowed upon Costa Mesa volunteers at a recent meeting.  Sharon Margolis received recognition for her work at the Costa Mesa Senior Center and Andrea Marr, Chair of the Cultural Arts Committee, accepted the award for that group.  Kudos to them both.

WHAT ABOUT BRENTWOOD PARK PROJECT?
Bogner asked for a report on the Brentwood Park project.

Pederson adjourned the meeting at just after 10:15 p.m.... Ugh!

A GOOD GROUP, DOING GOOD WORK
I must say that while watching the recording of the meeting I was VERY impressed by the quality of the questions and responses given by the commissioners.  This is clearly one SMART group, who have done their homework on the important issues facing them and take their responsibilities very seriously.  I suspect we may see large crowds at these meetings in the future as they plow through some of the tough challenges that will be facing them.  They certainly seem up to it, despite the fact that they booted two important items to a future meeting.  It was the right thing to do in both cases.

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.

Commission Reviews Open Space Master Plan

FINAL DRAFT PRESENTED
Wednesday night the new Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the recently-completed Open Space Master Plan For Parks and Recreation completed by the consulting group RJM Design Group.  You can read the staff report, HERE.  Take a couple minutes to read the first half-dozen pages to get a feel for this presentation.  The summary is 159 pages and the full report is more than 500 pages, but it's a surprisingly easy read.

Vice Chair Liz McNabb

NEW COMMISSIONERS DID A GREAT JOB
All the new commissioners were in attendance and did a great job.  Each had clearly reviewed the documents and each asked many excellent questions and made observations that demonstrated they actually knew what they were talking about.  Chairman Kim Pederson kept things rolling.  Conference Room 1A is fine for the participants, but leaves much to be desired for those trying to observe, and hear, what's going on.  Luke Money from the Daily Pilot attended and will also write about this event.

THE PUBLIC SPOKE
The meeting began with five members of the public asking questions/offering observations about the document/process.  Approximately 15 members of the public attended.  A couple observed that it's prodigious length was off-putting.  Another observed that the Sports Fields Questions were leading - guiding the participants to a pre-determined answer.  She also observed that, in light of Measure AA passing overwhelmingly, much of this work was unnecessary.  Others observed that the need for expansion of the Tennis Center was ignored.  The need for safe public restrooms at most parks is essential.

RJM DESIGN GROUP
Consultant Zach Mueting, Project Manager for RJM who headed the team of consultants that prepared this report, led the presentation, which took just over an hour.  I've included only a few of the slides here for your reference.  His full presentation will be on the City website before the end of the week.

DOVETAILED WITH THE GENERAL PLAN UPDATE
This process has taken two years and was dovetailed with the recently-completed General Plan Update last year to make sure there were no conflicts.  The Open Space Master Plan has not been updated since 2003, but has been a solid guide for park and open space issues since that time.  It involved significant community outreach, including a telephone survey of 400 residents, four separate workshops and meetings with stakeholders, like youth sports organizations.  The information gleaned from those meetings was analyzed and homogenized into a series of graphs depicting things like user satisfaction, improvements people would like to see, comparison to the earlier document, etc.

 Walking distance to parks

POPULATION AGING, RECREATION NEEDS FOLLOWING
Several things became clear as a result of this long, costly exercise.  Costa Mesa's population is aging, and with it the recreation preferences are shifting, from more active,  participative  types of activities to more leisurely, passive choices.  That thread was consistent throughout the report and the presentation.

DEMOGRAPHICS SHIFTING, TOO
It is also shifting demographically, with the white population declining and the Latino and Black population increasing.  It's not clear how that impacts the reach of this report.

Commissioner Leah Ersoylu, Recreation Manager Justin Martin, 

City Engineer Bart Mejia

MOVING TO THE COMMISSION IN APRIL
The consultants will take input provided by the commissioners and the public at this meeting and blend it into the text of their report.  That report, and any subsequent communications received from the commissioners and/or the public, will be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission at their meeting in April.  I expect more than a few of you will attend that meeting to present your views for commission - and public - consumption.  Presuming it passes muster with the commission, it will be forwarded on to the City Council for review and approval at a subsequent meeting - probably in May or June of this year - where the public will get one more shot at this plan before the City Council adopts it.

GREAT JOB ALL AROUND
Kudos to all who participated in this process.  I attended the workshops and wrote about it at that time last year.  It appears that the process worked and the consultants have prepared a very thorough report - in depth, yet easy to understand.  If you begin to review it at the link above I suspect you'll agree.  The goal was to complete an easy-to-understand document with a shelf life of a decade or more - just like the one it replaces.  It looks like they may have attained that goal.

Parks & Rec. Commission Study Session Wednesday

OPEN SPACE MASTER PLAN OF PARKS AND RECREATION
Just a little reminder that the Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Commission will meet on Wednesday evening beginning at 6:00 p.m. in Conference Room 1A at City Hall for a Study Session at which they will provide the staff with direction on the most recent update on the Open Space Master Plan of Parks and Recreation.  Read the announcement HERE and the Staff Report HERE.

LOTS OF WORDS

This should be a very interesting exercise for those of you interested in this issue.  The Master Plan update is 159 pages long, full of all kinds of interesting information.  See you there.

Final Open Space Workshop Plays To Small Crowd

FINAL MEETING HAS DISMAL TURNOUT
The final community workshop for the Open Space Master Plan was held Wednesday evening at the Costa Mesa Senior Center and played to a disappointingly small crowd.  Fewer than a dozen people showed up although the room was set to accommodate five times that many.  And, of those in attendance, fully half had attended previous meetings.  Parks and Recreation Commissioner Kim Pederson attended this meeting - he's been at most of them - and helped provide perspective for us.

CONSULTANTS LED THE WAY
City Engineer Bart Mejia introduced consultant Zach Mueting of RJM and his assistant, Tamara, again conducted this meeting.  He provided us with a brief history of the scope of his work and the results of the previous three workshops.  I attended two of those and wrote about them HERE and HERE.

PRIORITIZING
We then broke into two groups and went through an exercise prioritizing "Programs" and "Facilities", then further distilled them down and the results were presented to the group as a whole.  As you can see from the images, the two groups had different ideas.

A REPORT IS PENDING
The results of all these efforts - the four workshops, telephone survey, outreach to the sports community, all of which represented more than a year's worth of work - will be compiled, blended and presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission at its September meeting and to the City Council in October.

NOW WE WAIT...
This meeting wrapped up around 8:30 after a couple hours of discussions and completing those exercises.  Concerns were expressed by some about how the results of this effort might be interpreted by members of the City Council - it is an election year, after all.  Personally, I'm eager to see the report from the consultants, and to hear how it is received by the Parks and Recreation Commission and the City Council.  Stay tuned.