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.

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.

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.

Second Open Space Master Plan Workshop Complete

ONLY A DOZEN SHOWED UP
A disappointly small crowd, if you can call a dozen people a crowd, showed up at Lindbergh School on the Eastside of Costa Mesa Wednesday evening for the second of four planned Open Space Master Plan Workshops.  The first one, conducted last week, played to four times the number of residents, including two Parks and Recreation Commissioners.  I wrote about that one HERE.  The charts and graphs presented at that meeting were the same.  The goal was for this meeting to be exactly the same as the first one.

RJM CONSULTING GUIDED THE DISCUSSIONS
Zach Mueting, from RJM Consulting, and his staff conducted this meeting again.  Members of the City Staff were in attendance to answer questions.  He gave the same overview with statistics before breaking the attendees into two smaller groups to go through the same exercises as last week.

SMALL, BUT EFFECTIVE, GROUPS
The groups, while only a half-dozen each, were enthusiastic and accomplished a lot.  There was considerate, respectful, productive discussions at both tables and joint prioritization of issues were easily attained.

INFORMATION TO BE COLLATED
This information will be included with the results of the previous meeting, the telephone survey conducted in January and other meetings with specialized groups.

THIRD WORKSHOP ON JULY 6TH AT TEWINKLE SCHOOL
The date of the next workshop, which will focus on Sports, was announced at this one.  It will be on Wednesday, July 6, 2016 and will be held at TeWinkle Middle Schoo, 3224 California Street, Costa Mesa.    See map below.  Although focused on Sports, everyone is welcome.  No time was announced, but I'll report that as it becomes available.  No date or time for the fourth meeting is available, but Mueting said it will be within 30 days of the third meeting, so we're looking at sometime in August.  The goal is to have this process completed in September, 2016.

MERCURIO AMONG THE ABSENT
An interesting side note.  This would seem to have been a perfect time for new Parks and Recreation Commissioner-delegate Julie Mercurio to get her feet wet on an important issue that her commission will be intimately involved with... and, it's in her neighborhood.  But, she was a no-show - obviously much too busy moderating her Facebook page to bother with this kind of stuff.  I guess she already knows everything there is to know on this issue.