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Welcome to the january 9 2024 pros commission special meeting
The prose commission is conducting this meeting from the city council chamber and staff are complying with the current regulations of the california department of public health
And cal osha for safe indoor meetings
Secretary bounder, would you please call the roll?
Yes
commissioner kierasly
here, Mr. Oler, here, Commissioner Meyer, here, Chair Garland, here, and let the
record show that Commissioner Moran and Cook are absent tonight. Under California
law, public comments at special meetings are limited to the subjects on the
agenda only. Therefore, public comment will be received during the Commission's
consideration of the item. As some attendees may be participating in their
first prose commission meeting I want to welcome everyone and talk briefly about
the public comment process. Consistent with city policies related to public
comments each speaker will have two minutes to make your remarks during the
consideration item. Moving on to our consent calendar. Since this is a special
meeting there is no consent item. We will move on now for our consideration which
is the new aquatic and community center at Heather Farm Park schematic design presentation
update and we'll hear from staff. Good evening commissioner, um, pros commissioners and um
Chair Garland, members of the pros commission. My name is Janine Cavalli. I'm a senior planner here
with the city of Walnut Creek and tonight we're going to be presenting to you an update on the
new aquatic and community center at Heather Farm Park. Um, it's been about over a year since we
we've last presented to you on this project.
And so we're very excited to present to you
this evening an update and progress of the design work
that our team has put together.
I'll be presenting alongside our consultant team
from Nolentam Architects and our design group,
and they'll introduce themselves
when they come up to present later this evening.
So the purpose of tonight's meeting is, again,
to present the schematic design package
and to get your feedback.
For the combined new aquatic and community center facility
at Heather Farm Park.
The focus will be on the building footprints
and how the building form as well as how it's situated
in the park in the adjacent outdoor spaces.
And then we'll come back to you on February 5th
to focus on the aquatic portion of the design.
So the pool deck and the design of the pools themselves
and the configuration.
So the agenda for this evening is
we'll give you a presentation, show you
a lot of beautiful pictures of the new facility.
You'll then have an opportunity to ask us questions.
And then we'll take any public comment
and then come back for your feedback
at the end of our presentation.
The outline for our presentation is I'm gonna start with a bit of project overview, a little
bit of the history and background of how we got to where we are tonight.
We'll also kind of highlight some of those key decision points that have been made along
the way.
And then we'll give you an update on some of the community engagement that we conducted
last year, and then present to you the key elements of the design presentation package,
which include building plans, site plans, and some perspective illustrations.
And then as I mentioned before, we'll do the questions, public comments, and then your
comments, and then I'll conclude with what the next steps are in the process.
So the purpose of the project is to replace two aging community facilities within Heather
Farm Park, the Clark Swim Center and the community center buildings with a combined new facility.
And to locate that facility at the site of the existing community center.
And then to replace the three existing pools with a recreational pool and a 50-meter lap
pool.
On this slide here, I'm showing you the project timeline, which includes both a look back
at what we've done to date.
We kicked off this project with Under the Year Parks, Your Future branding.
We had two phases, first looking at program and facility analysis, and then looking at
conceptual planning that was conducted from April 2020 to January 2023.
And so last year we kicked into this new phase of the project, which is the design and construction
phase, and the design process which includes community engagement and CEQA documentation,
and a lot of different design plans from landscape plans,
building plans, site plans, materials palette,
a lot of things that we're gonna be showing to you
this evening, but then there will be more to come
later this spring, summertime.
And then that process all in is about 20 months,
and then the construction phase, which will be two years,
and as Steve likes to say, toes in the water July, 2027.
So looking back at some of the key decision points that have already been made, back in
2021, the project team analyzed three separate sites within the park for where the new facility
could be located.
One being the existing swim center site, one being the existing community center site,
and then one which we called the middle site, which was in between those two locations.
So we brought forward these first to the pros.
And the pros recommendation was for the community center site.
We then took it to city council in December of 2021.
And they provided direction to the project team to move forward with the community center
location.
And this slide kind of gives a first diagram to kind of show you how at that time we were
We're just kind of using little building blocks
to demonstrate how the pool could fit at that location.
So not very detailed at that point in time.
And in choosing the location of the community center,
it offered some advantages over the other sites
which are listed here.
One being that it provided more maximum flexibility
for how the buildings and the outdoor spaces
could be configured compared to the other two locations.
It allows for the Clark Swim Center to remain operational during the two years of construction,
so it minimizes the disruption to those aquatic recreational programs.
It allows for the community center to maintain the pond overlook, and it retains some of
the key pedestrian and access routes, and it is centrally located.
There are three existing parking lots that would on three sides, apart from the pond
side.
Otherwise, all the other three sides, there's a parking lot that would be able to continue
to support the future location at that site.
So from December 2021, after we got the direction of the location through to January 2023, the
project team developed what we referred to as the conceptual site plan. We brought this
to the pros in June of 2022. We also took it to key stakeholders and then finally to
council in January of 2023. And the you can see that we obviously made a lot of detailed
progress between these two different plans, the built sort of building block plan, if
you will to this conceptual site plan.
And some of the feedback that we received that should be considered in moving forward
in the schematic design process were these items listed here on the right.
So considerations for access and circulation to and within the facility grounds, noise
impacts on any sensitive adjacent areas,
considerations for what the pond, implications
for the pond refurbishment, pool deck capacity, design
of both of the pools, including the recreational amenities
for the recreational community pool,
and then also the architectural style and materials.
So these are all the considerations
that our team has taken a look at and analyzed
as they've developed the schematic design package
that we have before you this evening.
So that concludes my brief recap of the conceptual planning
phase of the project.
And now I'm going to hand it over to Jocelyn and her team
to look at an overview of the work
that we've been doing in this past year
since the conceptual site plan was accepted by Council.
Good evening.
I'm Jocelyn Lawrence-Barrish with Nolentum Architects.
And first we're going to look at how we pivoted
from the feedback we received on the conceptual plan.
It was actually our same firm
that works on the conceptual plan
and is continuing to work on this schematic design plan.
And reiterate what are the basics
of what has to go into this project.
It's a single-story building,
between 25 and 27,000 square feet,
including a pool mechanical space.
The two facilities will be combined.
There'll be both a community center
and an aquatics facility within one building.
There'll be the 50-meter pool and the recreational pool,
and a portion of the pond will actually be infilled
in order to allow the site to accommodate
all of what we're discussing tonight,
and the all abilities playground remains in place.
These are all of the fixed points
that we've been working with
as we flexed towards a slightly different design
to accommodate the feedback we received
about the conceptual plan.
So we began by having a community engagement process
in which we had an open house, various pop-up events,
and an online survey.
And specifically what we were looking for
was we wanted the community to be able to talk about
what the building should look and feel like,
how it can be a part of the park,
how it can be a part of Walnut Creek.
To do that, it meant asking some questions
about what exactly that meant to people,
what that meant to folks, you know, as far as existing.
One of the first questions we asked was,
what are your favorite buildings in Walnut Creek?
The slides I'm gonna show you summarize some answers
to some specific questions where people were selecting
which images they felt best answered the question,
but also they were allowed to comment
with words themselves, both in person,
writing post-its on poster boards,
but also when they were online,
there was a place to type in their own answers.
So we've made some weighted word clouds
to try to capture the most frequent kinds of comments
that we had written in from folks.
So fits in was definitely one of the most pressing concerns,
something that was functional and inviting.
Here are some of the favorite buildings
within Walnut Creek.
For the architectural style of the new facility,
something that was light and modern and fits in well,
was also a great concern.
Here's some of the architectural precedents
that we were drawing from,
some community centers from around the country
and around the Bay Area that have that
sort of traditional form, but more modern kinds
of detailing and warm materials that we saw as a comment.
Here's where we were specifically asking
about the aquatics facility.
Here's where we were saying which specific
building materials, natural, inviting, warm,
and the outdoor spaces we specifically asked about.
Shade was mentioned quite a bit as a concern,
natural, modern, sustainable,
and that's also true of the smaller gathering spaces
adjacent to the outside of the building
that we will walk you through.
So these were all guiding principles that we used
as we were designing the building itself.
We had also some opportunity for folks
to comment about what kinds of recreational amenities
they were wanting to see in the recreational pool.
Beach entry made it up there, as did spray water features.
And the public at large brought a lot of comments
about making sure people from all ages
felt welcome in that space.
And we had a theme.
I think that slide got deleted.
Aquatic life is going to be the theme of those play features.
So the first iteration that we took at this
was taking the feedback from the conceptual plan,
the feedback from the community that we were receiving,
and made an early draft of how the floor plan needed
to change in order to address those comments,
and we took that to stakeholders.
So what you're seeing is a stakeholder plan,
we essentially called it, and we spoke to these groups,
gardens, chamber, aquatic foundation, et cetera,
and had three separate sessions to listen
to what their feedback and comments were
about the initial moves we made.
Here's what we heard.
There was a lot of support for especially the changes
that we'd made to modify the building,
but there were still concerns about the noise impacts
of some of the louder activities
that the facility will be hosting
and how we might move or mitigate some of those noises.
Especially there was a comment about how the loading
sequence for caterers to the lakeside room
for functions and events could be improved and the pool deck and capacity and configuration
design of the pools was a source of comment as well. From this we developed some guiding principles
for how we wanted to move forward and come up with a plan that we could turn into something
that was three-dimensional that we could start to show a design that we could get comment from
comments from you all during this process from from council and then additionally from the
the community later on. So we're looking for a design that will be a visual asset
within Heather Farm Park. So remembering that we're within a park setting that
gives you specific views from most sides of the building. To be able to support
all of the programming that's currently offered within these facilities at
Heather Farm Park with the ability to think about future expansion of those
programs and improve how all of the spaces that currently exist function
there was a lot of feedback from staff and from community about ways that those spaces
that currently exist could be more flexible, how they could expand to speak to different
kinds of programs than that they currently do, make sure that, for instance, the changing
rooms and the deck spaces are right-sized to the actual pool facilities we have, that
the changing rooms that are there now are quite undersized.
And lastly, to make sure that we're preserving the high-quality views that that community
Center that's existing currently has from across the park to the pond, etc.
So from that we drew a lot of a lot of things including what we're going to
show you tonight, building floor plans, some site plans, some perspective
illustrations. We'll talk you through those. We're really excited about how
these turned out. We hope you have some interesting feedback for us. We have two
schemes to present tonight. They're very similar. Here is scheme A. It's got what
we heard a lot was that the traditional roof form was preferenced over something
more boxy and modern. So we went with the gable style roof and we have that in a
second scheme as well. It's a little bit more stretched out and elegant and has a
little bit more of a distinctive presence within the park. In addition to
these changes that you can see here in the bird's eye view, this is the dramatic
view you would have with Mount Diablo in the background, here you can see and plan how
these two schemes differ from each other slightly. There is an angle within the building that
tilts it slightly to one side or else we could just stay with the orthogonal approach. Either
way there's some baked in similarities between the two that I wanted to highlight so you
understand what's within the building facility as it's currently designed. So there is, in
In the top bar, the more typical larger event community center spaces with an operable partition
so that you can expand into a much larger room or have two smaller rentable spaces,
catering, kitchen.
We've turned the fire lane at the top to also being a loading dock, so there's a very easy
way for folks to get in and out with all of the equipment that they would need for larger
events.
Move the trash enclosure down around the side to keep it away from the lake where it might
disturb some of the wildlife in that area. We thought a lot about, if you're a
user for an event like this, how do you not get lost and accidentally go to the
pools? So we have a separate patio that could be rented as part of that facility
where you could have people entering, gather, have a moment before they enter
into the place where there might be, yep, thank you. Here's the patio I'm talking
about. A separate entry patio. This is the main entry to the building, but
If you were holding an event, where you were having a wedding,
let's say you could have folks gathering out
on this terrace, this private patio,
that then you could have most of this hallway for your event
and then direct access into these main assembly rooms.
In addition, there's a second multipurpose room down here
that could also be part of that function.
But instead, we're talking about a daytime sequence
where you're a community centergoer.
We also thought a lot about, all right,
whether you're approaching from those north parking lots
so you're getting dropped off in this area.
This main entry has a lot of work to do.
It has to flex and make sure that it can point you
in the direction of the community center
or also allow people to get to the aquatic facility
and have some kind of way of knowing
without having to rely on signs
or asking people for direction where they're supposed to go.
So we have this prominent corner right here
that is the aquatics entry.
It's exterior.
There's a way to enter into the reception area
in case people have to have longer conversations
and want a little bit of shelter from elements.
And then directly back out onto the deck,
where they're essentially skirting this wing,
getting a glimpse of the pools, which are off to this side,
and into the changing rooms.
So the aquatics wing experience is a very much
an exterior experience.
Part of that is to allow there to be a lot of interaction
between the building and the pool deck itself.
There are a lot of changing rooms, classrooms, offices
that want to have a view of the pools
and want to have direct access to the deck itself,
so this is essentially a way to provide that.
In addition, carving this little alcove here
to let people have a moment to gather
before they're immediately interacting with the water.
Instead, if you're in the community center,
I think scheme A actually does this a bit more successfully.
Scheme B, it will still happen,
but it will be a little bit harder for you
to maybe understand you're gonna be coming into this atrium
and being pulled around in this corner
to go to community center activities.
It's actually the main reason behind the angle of the floor
plan.
So you would come to this main reception area here
and then have an idea of which of these rooms
your program might be in.
And both of these schemes feature a large atrium
that allows more informal commingling
of these two programs.
If you're a parent waiting for your kid who's
in swimming lessons, you can camp out here.
There's actually a way to actually view through this
aquatics classroom onto the pool deck.
If your similarly kid is in a class over here,
you might notice, oh, hey, there's
some class going on in the pool.
I see that's great.
Maybe I'll want to check out that program online
and register my kid, or a place for folks
to gather for an informal book club kind of review
without having to actually rent a program space.
It's a very popular new trend in community centers
that we find very often is successful.
So really, all of those same features
are true in both building plans.
It's just a question of that the plan was slightly tilted.
And with that, we're actually gonna talk about
the site plan next so you can understand
how the immediate adjacent surrounds
have been affected by what's within the building itself.
I'm gonna pass it to my colleague, Jeff Furber,
of RRM Design Group, who'll explain that more.
More pretty pictures to come, don't worry.
Thanks, Jocelyn.
Good evening.
It's great to be here and see you after a number of months.
It's my pleasure to talk about the site plan tonight.
Heather Farms a spectacular park.
And it's very important that this project fits in well.
It has its own identity, but really fits into the park
atmosphere and the character.
So these three bullet points really highlight
some of the most important things we've heard
from the stakeholders.
And that's how pedestrians come and go from the site.
that the site sort of evokes this kind of Walnut Creek
community living room.
And I'll talk a little bit about how we've accomplished that.
And then to take advantage of some remodeling of the pond that
needs to happen anyway to capture more space
for the project.
And then the stakeholders talked about noise.
They talked about views.
And they talked about programming.
So I'll touch on each of those in terms of the site plan.
We have a number of different views
for you to look at on this first view.
I'm just gonna discuss the context a little bit.
And however people are coming here by car, by bike,
whether they're visitors to the community for a swim meet
or they come to attend a wedding,
or if they're locals that come here five, six days a week,
the circulation will be down North San Carlos,
use the mouse here, which is you can access all the existing parking lots, the
parking lot between the playground and Clark Swim Center will remain as a
proposal of this project. So people will choose either one of three parking lots
and one of the parking lots we think they'll use the most is the one where
the solar panels are and we are adding a new entrance up here and you can see the
cursor up there. So that'll allow for a drop off sequence where this will become
a most likely a four-way stop. There'll be signage, people continue up going to
the new parking lot, come down perhaps drop off their kids for swim lessons, and
then choose where they're going to park from there. Or they may just choose to go
straight to one of the parking lots and then walk in. Okay this is the second
site. I'm going to talk more in these future exhibits about the outdoor landscape spaces.
Continuing with the circulation, these red lines that you see really emphasize the pedestrian
experience, whether they're coming from the playground side and walking, you know, down
from the playground, from the parking lot past the playground, and in off of the pond there's a major
entry here on the pond side. If they come from the drop off or if they come from the parking lots
there's pedestrian access from all sides. Jocelyn mentioned the main entry and there's a large
comfortable courtyard. They'll have seating places for people to wait and then they would choose one
of the the entries they would go into whether it's aquatics or the community center. So now I'm
So now I'm going to talk a little bit about the spaces and the Walnut Creek living room
sort of characteristics that we heard from the community.
If you look at the size of the building and then you look at the size of this outdoor
space out at the back between the building and the pond, you can really get a sense of
how large it's going to be.
It'll be about four feet above the pond, the elevation of the building, finished floor.
is similar to what it is today. So you're up above the pond, which means when you're attending an
event and whether you're inside looking out or spending time out on a nice afternoon under the
shade out in the landscape, there's a terrace out there that really divides into it. It can be one
large space the entire length of the community center or it can be used as two separate spaces
for each of the community rooms. Jocelyn talked about the space in the front that allows for a
third space that can be used for welcoming. It could be used for events that are associated with
with that smaller community room or it could be a place for greeting in a cocktail before an event.
So it's really a design indoor-outdoor relationship to be very flexible for all seasons.
We've accommodated shade for the heat. There are trellises that accommodate shade on the
hotter days. There'll be a lot of trees planted. As you move outside of the space that's what we're
calling at this point the event terrace, there's a little space here for kind of a hangout. If you're
just walking and you're along the pond and you see this kind of seating up area, you can go up there
and sit and just enjoy a view of the pond. That again is sort of the community living room kind
of concept. I think, you know, today I went over there just to confirm something that we really
were hoping to accomplish, and that's when you're on that elevation behind the community center in
this new landscape space. You have great views over to the gardens at Heather Farm. You have
great views over the pond, and it's a very nice view under the oak trees to the lake.
so it really is going to be a spectacular space as Janet gets ready to come up this image just
gives you a sense of that bacteris area and if you look right here this is sort of a cocktail bar
imagine kind of a counter where you're part of a small event associated with this committee room
or maybe there's a big event that the entire space is one large party it's a place to stand and look
out to all those viewpoints that I just described, kind of hang out and talk with your friends.
Janet's going to now continue. Thank you.
Good evening, I'm Janet Tam, of Noland Tam Architects, a principal at the firm, and I'm
lucky because I get to present the fun part of the design. It's really the 3D perspectives
which really bring our design to life, and you know, you can really have so many words
and narratives and plans and actually this is the part where we can all really say oh
yeah I get it.
And so I want to come back to the two bird's eye view which of course that's not our experience
but they help express really some of the differences between the two schemes that we've been talking
about and as we've all been saying they're actually very similar but one of the main
distinctions is really the roof design for both of them and maybe before I launch into
to the sort of main differences in the roof design.
Just want to make sure we're oriented appropriately.
This is a view, obviously, from the pond.
Here's my cursor.
This is the lake view volume.
This is the atrium that we've been talking about
as the entry facing Mount Diablo is the entry and drop off.
And this elevation is the west elevation.
gets a lot of sun, as the existing lake side room has
already.
And again, as Jeff said, this is the edge
of the new, more improved pond with this amazing landscape.
And each of these volumes actually express,
now I'm talking about our Scheme A,
express the angled plan.
And that's why these are angled shapes.
And they're prominent, and they're intended to be simple.
And they're connected by these other more simple shapes.
but the prominent volumes are the atrium
to announce the entry, and also the lakeside
because it's a very, very special event space.
Then let me use my other hand, I'll do the next slide.
That's Scheme A, and then you can see again,
maybe I'm a little sorry, it's the same,
obviously orientation with the wonderful patios
that allow each of these program spaces on the west side
to flow out into their own dedicated outdoor spaces.
Now the difference here is we're calling this scheme
the folding roof plane scheme
because the roofs are more complex yet at the same time
it's using more traditional gable forms
like at the lake side room.
And it actually is inspired by Mount Diablo
and the sloping topography that you can see in the background
and we sort of love that idea.
And the indoor spaces are affected
because they try to express these different shapes.
And this is the atrium.
You can see in, let me just go back here,
you can see the atrium very clearly here.
It's in the same location here,
except this is the rectilinear scheme.
And you can see like, it's like almost half the gable
and then the rest of the gable really morphs
into a much larger sloped roof.
But otherwise, it's very much similar.
And I think it also expresses the sort of a stronger
presence on the site.
This is just overall.
So let me go next to the next set of perspectives, which
are really focusing on the main front door.
And this is starting with, now, one thing
I should mention that is relevant about focusing
on the entry is that that is really the first impression
of your facility.
It's really presenting the identity
of your new community center.
And in both schemes, and this is the one where you,
again, you can see here more clearly at eye level,
the multi-purpose room, I'm sorry,
the multi-purpose room and the lakeside room on the right,
It's gabled volume in the main entry of the atrium here.
This is on the curbside.
This is the opposite elevation than what
you saw in the bird's eye view.
This is the east side, so it's a little bit cooler.
But yet we're still making sure there's a lot of shade
and a lot of trellises.
And in both schemes, the main front door,
as Jocelyn described, is where everyone can enter.
But if you know you want to go swimming or have a swim lesson,
you can shortcut and go directly into a separate aquatic entry.
If you're entering, or if you're invited to a wonderful wedding
and you know it's happening in the lakeside room,
you could go into a little bit more private,
but it's still accessible entry that's
through this more walled patio.
And I think there's another door here that is in the floor
plan.
So then Scheme B, you can see because of the sloping planes
and the more variety of roofs, the front door
feels a little more, maybe has a more civic presence.
And even though it looks taller, the heights of these two spaces
are actually the same, it's just the actual location
of the perspective, because one is angled
and the other is not.
This one, however, also looks a little more vertical
because the proportions are just a little bit thinner
and the other one is a little bit wider.
But they're both intended to be a very prominent entry,
aquatics is in the same location, under this sloping roof,
and there are other support spaces in here.
So it's a little more, a stronger civic presence
on the street, on the curbside.
So let's see.
Let's go to the next slide.
Then the next image is similar to both.
It is, again, looking from the reception desk.
If you remember in the floor plan,
Jocelyn said the reception desk is kind of at the apex of either
you can go towards the community wing,
or you can stay and look to the aquatics classroom.
We're facing the main entry, which
is the drop-off on the east side of the building.
And it's a lot of glass.
And to the right is the aquatics classroom,
where we envision a large set of a wall
that folds away into that could open into the atrium.
And you can see through to the pool.
There's also the opportunity for the aquatics group
to have their own reception, or they could close it off
if they choose to just one day use just the separate entry,
but it has the flexibility of having both.
We think that's a good idea, and of course,
we'll get into the materials later,
but everything's really durable
and beautiful at the same time.
We have a view that we're studying of the aquatics wing,
and it's also similar for both schemes.
It's on the south side of the building,
so we want to be sure there's a lot of shade on this side.
There's what we've been calling sort of the alcove.
This is the classroom set back, again,
folding doors that open out onto this alcove,
which you could have a wonderful birthday party
that extends out to it.
So it's not conflicting with any activity
that might be happening on the deck itself,
And it's a little bit more dedicated and other spaces
that are equally connected to the deck.
The lakeside room, I mean, I love this image.
I think you can imagine yourself at this wonderful event.
It is the same square footage of the lakeside room
you have now.
It will seat 200 people.
This is the view at dusk out to the pond on the west side.
There will be, we haven't drawn it all exactly here,
but there will be sunscreens and shades and electronic window
shades that go up and down so that it controls the sun.
And there are also clear stories which are similar in the age
from which also bring a lot of light into the space.
I should also mention we have a big,
what's important is really indoor-outdoor spaces.
So a lot of these walls that face the patio
will open entirely to the patio.
Then the last image I have is the event garden,
which is where Jeff pointed out
where you could have your special event that's facing.
It's actually a new part of the pond, right, Jeff?
And this is the view of the lakeside room and its patio,
but then coming all the way out into the landscaped area.
And it's, again, similar for both schemes.
And with that, those are our pretty images.
So that concludes the presentation
of the schematic design presentation package.
And so now we're available to take your questions.
Do the commissioners have questions?
Go ahead.
Sure. I wanted to start with some questions about the community center part of the building.
One of the schematics showing the interior rooms. Yeah. So I see the red-coated lakeside
room and the multipurpose room.
I don't see any other programming-capable rooms.
Is that correct or am I misinterpreting the orange?
Right, so I'll clarify.
So there's the lakeside room here.
This is a multipurpose room that can be separate with operable partition and then there's this
multipurpose room as well.
So those are the three primary spaces.
There's this aquatic classroom that could be used for multi-use as well.
So those are the primary buildings for recreational programming.
The orange spaces are more like administrative type uses.
So in terms of the requirements for the building that were developed through the Joint Commission
work and everything else that went into that, stay close through the microphone.
Are we addressing all the programming needs identified for the community center with this
design?
Yes.
Okay.
Another question I'm going to keep going since I'm...
I do see the kitchen attached to the side of the lake side Lakeview room.
I wonder if there were an event in the multi-purpose room, separate room there, whether that kitchen
would be used for that or what would you do, what would, how that would work.
going into the staff kitchen in orange.
Yeah.
So are you asking about activities
that would occur at this multipurpose room down here?
Yeah.
I think given the current programming that
is in the community century, the idea
was that this multipurpose room would actually
take most of that secondary activity.
And if there was activity down here
that needed to be addressed, it would
need to circulate around in this manner.
So that would not be ideal.
to make them closer together would actually
make it tough to have this second spot for circulation,
which we were trying to have protected for events.
That's a good question.
I'd also just like to mention we do a lot
of community centers.
You can't have the kitchen near every single
multi-purpose room.
There might be a possibility for water and power
so that you could put something as a coffee pot
or some ability to do some simple thing.
Okay, yeah, the only reason I even addressed it
was because the only access to that kitchen
is through the large Lakeview room,
other than the back parking, back access parking, right?
We actually worked with staff and talked about,
should there be a separate entry?
And it seemed like this one worked pretty well
because you actually could use the kitchen
for the smaller, it actually serves both
small multi-purpose room and the and the lake side room and so if there should be a demonstration
of something you still have access to that smaller one okay um because i've been over to the pleasant
hill facility uh i have to ask this question because it was my biggest takeaway uh storage
storage storage i notice the storage here there's a storage room attached to the the large lake view
room and there's a storage room attached to the smaller multi-purpose.
Right. There's a very large one right next to the kitchen. This one is quite big. I can't see the
area on it. I think it's at least 500 square feet and every other multi-purpose room also has storage.
We agree with you. It must have enough storage so we're in the process of tallying exactly and we
they actually draw carts of furniture
that show how many tables you can fit in those areas.
Yeah, Pleasant Hills is a very good storage.
It's actually very impressive.
All right, yeah.
Okay, I wanna talk about roof, roof, roofs, roof, roofs.
Roofs.
Not sure which is which.
Anyway, on the A and B, on the A scheme,
you have some flat roofs.
And it's not clear to me when I look at that,
whether that multipurpose room that you can see
to the right of the Lakeview room has a high roof
for only part of it, or that's the entire room?
That is the entire room.
It is a pop-up roof, which will have some slope,
so it'll be more interesting in that multipurpose room.
So you won't really know.
It's a flat roof from this, if you're in the patio
on the west side of the building.
OK, then on the pool part of the building, the pool house,
it looks like in scheme A there's a flat part of it.
And then it slopes upwards towards the pool.
Is that correct?
They're both sloped.
There's ones a little more of a butterfly.
This one's a little bit more of a butterfly
because these planes are intended to undulate.
Scheme A is a little simpler.
So it does, it might be slightly flat and then slopes up.
Or else it's all adjusted.
Okay, I was just trying to understand that drawing
because it's a little tricky to figure it out.
Okay.
Yes, how you described it is exactly right.
For scheme A, there's the flat roof over the back half
of the aquatic swing and then it slopes up, that's right.
Okay.
And the other one is a butterfly.
Is a butterfly.
So the real question about roof lines for me is,
Is there a significant cost difference
between the two schemes on the roof treatment?
When you take both schemes
without separating out anything exactly,
they're similar enough to not distinguish them.
They're very close in cost.
I do think that the scheme B,
that roof is a little more complex,
so there probably would be some added premium
for this design.
and they're roughly the same in square footage.
Yes, they are.
Okay.
I think I'm down to a couple more questions.
I noticed shading, exterior shading,
you can see it there on the lakeside
part of the community center.
And then there is an L-shaped around part of the
corner of the pool house.
The materials for that?
We're studying while they're at right now.
We've got costed wood.
It'll be a natural material and some steel
if there's our longer spans.
But we're in the process of continuing
to study that for our next.
The only reason I bring it up was the stakeholder
and surveys and everything else.
I think wood came in number three in shading material,
but I could be wrong.
Do you recall that, Alice?
Yeah, we can.
Oh, okay.
Yes.
The shading structures essentially at this point
are still being designed, and so we chose a cost
that would allow us enough flexibility
to change this as we go forward.
Okay.
Yeah, we're seeing that the modern shade canopy
with umbrellas is number one.
It doesn't actually say what kind of structure that is,
but then wood and metal.
The combination of wood and metal is what we had focused on.
We know that, so we have mostly wood with some metal,
and then for our own due diligence,
we want to make sure that it will be durable,
especially at the pool deck portion,
which neither metal nor wood
is the number one for durability in that case.
So, because it's a little bit of a tough balancing act,
there'll be a future iteration
that we will bring before you
with a more specific material choice.
The reason I ask is, on the poolside,
there is a similar structure that bends around.
Is there much overhang of the roof from the building?
Yes, yes there is.
And it's specific to where there is a glass
so that it's providing self-shading.
And then in addition, there are trellises
so that it's not just the building that's shaded,
but also some of that outdoor circulation or patio spaces.
That's the goal.
OK.
One of our intents from a design point of view
is because the aquatic side has different requirements
in terms of materials because of its wet situation
and the community center is different.
We wanted to have some elements that really combine the two
wings together, so it didn't feel like, oh, this is that
and that's this.
And so the trellis will act as a little bit of the glue to help unify the two sides.
Okay.
All right.
Okay.
I think I'm done.
Thank you very much.
Remember?
Sure.
The lakeside room holds 200 approximately is what it's planned.
Yes.
And that's very similar to what the community center held before.
Yes.
given as to what the current market is for that in terms of what you know either
weddings or others are looking you know in terms of space and whether that's
right size or you know is 250 something that would have been considered or one
you know any variables how was that decided? The additional little
multi-purpose room adds about a thousand square feet and I'm just going to do the
of math in my head, I think we added another roundtables.
I was like, what's 20 square feet into 1,000?
It's about 50, maybe 50 more tables.
I'd have to, not tables, I'm sorry, people, yeah.
But I'd have to double check that for you.
It's another extra third.
Those sizes, so right now, it's about 30,
500 square feet, and I think if you add another thousand, it's 4,500.
At round tables, it's probably going to be between 250 and 300.
I could come back to you with that, but I think it adds a sizable number of tables.
But that's not looking right.
Oh, I see.
It's contiguous space.
If you open the operable partition, it becomes contiguous.
Yes.
Okay, that makes sense, great.
What is the square footage of the atrium?
And I understand about A and B is the same,
but give or take, I'm just curious.
Do you have, and Janine's looking for that number.
Okay.
Yeah, I don't know that we actually found that.
Okay, it's okay, I just, no, that's okay.
We can get that number to you.
Yeah, I was just curious.
Also, mention a portion of the pond will be filled in.
Yes, filled in.
What give or take percent?
About a third.
Oh, about a third, okay.
And it is the third that currently
is environmentally problematic,
which is part of the reasoning behind having it filled in.
What does that mean, environmentally problematic?
It's the end that collects all of it.
Yes, well, that was gonna be my concern.
I know I ride by there all the time.
Right, exactly.
I was going to comment on that saying, how is the flow going to be better because it
would trap everything in the corner there and that certainly wouldn't be pleasing.
There's a certain amount of debris that we'll still collect regardless, but because it won't
be around a corner like that, it would be far easier for it not to all have one point
that it wants to collect out like that.
Right.
Good.
Also, I know it varies because the shape of going to the pond, but the setback, the buildings
from the pond, what is that in terms of?
That's roughly, if you go back to the site plan.
I mean it looks significant.
It is, it's roughly half the width of the building.
So then that's 30, 40 feet plus.
The idea was to give you really ample outdoor spaces
so that you, and that's like actually from the pond edge
to the building so that you have
those really ample outdoor spaces at the pond itself.
Great, okay, okay, I think that's it for me.
Thank you, Fred.
I first had a few questions about the outdoor space.
First, looking at the terrace deck
and how it's sort of divided between the lakeside room
and the multipurpose room, if, let's say,
there was an event in the smaller multipurpose room
and those event people wanted to rent out that specific terrace,
what would be done to ensure that that portion
of the terrace is really private and sectioned off
for that event?
Because right now it just looks like there's one sort of
tree or shrubbery area separating it,
but the lawn space looks very open.
Could you describe that a little bit more?
Yeah, first so I make sure I know which space
you're referring to.
Are you referring to this multi-purpose room
or this one here?
The one where it's the lakeside room
and then the second multipurpose room for this one here.
No, the side one.
The larger room.
That one.
Thank you.
That's a really good question.
And you're right.
At this point, the graphic shows the patios are wider
than it goes to a narrower spot.
There's a tree there.
And then smaller sidewalks that go past it.
There's a couple of things we could do.
One is we could use the same kind of ornamental iron fence
that we're going to have around the perimeter of the terrace.
And that could be a sliding gate, so it's open or closed.
It wouldn't be private from the standpoint of sound
and visibility.
It would be more like, not that you would necessarily
have two major events, but if you
wanted to rent the smaller room, you
could rent just the smaller part of the terrace as well.
So I intended to sort of share that you can divide the spaces
up, not that you'd have two different groups competing
sort of at the same time.
You might not program it that way.
OK.
Thank you.
And then another question I had about the new lawn
and outdoor spaces is that, have there
been any considerations for additional amenities.
I know one trend that's very popular in apartment buildings
right now, particularly apartments
that have large rooftop spaces, is
to have these small little enclaves sectioned off
by hedges and sofa and other patio furniture
for barbecues and fire pits.
And then tenants can rent the specific little enclaves.
does this facility allow for anything like that?
Yeah, I think I know what you're talking about.
We would have to talk with the staff
about how they were intending to rent the space.
I don't know that we were thinking
that you would have events that were smaller
back on that terrace than somebody renting the room,
like renting just like a barbecue or something like that.
It's really designed to be more of an outdoor space
that's associated with the rooms inside,
kind of an indoor-outdoor relationship.
Not that you couldn't have tough weather,
couches and things that were out there very comfy
and sort of cozy, you could add something like that.
And then looking at particularly the internal view
of the community center, especially the slide
with the desk, not that one, it was within the atrium.
Yes, this slide.
It almost looks naturally like at a community center
where there's all sorts of amenities, including a gym.
I mean, I think this desk in particular
looks very much like a gym attendance desk.
And so I'm kind of wondering,
can that be incorporated into the community center
in any way because it would be very accessible,
especially for parents whose kids are in classes,
whether that be swim
or some of the other Heather Farm programming,
or can there be any outdoor gym equipment added
in the terrace areas?
Is your question, if additional programs
could be either more recreational, is that your question?
Or is that what you mean?
No, my question is, how can some kind of gym or fitness
facility be incorporated into this?
Well, we can't.
At this point, there's no room for a gymnasium.
It would be a completely different design.
Gymnasiums are much, much larger.
It's a minimum of probably 8,000 to 9,000 square feet.
Our lakeside room is like 3,500 to 4,000
with an additional multipurpose room.
So it would be a very different center.
It would be a completely different program.
That wasn't our task.
And it's also, I don't know, maybe, would you,
I don't know, Kevin, would you like to speak
to the program and what you have now?
For the record, Kevin,
Supreme Director of Arts and Recreation.
I guess one way to answer that question is
when we looked at the programming of this
back in the early phases,
we looked at what activities should take place here,
what activity should take place in other facilities the city has,
what activity should take place in the private or non-profit sector.
A gym was not identified here as part of this location.
We have the gym up at Tice Valley Park, which is not a traditional gymnasium per se,
but it is a gym, functions for basketball and other sports, and so the decision was made
at that point that it would be programmed similar to what we have today rather
than taking advantage of a new activity, so that's one.
Two, yes, Jan, that's right, to add a gym would be thousands and thousands of square feet,
And that's not what we envisioned here to compete in this sense with the private sector
gyms.
So, for those reasons, you're right, it could, it kind of looks like that.
We can look at how we design that desk.
But that's not, so for those three reasons, we determined that wasn't going to be a gym
here in this space.
Thank you.
And then my final question is relating to sustainability and environmental impact.
I read in the report before this meeting that it's going to be an all-electric facility
and there's going to be solar photovoltaic panels and whatnot and I think that's really great but
given how large scale this construction project is what's being done to mitigate the environmental
impacts and also make this building continue to be sustainable and further the city's environmental
goals like for example are there going to be any living walls or hanging gardens are you going to
have like electricity generating doorways is there gonna be anything of
that nature? So there's actually going to be a focus on the sustainability scope
of this project. There are some pieces we know that we mentioned but part of the
City Council presentation on February 20th that's currently under discussion
and we are focusing on some of the items that we know will do the most good with
for the most bang for the buck as you said that's the one that's the one the
Parts were more certain of the fact
that there would be renewable energy
and clean energy within the building.
There are a lot of other features, though,
that we are, that are baked in, for instance,
in this view you can see that we're trying
to preference natural day lighting
over, you know, generated electricity.
There'll be a lot of low water landscaping
that's more native to the environment,
and then collection of rainwater within the site
used for irrigation of those areas, essentially
self-irrigation.
And so we've made a lot of good initial choices
based on what we know has to occur,
and then there will be further discussion about other ideas.
So please stay tuned to how that goes down on February 20th.
I actually wanted to add about gym facilities.
The multipurpose rooms really are meant to be multipurpose.
They're not just meant for holding classes.
So there could be movement classes
in those multipurpose rooms to speak to what you're speaking
about for activity for families.
Thank you.
Yes, outdoor gym kinds of equipment can be brought in.
That's an easy ad.
And then I just wanted to follow up
about the thing you discussed about natural light,
especially going back to how there's going to be overhangs.
How harsh will the glare from the sun be?
And will that be really disruptive to the people
inside, for example?
Could the windows have some sort of UV protection
to make sure that activities in the community center
aren't being disrupted by that,
but they can still benefit from the natural light?
Yeah, that's something that will
absolutely balance and study.
So working with our mechanical electrical plumbing engineer,
we'll study that.
We know that the exposure,
especially as reflected off the pond light,
is a problem currently.
And so it'll really be a combination of solutions
about more permanent shade screens,
but then more operable shade screens
to aid during the times of day when the sun angle is a problem,
so that when the sun is something that is useful
and not full of glare, it can be used
instead of artificial lighting.
But when it becomes a problem, it can be mitigated.
You can see we've got the beginning
of a design of a sun screening system on that west facade
that's meant to allow the beneficial light in
and keep the glaring light out.
There's actually ways to study that,
which our team is capable of doing,
so that we make sure the contrast between that light
is not so great that you have an uncomfortability
from having the exposure.
So yes, we're definitely paying attention to that
so that we can use as much as possible,
but that it's comfortable.
Okay, thank you.
Mm-hmm.
And then I have a few questions as well.
Yes.
First of all, I was wondering if you could just,
probably Janine, tell us a little bit
about the CEQA process.
How's that going?
Kevin, someone?
Good evening, Steve Wehmeyer.
as a public works director.
We're in the final stages of the CEQA process.
And because we're replacing an existing facility,
the CEQA issues aren't that major.
There's a Western pond turtle that we already
knew about that we're going to have to take care of.
But other than that, besides the construction noise and dust,
it looks so far that it's going to be a mitigated negative deck
on the project.
OK.
OK.
Yeah.
Thank you.
And then at some point, it was decided
that it would be one story.
Is that, because it's currently one story,
is it a view issue?
Do you know?
That was largely due to the cost benefit ratio
of an elevator.
The cost of it versus what you would gain.
And it's not that feasible to add one
for how much you would gain for it.
Especially when you add, there was a lot of thought
about what exactly goes on that second floor,
what's below it, can you actually attenuate the noise
between the two uses in a way that will make that
really functional to have two simultaneous programs
stacked on top of each other?
And the answer was that would also be very tough
and costly, so all directions pointed towards one.
One other factor is just in terms of staffing.
It's just more staffing.
If you have two stories,
you have to supervise a second level.
And it's just, if you can make everything work on one floor,
it's both economic and from operations
and from construction cost.
I'll just add that one of the thoughts was to, you know,
if we could have the lakeside room on an upper storey,
you might get better views of, say, Mount Diablo.
But then there was kind of that accessibility issue
and not having that sort of convenience and access
directly from the lakeside room to the outdoor terraces.
OK.
And then we're talking about light
and the different roof lines.
And I'm wondering, is there a difference
in the amount of light?
It looks like maybe one bank of windows
is covered by the second roofline.
And I'm not sure that's true, but.
Not exactly.
They've been maximized in both schemes,
if you want to go to the, thank you.
It's true that the atrium would have slightly different light
in this case, but it actually reaches out
from the other side differently.
So there is still light from two directions.
We're always trying to get that two-direction light
so that it can be as evenly lit from the daylight as possible.
OK.
Good.
And then in terms of the parking,
I know there's the three existing lots,
it seems like there might be a lot of new parking
in the baseball lot,
which is directly across from the complex.
And is there any thought of a pedestrian bridge
or do you think it's not worth it?
All three of us meant to mention and fail to that,
that the drop off and impacts to parking
is actually currently under study.
And we will have a more fully developed design
to bring to you next time we speak with you.
So stay posted.
We know that this is a concern, and we're
trying to integrate it as seamlessly as possible.
But I'll just add that we're really not
considering a bridge.
It's just too much money, and it takes us out of scope.
OK.
Any other questions, or can we move to public comment?
Are there any members of the public
wish to comment. Hi there. Audrey G. I live and work in Walnut Creek. I'm a longtime resident.
I'm current chair of the Walnut Creek Chamber, former president of the Contra Costa Bar Association.
Thank you everyone for all the work that you've done here. I think it's wonderful that we're
doing this. Just a couple of quick observations. I believe in terms of scheme A, you have all
the wonderful transom windows that when you have on scheme B, there's that roof which
kind of covers it up, so it does seem like you're losing a lot of that natural light
and that airiness.
And so for that reason, I would like, I seem to like exhibit A better.
And then also with regards to where the kitchen is placed, you could actually have all these
wonderful views when you first walk into the lakeside room of where the creek is, right?
And you could look at, but instead you have a wall of where the kitchen is.
You could flip where the kitchen is currently right now,
and you could have a whole outdoor space there.
And you could flip it to the other side.
So that's a possibility.
I'd also like to point out that there's,
in terms of sustainability, it would be great
if we did put more shade in there,
and if we could have solar panels on those shades.
With respect to the overall layout of the entire design,
the current programming, from what I'm understanding,
with Masters and all these other different uses in Synchro,
under the three pools, it's completely maxed out,
and what I would suggest is where that current rec pool is,
is maybe we could move it a little bit
so that there could be an L shape on the big competition pool
so that you could actually have more space,
and I know you're gonna be talking about water
later on next month, but it's just something to think about
in terms of location, because under the current max,
water polo doesn't even get a chance to get in there,
And so, it'd be great if we could actually have more sports
because sports tourism is so important to our economy.
And we would like to see that happen.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Any other members of the public wish to speak?
And can you make sure to fill out a card for us?
Thank you.
Okay. So, now, we will take Commissioner's comments
and input on the material presented by staff.
You're not limited to two minutes.
OK, here we go.
Oh, I just want to make sure my comments are
within the scope of desired comments.
Here, let me pull up a slide.
I have a slide for that.
Let's see.
We're basically asking for comments
on the different elements, shown here,
building entries and approach,
the lakeside room and event garden,
and the design of the outdoor spaces,
and how those elements work
in each of the two different schemes,
scheme A and scheme B.
Under building entries and approach,
I notice there are no flag poles.
We need flag poles with flags on them.
I know that doesn't look great in architectural drawings,
but it looks fine.
I think the approach of either scheme A or scheme B
are outstanding, they look fantastic.
It really invites you into the building.
And whether you come in on the front of the building
or the lake side of the building,
I think because of the atrium,
that's a very welcoming approach as well.
So I'm very pleased with the way that looks.
And I think it works.
I think they work for either scheme A or B.
Lakeside Room and Event Garden,
I think you've done a great job with,
I really like the way the gardens are around and enhance the interior space very nicely.
The patios and the gardens around them I think are going to be very important and I think
you've done a great way of presenting it so far the way it looks now.
So no real comments there.
On the design of the outdoor spaces, I'm going to take that literally, anything exterior
of the building, although I'm going to have to slip in.
Well, let me ask a question.
If I want to talk about an interior arrangement, particularly in the pool house, is that tonight
or February?
Tonight?
Okay.
So let me, let me talk about that.
I was a little confused when I first started looking at the pool entrance.
It looks like a kind of a very small, you know, you're in and you're out.
And there's really only one way to go.
You're, you know, it'd be helpful to look at the, yeah.
So, the white space in the corner of the building, the pool entrance, you're in and you're out
and you're immediately on the deck.
Most people that are going to walk through that door are going to go to the pool as swimmers.
And while there is little to like about the current pool room in our Clark Swim Center,
at least you're going to go immediately to the dressing rooms and then you're going to
be out on the pool deck.
And I recognize that not everybody should have to walk through the dressing room like
they do now, except when their swim meets.
So I see that as solving one problem, but creating a new problem, and that is the circuitous
route to the dressing rooms.
While I'd like to preserve some visibility from the building into the pool, from the
atrium to the pool, through that structured classroom, the font is very small, and then
this I value the flow better when and I'm not going to suggest how to do it but I
think that when you enter the pool your biggest choice should be male or female
not where I'm on the deck where's that where's the dressing room yeah to
provide a little background that you see that's a pretty large width between
where the aquatic facility is and then where the lawn happens. That's partly in
mind of large swim events that instead of actually having to enter through the
building there's a rolling gate that allows that whole thing to become an
entry. That could even occur during you know a larger class event. To achieve
that it also means having the offices in a way that they can actually supervise
the pools so that there's a little bit of an either-or. Either you have the
changing rooms convenient so then you preference the users who are
immediately there upon entry, or you have staff being able to
supervise the pools. And from a safety perspective, the second
one took precedence for us at the moment. But I think that's
an important thing for us to remember is moving forward, if
there's a way to achieve something different, let's
remember that your point is well taken.
Yeah, I recognize you need to, you need to have that from a
security position. I mean, pools are required to have fences
around them and everything else for good reason. But special
events you know I know that we can we have some different things that apply
but but it really I think there's two reasons why I bring this up one is that
when you go to the pool you want to immediately go to your changing room
the other thing is once you come out of your changing room you want to be right
at the pool and especially young kids that are coming out of that coming off
the beach. They're gonna want to go you know right to a shower and sit there
under the hot water for 20 minutes no matter what the temperature is and they
got to go find that place and it's not easy you know where it is now. So I'd
really like to see an alternative to the arrangement and see if there are ways
to achieve everything that we need to achieve in the way of site security,
access, everything else. You know, I think that was my biggest thing I noticed. And
the other the other thing about the pool building shade, overhang, roof, all those
questions were designed to think what accommodations you have made
for a typical swimmer that comes there, and there are two scenarios. One, it's hot
and it's sunny, and two, it's cold and it's rainy. That's why overhangs are very
important, but the other thing that's necessary right under that overhang, and
it would spoil the beautiful windows that you have, are benches where
everybody throws their bag. And we absolutely know that's gonna happen. No
matter what what part of aquatics they're in they they come to the cool
pool deck with a bag and they're gonna drop it there somewhere there's actually
as part of the next phase where we're gonna try to study like not just one but
all the different pool user types where they'll want to stash their stuff there's
the competitive swimmers versus the family groups etc sure they will want
they will each have unique needs they do have they do have different needs so
So that's important.
Trying to keep it as high level as possible but sometimes I dip down.
Okay.
I noticed on one of the pictures windows on the edge of the building where the women's
changing room is.
Not a great idea.
I don't know.
I know their curtains drawn and the windows but it doesn't make any sense.
That's actually the swim team office, that area.
Okay.
No, it's very small.
Okay.
Maybe that's what I, maybe that's my nice.
It's the letter blue corner.
Okay.
A subtlety that went.
Sorry.
That I missed.
Okay.
That would be a horrible idea.
Okay.
Two more comments.
One is in terms of the roof lines, I wish that we could have the roof lines of scheme
B with the structure of scheme A.
So do we.
Because I like the bent building because I think it points the buildings in the right
direction in both cases that I mean the bit that the ends of the building or
whatever I think that is a good thing I don't mind scheme a roofline but it's
certainly more of a signature look to in scheme B so that would be really cool
and it and I would even reflect the the beauty of the mountain that we're
looking at. Okay my final comment is a big plus to the new shape of the pond
which I think looks exactly like a guitar body. Thank you very much. Thank you.
Yeah first I'd like to say I think that the designs are terrific and when I was
looking at plan A and B it was kind of like going up optometrists and looking
you know picking chart A or B. We didn't have a C but I was going back and forth
because I had a look at the salties of it but both are terrific and
Commissioner Oler brings up some terrific points around certainly the
aesthetic of B and kind of the sloping and makes it very unique in which I hadn't
really considered. Regarding the central atrium now I love that it has the wow
factor, right? You walk in, there's lots of light, lots of air, lots of space, which
we want. What I find, though, with atriums in general in places, they're
often underutilized. So the only thing I would caution is that we just don't want it
to be a walk-through space. We would like it to see it actually utilized, right? And
I think got the right idea about, you know, having it is because I know that,
and hopefully there will be allowance where swimmers, particularly their parents
and others or whatever's going on, people can sit in there.
Like you mentioned about cold or hot days.
People have a place to go because as a parent of an aqua nut,
I spent many hours sitting in my car, you know,
because my child is freezing, well, she wasn't freezing.
I was freezing, but I know where to go, you know.
And so it would be great to see that actually utilized.
I would make one suggestion around that too is consider,
Another under utilized thing in combined spaces are these community reception desks.
In my experience, 90% of the time, they're empty.
And so, I know it looks good on paper to do that.
But when, for example, Commissioner Oler was bringing about storage space and other things,
you know, when you have these kinds of things, it takes away
where that that space could be used or added on to what was other space you
know could be utilized for storage or an expansion of the staff kitchen or it
could be a merely a minor alcove you know that has where someone could sit
but I would take consideration that it's highly likely there's gonna be a
full-time staff person sitting there it could be for special events but again
depending on how that's handled it just may be wasted space thank you that's a
We'll take it.
We actually were conferring with ourself
about the atrium size.
We think it's about 2,000 square feet.
And actually, I think maybe Janet,
you want to talk about how that atrium's used,
because she's got some good experience.
So we took everyone to the Los Altos Community Center, which
has a very similar sized.
It's not called the atrium, but it really
acts as a community living room.
And part of the reason why we actually
started with that rectilinear plan,
and then we tweaked it, because we
wanted that space to feel more interesting,
So there were parts of it that could tuck a little seating
arrangement.
You could have a community table.
And actually, in Morgan Hill, we have another community living
room.
And those spaces are used for informal gatherings.
People meet there.
You can actually program the space.
We've talked to staff.
And then, yes, they can program it.
If you open the doors of the window
wall of the aquatic event room, that
becomes an extension of that room.
So it is not, our intention is definitely not underutilized,
it is to be an active, informal gathering place,
or you could actually program it if it works out
from a scheduling point of view.
But totally understand, it's a lot of space,
so it needs to be well used.
Yeah, because since we don't have the vertical space,
again, that's just for aesthetic.
We're not, you know, it's not gonna be too,
so it's, and essentially it's space that,
it's certainly not gonna generate revenue by itself,
So it's good, at least, to utilize it in a way
that people will take advantage of.
There might be chances for revenue
if you have a fancy reception in the area.
And you close it, and you can use it.
And similarly, we're calling it, it's
not just circulation space in Scheme A next to the Lakeside
Room and the Little Multipurpose, it's really breakout space.
So if you have a small conferencing,
people break out into that.
It's usable space.
I also wanted just to mention about the community, what's called community, but the reception
desk, it only needs to be as big as it needs to be, so if it doesn't, if staff feels only
one person is there, but it does act as an orientation for someone and the idea of welcoming.
Someone needs to know where it is, so it's a little bit of a place where information
could be given to people who are who are new to your center.
And that's assuming there's a staff person to be there during the I don't know what the
current setup is that something that is there someone who's there to provide it at Heather
Farm we have someone during the day there all the time in the evenings when we just
have a rental space we won't have the front desk staff but we'll have another staff member
They're a facility attendant there, so we anticipate generally having a staff member there
at all times we're open because they not just serve from a public facing walk-in.
They're also on the phones taking our customer service calls, so the size may be different,
but I expect at least one person there at all times.
Okay. I would like to add Commissioner Oler's comment regarding flag poles.
Next to the flagpoles, I'd like to see bike racks.
Yeah.
Under the design of the outdoor spaces, and I don't think this, and I think this should
be put in the design, but regarding where the vegetation comes up to the pond or the
path proposed in front of the pond, there needs to be permanent fencing, permanent,
not temporary as there is now around the pond at different times because of the geese.
The geese, as we know, have ruined much of the park area,
have made it unusable, unattractive.
And the best way to keep that is to have not temporary,
but an aesthetic, permanent low fencing
around the entire area of the walkway,
everything to keep those geese from utilizing that space,
because it will become unusable.
One knock towards the geese.
Oh, please.
Yes, as far as the geese and the fencing, what we could do is we have a fence at the
top of the slope because we thought we needed to control it in terms of like alcohol for
events.
We could put that fence at the bottom of the slope which would take care of the geese and
the control.
Staff and the project team couldn't agree more.
Geese are a problem.
And so I think I'm going to ask that question back to the commissioners.
Is this something that you all, even though from an environmental standpoint, from an
Audubon standpoint, geese are important,
but do you all agree we should be addressing this
because staff agrees when geese access certain areas,
it does make it unusable and unhealthy.
So if that's something you all agree,
we will definitely focus on that
because if we can find a solution to that from day one,
it's a whole lot better than trying to fix it afterwards.
Yeah, and as opposed to a temporary solution
or temporary fencing,
this is gonna be these beautiful property,
beautiful landscaping.
Now it's something with a little more permanent aesthetic.
Okay, that's helpful.
Yeah, I'll leave it on that one.
I'm done, thanks.
Commissioner Meyer.
Would you mind returning to the slide
with the scope for comments?
In terms of the building approach,
I really like the modern look.
I think it's really great to have the full length windows.
I think it's really great to have a seamless transition
between the indoor and outdoor spaces.
A lot of vacation homes and properties
use the concepts of sliding doors, pocket doors, and whatnot.
And so I really like to see that in use here.
Again, one thing in terms of an overall approach
I'd like to see more of is a sustainability focus.
I've seen very similar buildings actually
to what are in the renderings here.
Properties such as Airbnb's and vacation homes
that look like this, but are actually
made of used shipping containers.
So if anything like that, recycled materials and whatnot
can be used and incorporated in this, I'd love to see that.
In terms of the building entry itself,
I do think from an aesthetic standpoint
that the option A looks better,
but I do like the roofing of option B.
However, one thing I noticed on the option B design
was that the Walnut Creek logo is kind of obscured
behind some posts, and it's pretty small,
whereas it's very prominent on the option A entry option.
So if there's a way to make it more prominent for design B,
that would be great.
And then I'm not sure how this is being accounted for already,
because we didn't go over it a whole lot,
but I also want to make sure all the entries are very
accessible, especially to wheelchairs and people
with disabilities.
In terms of the lakeside room itself, I like how it's divided between the lakeside room
and the multipurpose room, or one of the multipurpose rooms, so that there's an option to expand
the space.
And again, I like how it has a seamless transition to the terrace and the outdoor space.
In terms of the event garden, I'd like to see more of an option to be able to partition
that off into smaller spaces as I discussed earlier whether that be barbecues or fire pits
or even just smaller family picnic areas because I think this will be a very new and enticing space
and especially if it's free from the geese compared to other parts of the park I think
people will want to enjoy that space. And then in terms of the overall design of the outdoor spaces
I think it looks good. I I think the fencing is a great idea, but I don't want it to interfere
with any of the aesthetic parts of the facility. And that's it. Okay. So, like Commissioner Aller
mentioned, I also like the plan B roofline, but the, you know, I like the building plan of a
and is there is it possible to do that to combine those two okay it seemed like
it would be it was just maybe offset a little bit but yeah okay good so also
picking up yes for the record yes okay also picking up on what Commissioner
Meyer was talking about sustainability there's a lot of lawn out there and I'm
curious whether what the lawn is meant to be now there's there's actually a lot
green. Do you want to talk about what the green means? There's actually only a
limited amount of lawn for obvious reasons because this might be the only
real lawn actually. Notwithstanding that we're not talking about the pool area
and there is some green in there. We are just trying to show actual grass where
where you would set up tables, chairs for events.
You know, so it's actually usable, flexible.
There's no doubt there would be times
when there's grass there and it's Tuesday afternoon
and nothing's happening, although maybe
if the fences are open, you know, gates are open
with a sign that says no geese,
maybe people could go in there and use the grass.
But, and we didn't talk about it,
Suppose you could consider synthetic like that gets really hot I
Mean there certainly are a lot of species now that are better
conserving and are more ground cover than lawn per se and you know, whatever I'm just curious if you've thought that far we do need to
Study it a little more carefully as we move forward to only put it where we really need it
You know not have any kind of small areas that that are too small to use as lawn
Yeah, okay, I just hopefully that's just kept in the forefront of thinking as we go forward
And I do like the fact that you're doing the capture of the rainwater
I think that's a excellent concept
Yeah, I guess what I meant was on this site plan
We came back to that
There we go
That but you know this looks like an awful lot of lawn or this even could look like there's a lawn
Like like the areas that are just to the south of the event garden. I'm gonna use the mouse
to try to get focus right here.
That's actually not a lawn.
That would be native,
it's actually a really lovely design they've got going
where there's a bylas well down there.
So plants that are able to handle seasonal
wetness differences, things like that, not a lawn.
Okay, good.
Really only that one rendering where the event garden is.
And then I'm sorry, I had a quick answer
to Commissioner Meyer.
Absolutely all of the entrances will be 100% accessible.
Definitely.
I think this image also shows some of that landscaping that Jocelyn was just referring
to.
It's true that that even front portion maybe looks like lawn, but I'm not even sure that
would truthfully be lawn.
There are a limited number of plants in this rendering program.
Apologies.
This is a shuttle race.
The area that bulbs out towards the pond on either side of the walkway, there was a discussion
that having, notwithstanding the geese, because geese would definitely go there, as we're
talking about it now, the initial discussion was that that would be a place people could
sit and be real close to the pond and kind of hang out by the pond, but it would definitely
have geese on it.
They would own it, yeah.
Okay, and then there was some talk about, or at least more in the background and development
of noise issues.
And so I'm wondering if you could maybe just more,
I should have asked this during questions,
but kind of point out,
I know the pools seem to be made put distant
from like where you might have a wedding reception,
but is that the only noise attenuation feature
is the location of the pools at the far end,
or are there other considerations as well?
No, there's a screening berm
that we can talk about more
when we talk about the pool deck design.
it's right here that's meant to have the pools be more separated from this end of the park.
And we're using the building itself to try to mitigate some of that noise from the pools
towards this quieter end of the park. There's even, in the current design, there's even,
Jeffy called it, there's some fencing along this edge to try to have some visual and sound
attenuation between this facility and the creek. Have, try to put it as much as we can.
I think there's also discussion within our avian acoustics design about how to point
the speakers in intelligent places more down, less out in general, both at the pool deck
and at the event garden to make sure that we're trying to keep the sound as contained
within the site as possible.
Great.
Thank you.
And I don't think I have anything else at this point.
So thank you very much.
Is there any other comments?
or Myra.
There is one more thing I wanted to mention about the atrium.
I think it would be really valuable to make sure
that it's utilized properly to have
a variety of different spaces.
Maybe that includes utilizing the beams
to include swing seating for children,
and then having your typical run-of-the-mill lobby seating,
but then also potentially having work or study areas.
I really like how in WeWork facilities,
They have very flexible glass working areas.
They have conference rooms that can be easily expanded,
but also easily divided up
to be individualized study in workplaces.
And that's something I'd love to see as part of the atrium.
Yeah, that's a comment well taken.
I would just look briefly at something that was
maybe a little hard to see on the plan at this scale,
but we've got, it's actually on the plan.
It's not shown in this view.
When you go around the hallway from the atrium,
There are exactly what you're talking about
that you can see it in the building plan.
There you go.
There are actually like a version that has banquets
and a version that has built-in booths
that is exactly what you're talking about.
It's a place where you can touch down with your computer,
have a place to plug in, do some,
essentially what you would do kind of at a library.
We have a study session, a station, et cetera,
for people who are waiting for their kids
to finish their practice.
Well, thank you all very much.
Did you get what you needed?
I have one final slide to present the next steps.
So we'll be presenting the similar presentation to the Design Review Commission next week,
January 17th, and then again to the Youth Commission on February 1st.
And then we'll come back to you on February 5th to focus on the aquatics portion of the
facility.
We'll then synthesize all of that feedback and take it to council.
For council we'll do two meetings similar as we've done with you, first focusing on
the building site plan, and then secondly coming back with the aquatics portion.
We'll also as Jocelyn mentioned, be looking at some of the sustainability or levels of
sustainability, we're targeting that February 20th meeting to review that with City Council.
And then we're going to go back to work, do some more design development, preparing the
landscape plan, the color and materials palette, and then we'll go through the same outreach
process again, where we go to stakeholders for feedback, then the commissions and then
lastly the council and that's all targeted for the spring. So thank you very much.
That concludes our presentation. Thank you. Since this is a special meeting,
there's no reports so we will move to adjournment. This concludes the January 9,
2024 Pro's Commission Special Meeting. We are adjourned to the February 5, 2024 scheduled meeting.