Good evening. Welcome to the April 7th 2025 pros Commission meeting. I am the vice chair at the moment, and I'll with that because Brendan is not here account Commissioner Moran is not here, and I'll pass over to you Mike.
Yeah, so I'm gonna start with the roll call.
Commissioner Colson.
I apologize. Commissioner Pinkstaff here. Commissioner Oler here. Commissioner or sorry
vice chair I'm getting mixed up here so yeah vice chair Cook here and Commissioner Garland
here. Thank you let it be noted everybody is here except for chair Moran. Well our first
order of business is if you'll hang in there with us for a minute is the election the new
election of the new chair and vice chair. Being the acting chair, I am in
need of someone to nominate somebody for the permanent new chair. I nominate
Jason Cook, the current vice chair, to be the chair for the next year. I second that
nomination great I'll take roll commissioner constant just thumbs up is
good Commissioner Pinkstaff yes Commissioner Garland yes
Commissioner Olin yes and vice chair soon to be chair commissioner cook yes
let it be noted and Commissioner Moran is not present here tonight and with
that we will move to our vice chair for the upcoming year and I nominate
Commissioner Pinkstaff. Do I have a second? I'll second. Excellent I'll call roll
call. Commissioner Constan? Yes. Commissioner Oler? Yes. Commissioner Garland?
yes chair cook yes and newly new vice chair pink staff yes and let it be noted
that Commissioner Moran is not here thank you all right the fanfare is over
onto public should we change chairs sir Mike or is there an official now it's
official. Okay this public communications this portion of the meeting is reserved
for comment on items not on the agenda under the Brown Act the Commission
cannot act on items raised during public communications but may respond briefly
to statements made or questions posed request clarification or refer the item
to staff. Does any member of the public wish to speak on any item not on the
agenda at this time I will ask the secretary if there are any members of
the public who would like to provide comments I do see we have one comment
card here tonight from Barbara Guinness my name is Barbara Guinness I've been a
resident of Walnut Creek since 1996 we all know the open space staff completes
many tasks within our open spaces that are positives and and we thank them for
that and we know that city staff holds in high esteem the 2020 trail committee
document however did you know that city staff does a lot of picking and choosing
from that document selecting some items they find important did you know that
throughout the document it states the value of community input and outreach
however did you know the community is shut out of information regarding open
and space plans?
Did you know that throughout the document,
there are statements regarding the importance
of enforcement of the rules of municipal codes?
Did you know the trail committee documents
states importance of rangers ability to issue citations?
However, did you know in the August 2023 pros meeting,
they stated city staff stated
they will not be doing enforcement.
Did you know the trail document lists a recommendation
to develop and implement a volunteer patrol program.
However, when you ask about that, questions are ignored.
Did you know the trail committee stated
it would add educational and informational material
to the open space kiosk?
However, did you know that city staff was offered
volunteer kiosk maintenance assistance
by a trusted nonprofit group?
But the city staff decided that wasn't a good idea.
As pros commissioners, you're all aware of your role
Per the city code you're to advise review and make recommendations to City Council
So why is city staff allowed to pick and choose what they want to implement in our open spaces without serious?
consideration of Commissioner or citizen comments
Thank you for serving on that pros Commission and for all you do for the open spaces
Thank you very much
Are there any members other members of the public who wish to speak tonight?
On items not on the agenda
Okay, with that we move on to the next agenda item, which is the consent calendar.
Do any commissioners have questions on the consent calendar items?
If no questions, then we will move on to public comment.
And does any member of the public wish to provide public comment on the consent calendar
item?
Vickers are there any members of the public who wish to provide comments I'm
not seeing any and we've not received any speaker cards okay with that we will
move on or okay Commissioner comments if there are no commissioner questions or
comments on the consent item we'll ask for a secretary roll call yes we need a
motion I move we approve the consent calendar items approval of the minutes
of the pros commission meeting on February 3rd and acceptance
of the facility rentals.
Any report?
Second.
I second.
Thank you.
I'll call roll.
Commissioner Costin.
Yes.
Vice Chair Pinkstaff.
Yes.
Commissioner Garland.
Yes.
Commissioner Oehler.
Yes.
And Chair Cook.
Yes.
Motion passes unanimously.
Next on the agenda is an item for commission consideration the pros commission staff report
Regarding the open space annual we debatement program
So I'm gonna be providing that presentation. I'm actually gonna do from the podium so I'm not turning and looking at you
I can stay and face you in the screen. So I'm gonna step up top up front
So good evening for the for the record. My name is Mike Vickers
I'm the assistant public works director for the city of Walnut Creek
and I think most of you remember back in I think it was the December meeting I
had reached out as part of the staff update I had reached out and said that
there were a number of items that we were going to be considering for this
upcoming calendar year it was the the stream not the stream bed the Creek
master plan we talked about that briefly and also updating the parks 2026 plan I
I didn't get an opportunity to provide those because I thought that this was more timely
for this meeting and some of these other topics that are going to come up in the second half
of the meeting.
As you can imagine, with the fires that Northern California has experienced over the last six
or seven, eight years, coupled with the fire that we just went through or just was completed
down in Los Angeles, we're getting a ton of questions, a lot of feedback, not only about
urban forest and people's trees that are on their property. The fact that they're
losing their insurance, some of these people are, but also how we are going
about protecting the open space and the surrounding properties around the open
space. I think most of you know that the vast majority of our open space is
backed up too. We share a property line with a lot of residential properties so
I'm going to share with you an annual weed abatement program that we go
through along with some changes that we make depending on the year and the type
of weather that we receive. So we'll talk about fuel load grazing and then get
more into detail with our fire break. So our vegetation management plan really
starts with our fire protection and you can see from the slide here we've about
78 miles of fire breaks that are conducted in the open space every year
and those are done really in three different methods whether it's through
We're disking, string trimming, you talk about string trimming, I'm talking about running
a weed eater, and then our mechanical mowing equipment.
And then we've really expanded our grazing program over the last number of years, and
then we're going to talk a little bit at the end here about our fuel reduction project,
which is new this year, based on a proclamation that the governor put out back on March 1st.
So disking, we have, will that come up Orlando if I click on it?
So we have about, what about 18 miles of disking?
The county requires firebreaks to be no less than 30 feet.
As you'll see here in this image, we do somewhere between, well it says 30, we don't do anything
at 30 feet.
a minimum of 40 feet to 70 feet in some areas,
depending on the particular area,
and depending on the weather we get that year.
Some drought years, the vegetation doesn't get as high
and doesn't require a 70 foot break.
So it just really depends on the area
and the weather that we're getting.
And I'll show you some examples.
Okay, I can go here.
So I'm trying to get really fancy today
and moving into some Google Earth images
to show you folks exactly what takes place.
So this is YVR, this pathway here is for the upper tunnel,
the concrete tunnel.
And you can see these disc lines vary in width
right through this area, they're all about 70 feet.
I don't know how many of you remember,
but back in 17 or 18, we had a really serious fire
that started in this location that burned about 600 acres,
very close to some fences and property lines and the following year we
had the same fire we had the fire start in the same location and due to the fire
due to the year prior we doubled the size of the disc line and the fire
marshal was adamant that it was the width of that disc line the second year
around is what stopped that fire we could have been in even worse danger
the second year around because the wind so we're always looking I say always I
all of us, Corey Frazier and the Ranger staff are always looking to update how we go about
our weed abatement program in a number of areas.
So moving on, this is a pretty large community, about 210 homes, the Rancho Paraiso community.
Just to give you an idea, there are areas over here where we have to disc.
These are disc lines and then in between the disc line we have a V-ditch and then we have
some additional property that run along the back of their fence line.
So not only are we discing in these locations but we're also running our string trimmers
and periodically our mowers in some of these areas if they're large enough.
Just to give you a better look.
So this is another disc line here from here to this location is easily 70 feet, sometimes
is 80 feet, and then we have a fire road up here
that gets to be about 30 feet in width.
So to support the disc line.
Give you another example of what's going on
over in Shell Ridge.
So for those of you who are aware,
this is the Marshall entrance here.
This is Indian Valley School.
You can see these disc lines are really quite large
down through here.
This wraps around if you fall along the property lines,
takes you much closer to the lake,
to Lakewood back in this location.
And there's, it's mostly disking back here.
There are areas that we have to mow and string trim,
but the vast majority of this is disking.
Every once in a while there'll be a break
because there'll be a rock outcropping
or something along those lines.
And we'll have to get in there and do more of it by hand.
I'm trying to find the light.
There's the light just to give you an idea where we're at.
OK, so that's generally what we're doing with disking
in terms of, let me get this back to.
So like I said, the hand abatement,
it's oftentimes the slopes are too steep for equipment.
There's v-ditches in the way, or there's
rock-o-cropping, something along those lines
that forces us into weed abatement.
And we don't do anything less than 40 feet,
as I mentioned earlier, and this is not a fun task.
We contract some of it out because we do have 11 miles
of 40 foot or wider, which takes a considerable amount
of time.
We also string trim all of the single track trails,
which was about 13 miles, and you prune one side
and you prune back the other side.
So it's approximately 25 miles of single track trails
what we're weed eating.
We have some mowers, we have a smaller mower than this one
to get in some other areas.
Depending on the location of the fire road,
we try to get our fire breaks up to about 30 feet.
And they are often, as you know,
running through the middle of the park.
We do about 60 miles of mechanical mowing
and string trimming in total.
I've given a number of updates over the years
about our grazing program.
Back in 2015 or 16, we started adding more troughs
in the open space with the help and support
from the Conservation District, also some federal funding.
And so we have a pretty robust program.
It's changed a little bit in the last couple years.
We used to do what's called rotational grazing.
Actually, we always did the traditional grazing.
Then we moved into rotational grazing
because of the feedback we were getting from the community
about the cattle pockmarking some of the trails
and making it uncomfortable to walk on.
And in some cases, you just couldn't get out there
because the soils were too wet and the cattle were just
leaving too many impressions.
And so we moved towards rotational grazing.
In order to rotational graze, you have to have a water source.
And so we started putting these troughs in different locations
in order to build these pastures.
And it's easier to control where you're grazing
and where you're not.
Some of these areas, based on the direction of sunlight,
might get more vegetation than another,
and so we can move the cattle around.
The problem we've had over the last couple years is vandalism.
whether it's hikers or bikers or walkers,
people going by with knives and cutting the electric fence,
leaves a gap in the fence, which obviously leaves
an opportunity for the cattle to get outside the grazed areas.
We have to call the rancher.
Ranchers don't typically live here locally.
The ranchers have to come out, either bring their horses out,
whether it's horseback or whether it's on a four-wheeler,
get the cattle back into the pasture in which they
originally in, fix the fence, go away. The next day the same thing happens. And so
we've moved away from, I say we moved away, the rancher has moved away and is
no longer providing the service. In fact we can't find a rancher to provide
rotational grazing service anymore. East Bay Regionals have been the same
problem. And so we're back to the traditional roaming. And so we've adjusted
the times in which the cattle come in. It says June here, oftentimes the cattle
come in around the end of May, and they graze through October.
That means they're here during the dry season,
and they're not having an impact on those trails
like they have during the wet season.
As you can see here, we're now grazing over 50% of Shell Ridge.
We're grazing probably about 30% to 40% of Lime Ridge.
Sugarloaf is probably 80%.
And we continue to expand our goat grazing
and we're up to about 15 acres this year.
So here's just some quick maps to give you an idea
of where we're grazing in these locations.
This is a project that we started a few years ago.
We added a number of troughs in Shell Ridge
about three years ago
to expand our grazing to the east.
The troughs you can see identified there
with those dark-colored squares,
colored squares. That basically runs along Coral Springs and there's a number of reasons
we put them there. First of all, we get a fair amount of equestrians in Shell Ridge
so the horses can also use those troughs, but now we can basically fill and empty those
troughs in order to determine where the cattle are in those areas because they have to be
close to a source of water. So it's beneficial for those reasons. The other thing we're doing
in this area is we're adjusting the fencing lines so that we can get more of the grazed.
We can graze more and also protect some of the open space foundations projects that are
in that area. For example, Bob Simmons has had a project over by Deer Lake for a number
of years. He's planted over a hundred trees and they're probably pretty tasty around this
point for the cattle. So we're fencing those areas off in order to protect the environment.
So this is the last slide for this presentation.
As I mentioned, the governor put out a proclamation, state of emergency, and is, you know, pushing
us to apply any wildlife preparedness projects that we can in our jurisdiction.
And so one of the projects that we've set forward this year is to start removing any
dead vegetation that is six inches or less in diameter.
And so we are circling the perimeter,
we're starting by circling the perimeter of the open space,
200 feet out from the property line,
the boundary line that we share.
And we're slowly gathering and chipping
or removing any limbs or trunks that are six inches or less.
Why six inches or less?
It's typically suggested to do three inches or less.
And if you think about it in a fire,
a three inch limb is gonna catch fire
much quicker than a 12-inch limb
because of the density of the wood.
And so we wanted to up it a little bit,
and so we're taking out anything that is six inches or less
around that 200-foot perimeter around the open space.
We're not gonna be able to accomplish all this in one year.
We've started the program, we're gonna see it through,
and then we'll work into interior of the open space
and start picking and choosing
where we're gonna start pulling those limbs out.
So historically, there's always been a big push
to leave those limbs in place.
They'll break down, bugs will come in there
break the wood down the birds come and eat the bugs you know it's part of
nature and but with the challenges that we're facing with the dry vegetation out
there and the proclamation from the governor we're moving in this direction
so that concludes my presentation and I'll open it up for questions commissioner
questions for Bob for Mike Mike thanks very much for the presentation it's
certainly is timely with the LA area fires that that happened earlier in the
year. In front of everybody's mind it owns a home near the open space. Especially
with the maps having changed in terms of the risks. I have a question about our
program. We are we're under annual deadlines for doing this remediation and
those the results of our remediation are also inspected. Could you tell us a little
bit about that. Yes, thank you for asking that question. The the deadline changes
every year based on the later the rainfall, so they're measuring the
moisture within the soil, the moisture within the plant, along with wind
temperatures and humidity and those types of things, but they don't change
that much to be honest with you. It's usually a couple weeks, so typically if
there was an average it's usually by June 1st to June 7th is when weed
is supposed to be complete.
Depending on the season, it's not uncommon
for many agencies to reach out to their fire inspector
for that area and ask them for an extension
because of one issue or another.
It's also common for Walnut Creek
to invite the inspector out to go through
some of the areas that might be more challenging.
We don't tour them through.
Obviously, they have access.
We'd be more than happy to take them wherever.
But sometimes we have areas that could be challenging
And we want to bring them out to get their feedback on,
and maybe some suggestions on how to proceed.
But it's a little bit of a moving target,
but it's generally June 1st to June 7th
is when weed abatement has to be complete.
Any inspections are done in our case by?
By a Contra Costa County fire inspector
from the Fire Protection District.
Like a lot of government agencies,
this individual who's new,
can't remember here his or her name is got a massive territory and so a lot of
it is driven by complaint and so if you're a resident listening to this and
you're concerned as we get near the end of May or beginning of June and it's
not done I recommend that you reach out to the Public Works Department if you're
not satisfied you can always reach out to the Contra Costa County Fire
protection district and they'll come out based on complaints. We have such a small
amount of open space compared to the East Bay regionals and the midpens and
and state parks and those types of things that they're typically coming out
based on requests. Thank you Mike. Mike thanks for the information very
interesting on the vandals what's the point of who's any idea who's who was
cutting the electro electrical fencing. Now it's it's kind of
like the pointless graffiti that we're, you know, putting out on
a regular basis. What's interesting about electric
fencing, you'd, you'd think to yourself, why would someone want
to cut an electric wire with a knife? Oftentimes, what happens
is the ground gets so dry, there's not enough moisture in
there to make those wires actually produce a shock.
They're almost go neutral, because there's not enough
moisture in the soil.
And so once somebody understands that it's not going to shock
them, you know, they'll continue to do so.
And it doesn't just happen in one particular park.
It happens throughout the open space, so.
As I assume the city is responsible for maintaining
the fire roads?
We are, yes.
How often, because it seems like towards the end
of a rainy season, May or something,
they'll come through with a tractor and smooth out
fire roads is that that's an annual event as well? Absolutely and I'm glad
you brought that up. The fire district used to come out it was it was an
opportunity to partner with the city but it was also an opportunity to train
their staff on running their motor graders and what happens when they run
the motor grader is one way or the other they put a windrow up which prevents
drainage and causes drainage issues as we get into the winter months and so
we've asked that we do the fire road, not ask, we've we've notified them that
we're gonna do the fire roads on our own and be more than happy to tour them
around in their big rigs to make sure that they're done to their satisfaction.
Yeah, we touch base with them every spring. Yeah, the operators. Yeah.
Yeah. Interesting. As far as the any update on the poppy situation at
Sutherland, for how did it go this year? Or is it still too early?
It's a little early, but I'll give you an update during staff updates, if that's okay with you.
Yeah, sorry.
Did this picture spark that?
Yeah, couldn't help, no wonder.
It's been kind of quiet, so I think that's good news, right?
Any other questions for Mike?
I just have a question about the fuel load reduction that's required by the governor.
Is there like a final reporting that the city has to do for that piece?
Not to the best of my knowledge.
No, they're asking all of us land managers to do what we can.
OK.
I think there's some grant funding if there's not enough funding within the agency in order
to work through your programs.
We're comfortable with where we are in the funding.
And so I'll double check, but I don't believe a report is required.
OK.
I understand you have more, one.
Yeah.
We're gonna get into consideration here
and then Kevin with Arts and Rec
is gonna give a presentation and I'll be following him up.
Okay.
So next on the agenda is an item
for the commission consideration,
the pros commission staff report.
Hey, good evening commissioners.
My name is Kevin Gordon, I'm the business manager
for the Arts and Recreation Department
and I'm here tonight to present the proposed changes
to the fees and charges schedule for programs
and facility rentals for the fiscal years 26 and 27.
Every two years as part of the biennial
budget development process,
the department also reviews the existing fees and charges
and recommends changes to the fee ranges.
So how do these ranges work?
What Walnut Creek does is we set,
instead of setting specific fees here,
we set the fee ranges and then staff work
within these ranges to set those specific fees
for classes and other programs.
So tonight we're considering a few changes
that staff are recommending for the master fee schedule,
which includes eliminating certain fee categories,
creating new fee categories,
increasing the ranges for some fees,
and modifying some of the minimum and maximums
for facility rental hours.
So in determining these fees,
the Arts and Rec staff does surveys
of similar municipalities to make sure
that we're being competitive.
We take into account the cost of programming
and we adjust for trends in the market.
So as cost to provide programming increase,
we need to increase certain associated fees
in order to maintain our cost recovery goals as a department.
Much of the cost increases that we've been seeing
are due to rising personnel costs.
So that's gonna be between our full-time city staff
and our hourly support staff for our programs.
One of the drivers of that was the recently mandated increase
to the minimum wage that took effect this past January.
So in many of the fee categories,
we're nearing the top of the currently approved ranges.
And so staff are recommending to expand these ranges
to accommodate for potential future fee increases.
So I'll mention that increasing the ranges
doesn't necessarily mean
it's an immediate increase to the fee.
It can mean that we're adding new programming
that might have a different fee
that currently exists outside of the range
for that certain category.
It might also mean that we're offering a different way
to pay for programs, like the aquatics monthly passes.
I'm not gonna go into detail about every single fee change
because there's quite a few in there,
but I will point out a few of the more significant changes.
In some areas, we're proposing changes
to the rental requirements for facilities.
This is due in part to the planned demolition
for the Heather Farm Community Center
that's going to take place later this summer.
So we're proposing to shorten
some of the minimum hour requirements for other facilities
that we expect are gonna be taking
some of those rental clients
that would have been going to Heather Farm.
So that's specifically gonna be the Shadelands Auditorium
and the Civic Park Community Center
or Civic Park Assembly Hall, I mean.
We're hoping that this will allow us
to keep some of the rental clients
by offering them more flexible booking windows.
In facility rentals, we're also recommending
eliminating split day fees.
So in the past, this meant that we would charge
one fee Fridays before five o'clock
and a different fee Fridays after five o'clock.
So we're eliminating the language in the fee schedule
that references these split-day fees
because it's kind of unnecessarily complicated
and can be a little confusing.
And so we're moving to a standard just all day Friday fee.
I'll also point out on that subject
that there's one line on the third page of the schedule
that should have had a strike through in there.
On reviewing, I saw that it didn't forgive the omission,
but we are proposing to eliminate that language.
It's under the assembly hall fees on the third page.
It is highlighted in red.
It just didn't get the strike through.
For aquatics fees, we're proposing to expand
some of the ranges to allow for more flexibility
with monthly passes and offer different amounts
of punches with those passes.
We're also proposing a new fee category
for children under two.
In the past we had a range that was for children under six
and so doing one for children under two
is gonna give us more flexibility
and also it's gonna be more inclusive
for families with small children
because the under two fee is gonna be significantly less
than the current under six fee.
And finally we're also proposing a new category
for synthetic turf field rental.
This will apply to sports fields one and two
at Heather Farm Park and they are planned to be converted
by this fall to synthetic turf?
So those are some of the top line changes.
There are quite a few more,
but they're mostly expanding those ranges
that I talked about to give staff more flexibility
for programming, but with that,
I'm happy to take any questions you may have.
Questions for Kevin?
Thanks for coming tonight to explain this to us.
I do have a few questions.
One, I wanted to confirm that the proposed fee range
for fiscal year 2026 and 2027
will take us to the end of June, 2027, is that correct?
Yes, it'll take us through the end of the fiscal year.
So yeah, that'll be the end of June.
The reason I ask that question is the the Heather Farm
project, the combination community center
and aquatics facility is scheduled to be completed
in July of that year, 2027.
So I would assume then you'd be back here in two years
with a new proposal for the 28, 29 years,
which would include the use of the new facilities
because they're not listed at all.
Yeah, so we haven't included those here.
So that would be in two years when we come back
and do this again.
And in the meantime, we are,
the department is currently working
with certain cost recovery consultants
that are gonna be advising us on what sort of rates
we'll be charging for those facilities
and other associated programs.
Great.
Okay, then I had a couple of other questions or comments
on the indoor facility rentals.
Right below the title, you specify the minimum two hours.
And yet in many, many cases you override that
and you put different numbers of minimums
based on the specific facility in red, the proposal.
Yeah, so the ones in red are gonna be more specific
to some of the larger facilities where it makes more sense
to have a longer minimum hour requirement
because oftentimes you wouldn't be able to book it out
if you had someone coming in for one hour here,
one hour there could break up the day,
and then you wouldn't have the blocks of time
that you'd need to meet those cost recovery goals.
Right, so would it be more appropriate
to also alter that language minimum two hours
to add unless otherwise noted?
Something to that effect?
Yeah, that can absolutely be added.
Yeah, I'm just trying to make this as good
a document as possible when it goes to the council.
Yeah, that makes sense, I'm happy to add that in.
then I had one other question relative to the discussion or not discussion but
the area for tennis the rates there I'm looking for it anyway the question is
this I know that the tennis rates can apply to not just the the tennis courts
at Heather Farm they can they can apply to other areas within the city tennis
courts that are under control of I believe it's lifetime is that correct
yeah yeah so at Heather Farm over the last several years I think four maybe
five pickleball courts have been constructed or changed modified but but
that I think actively now exist.
And there are no fee rates included in the structure here
for use of those courts by Pickleball, is that correct?
Yes, I believe that's correct.
Jim, are you familiar with to the rack of courts?
Hi, Jim Carlson, recreation manager.
At this time, the Pickleball is being run
at the Heather Farm Community Center.
I haven't identified any specific call out for their different fee structure for the
pickleball.
Now, we can certainly go back to them and make sure and talk through with them and make
sure they've addressed it, but for this report, for where we're at right now, in the process,
they haven't identified anything specific for the pickleball courts that I've seen.
I've only seen what they've talked about as far as the tennis courts.
So when you say that, are you saying that there is no fee or that they charge a fee
fee based on the tennis rates?
I think what they're charging is a fee based on
how many players are on the court.
Not currently on the court fee,
but by the player fee for pickleball.
So technically shouldn't that be called out separately here?
Well.
Or reference that these rates also include pickleball
at other farm?
I know they're not charged at Ruggler.
Yeah, I think what we need to do is go back
talk with the lifetime tennis and let me get the facts exactly straight before
we present because I don't want to give you the wrong information on that okay
I just you know it just I think of when I see those courts and I see the players
there because I'm frequently over in that area you know what would be the
difference whether you're playing tennis or where you're playing pickleball on
those courts it should all be yeah they're both racquet sports I think but
It's just a question. Thank you. Yeah, thanks very much. I have a question about the youth
The students fee at boundary oak so there's no change, right?
to the boundary oak fee
Yeah, I don't believe so I think that the what we're currently the current fee range still accommodates where we're we're
What we're charging? Okay. Thank you. Mm-hmm
Hi, I'm wondering about you have a category called media production. Mm-hmm
Do you get many requests for that?
No, we do not.
I think that we've had maybe one event in the past five years
that caused that category to exist.
And so it's just something to have just in case.
Okay, and do you recall, was it a private company
or was it like a public service company?
No, I wasn't involved with it at the time,
so I can get back to you on that.
I was just curious, really I was more curious
because it seemed like a low fee if it's like,
for using a facility for all day?
Yeah, I think it's just a generous range
just because it's kind of a catch all.
Yeah, okay, I was just curious.
Okay, and just to fully understand,
I'm reading the one about where you're doing
a special event in a park.
So it's really the sum of all these things.
It's the turf rehab, it's the fee just to have your event
and then there's a parking fee
and then there's like all those things are added up.
or is this like, let's say the, I don't know,
the $705 for a 500 person event per day,
that includes all those things or are those?
No, this is specifically just the-
Just to be able to have your event there.
Yeah, just the fee portion and then-
Okay, and then you add all the other things in.
Parking is gonna be separate, yeah.
All right, okay.
I have one more question.
When you're comparing, like you said that you have a range
So you have flexibility and do you have a certain group of other agencies that you believe
are comparable or how does that part of it work?
Yeah, for the most part it's going to be you know nearby municipalities of similar sizes.
We look at Danville Concord Alamo for their programming and make sure that we're not way
off the chart in any low or high end and certain East Bay municipalities and it's a pretty
wide-ranging survey that we do so it's gonna include a lot of other cities in
Contra Costa and Alameda counties. Thank you. Yeah. We have a obviously a swim
group called Walnut Creek Masters. Do they pay these rates that you have
listed here? So for the Masters and the other swim groups that we have they
negotiate on a contract basis and so those contracts usually typically
follow the fiscal year's two year cycle so those get renegotiated every two
years. Okay so those are not included here. Those are not included. You'll see
on those lands I think it just says contract because those are done
individually by contract so that's for Aqua Bears, Aqua Nuts, Masters and
Walnut Creek Swim Club. Okay got it and then good question on the pickleball
wall art, because that is a hot topic around here.
I guess that's really kind of my only questions.
I know we've had a lot of maintenance issues
at the farm pool.
Obviously, that's why we're replacing it.
When you're buying a pass for a 30-day pass,
none of these are specific to a time period.
These are based on number of days you swam.
Yeah, I'm pretty sure how the pass works is
the monthly pass, it'll have different numbers of punches,
you'll have 10, 20, or 30 punch passes.
So it'll be based on, yeah, time for you to go down.
Yeah, gotcha, and it's not like a one month pass,
it's a 30 day, 30 second pass.
They don't expire, it's just the pat punch number.
Gotcha, what kind of communication do you have?
Do you notify the various swim groups
of these admission rates as they get updated or?
Yeah, if we do increase fees or change fees in any way,
we typically notice those well in advance
to make sure that people are aware of the change.
Yeah, one of the big pieces that came out
of the negotiations for the swim,
the new pool was just better communication
from the city with those groups.
So I would just comment that even if it's just
a cursory email to let them know that you're thinking
about them that they had expressed that they would
be interested in more communication.
Okay, absolutely.
can do that so if there's no other questions and you're comfortable making
a motion based on the recommendations for their ranges we can do so and if you
want to list that you know you're comfortable accepting the report and
moving it forward with some of the exceptions that were noted earlier that
would be helpful okay I think that's all Kevin so if you you you want to make a
motion yeah I move that we accept the the rec fees and changes for fiscal 26
and 27 for forwarding after changes discussed to the City Council for
approval I'll second the motion excellent thank you I'll call roll
Commissioner constant yes Commissioner older yes Vice Chair Pinkstaff yes
Commissioner Garland? Yes. And Chair Cook? Yes. Thank you.
Motion passes unanimously. Next is an update. Consideration item number B, an
update from the Walnut Creek Trail Committee. Thank you Orlando and I may
need to get back online again if you can put that mouse up here. Thank you. I've
been up here a number of times providing updates on the Trail Committee document
that was accepted by the Commission back in December of 20. It was that document
that lists a number of recommendations, some additional information, which also
led to the flow trail discussion. And so every few months I'm trying to come
back to the Commission with some updates on where we're at in regards to the list
of recommendations. To take one step back even further, this was a community, community
volunteers that had come together to serve on this committee. The committee was led by
two commissioners. Commissioner Older was one of those. Commissioner Davenport who has
retired off of this body was the second. We had a number of members from the Open Space
Foundation. We had representatives from hikers and running runners along with a couple individuals
that were supporting and in support of biking. And so we were trying to touch on all basis
and we brought our thoughts and our studies together over about a two year period which
led to this document that you guys received in an attachment one of the staff report.
And so I'm back here tonight to talk more specifically about a couple social trails
that I'll be sharing with you in just a minute.
But I also want to take a minute to kind of update you on where we're at with the list
of 17 recommendations that came out of that report.
And the list of 17 recommendations can also be found on page 17.
So there's a lot of information up here.
I'm not going to get into each one of these.
But we did identify in red where we're at with some of these, actually with all of the
recommendations.
you can see the first seven or first six,
they're either completed or they're ongoing.
Typically if they're ongoing,
it's because it is going to be continually ongoing
because it's now become part of our maintenance standards.
So if there's anything that pops out to you,
we can talk about it at the during questions
and those types of things.
Number of other, six or seven other suggestions here,
you see the middle one there, evaluating trails.
that's what I'm gonna be talking about today.
So that's something we're currently working on.
And the other list is mostly ongoing maintenance needs
that will continue.
And then the last five here, it's noted there,
the O in the middle there is not complete,
and it was brought up by the speaker earlier
than during public comment,
that we have not developed a volunteer patrol program
as of yet.
And volunteer patrol program is actually really,
really important and a high priority for us.
One of the challenges we're having
is what I'm going to be sharing with you tonight.
There are some social trails that we have allowed access to
because people have been using them since the early 90s,
in some cases.
And they are, I'll get into the details.
But until we can put all of these in a box
and hand them off to a volunteer,
It wouldn't be fair if we had some other gray areas out there such as this.
I know there's going to be a discussion and more comments regarding citations and those
types of things.
Citations is put to the side.
The open space staff, the open space rangers enforce every day that they're out there.
Are they out there writing citations?
No, they're not.
If we need to get the Fish and Game Wardens involved, if we need to get Walnut Creek PD
involved to help with citation writing, they're just a phone call away.
the open space Rangers combined have been doing this for about 60 years, and
they're really, really good at their job. The educational enforcement that has
been in place for decades is very effective. We proved that during covid
when we had the most amount of users we'd ever seen in the open space, and
we were still able to dial back the number of social trails, and many of
them have grown back in. We had tremendous success during the highest
percent of users in the open space. The educational enforcement is working very well.
Okay. So moving on, this is in page 13 or 14, I can't remember exactly of that document.
And these were trails that were identified through the committee as something to be looked
at as potentially sanctioning as we move forward. And so we're starting that process. We have
a longer road to go, but we've identified a trail in Lime Ridge. We've also identified
one in Shell Ridge that I'll share with you. In this particular trail, I'm going to say
where it starts and finishes, but obviously you can come in in different directions. But
generally people come in from the Buckeye Trail side or off the Ohlone Trail side, and
this meanders through the quarry that you'll see that this is the prominent quarry that
stands out as you're driving up YVR. Here's kind of a better look at it. So if you're
driving up YVR, which you can see goes across the top of this slide, you'll see that really
dominant face there. And the trail itself has an intersection right there above the
quarry. And so the line to the farthest right is where the trail would start at the Buckeye
Dye Canyon and it meanders down through overlooking a number of quarries in areas that have been
dug out over the years. It gets into that circle area. And the reason I identified that
circle area, there's a lot of spurs in that area in terms of other social trails that
have been developed. And so the plan is that staff is going to move forward and install
additional barriers. Unfortunately, we had a very serious accident in this location last
year. We've since then fenced the area off. But there's some other areas that we want
to fence off to protect the environment and give some of these areas an opportunity to
revegetate. And so there's a fair amount of additional work. If you've been up in this
area, and I hope you have, even though it's an unsanctioned trail, it's still very actively
used. In fact, if you go back on Google Earth, you can see images of this trail going all
way back to 93 and the park never opened until 97 and so they were obviously using private
land for their exercise.
This particular area, as you come around the corner, there's some steeper areas that we
plan on installing stairs, a handful of stairs, six or seven stairs, and then the bike lane
will be off to the right or left of that, I can't remember which.
And then there's another spot, a little bit further down, where we'll be installing stairs
for pedestrian runners, pedestrian access,
and then next to that there'll be an area,
a safe area for a bicyclist to go down.
And then the trail itself goes in two different directions.
So if you focus on the intersection,
you'll see that the trail goes up the slide,
and I think that's where it ties into the Ohlone Trail,
or it comes meanders all the way down
to the bottom of the slide,
where it ties into the Manzanita Trail,
which is not too far from the police shooting range
and the golf course there.
And so I should have mentioned this
when I started and I apologize I didn't.
The reason we're bringing this trail options to you
no differently than we did with the flow trail
is because we want to have a public conversation about it.
And we want to hear from the residents,
we want to hear from the pros commissioners.
But it's important for me to point out,
and as I mentioned, I should have shared this already,
these are operational type decisions.
So the open space is moving,
the open space staff is moving in this direction.
So I wanted to say that now, your input is certainly valued.
We haven't got there just yet.
And so please share your questions and comments
as we move through the process.
So as identified here, it's about a one mile additional loop.
Mind you, it's been there.
It's just going to be sanctioned.
It'll eventually end up on the map.
This trail is being identified as a multi-use trail
because that is the existing condition
that has been around for several decades.
So moving on to Shell Ridge,
this is also in the document
that was accepted by the Prose Commission in 2020.
There's a number, if you look closely enough,
you'll see there's a number of trails identified here
and they're all listed,
or they're all shown in different colors.
This is a smaller trail that is about a half acre.
It takes you, it's not too far from Borges Ranch.
It really starts at the Hannah Grove Lane Trail,
which is just about a block or two
from Northgate High School.
You venture up the trail, I'd say probably a half mile
to three quarters of a mile.
And then there is a single track trail
that will take you from the Hannah Lane Trail across,
a cut across to the Costa Noen Trail,
which then you could go left or right.
If you went right, it would circle you right back
the trailhead that you started and this this trail has been active by both hikers and bikers
for a number of years it's not set up for both uses and so we our recommendation is to go
pedestrian only in this particular area which isn't well received by some and I'll get into our
evaluation criteria in just a minute and kind of be able to share that with you but
what's important about authorizing this trail, not only has it been there for a long time,
it actually provides you a better loop. So you could, if you didn't take this cut through,
you could go up and do a two and a half, three mile loop. If you take this cut through, it'll
break your hike down to about a mile and a half. And so some people, it's fairly steep elevation.
Some people only want to go a shorter distance. Like I said, the trail's been in use for several
decades and so we're comfortable authorizing it. I wish I had a better
picture of this trail. Here's a closer view of where it is. The trail
itself has a very steep uphill. It has about a two-foot bench or two-foot tread
and then a very steep downhill. And so we're making it pedestrian only because
there's nowhere to step off the side whether there's an equestrian coming or
where there's a biker coming,
it's just not a safe location for multiple uses.
So here's a look at our,
zip through here, some of these.
Here's a look at the trail evaluation criteria checklist
that was vetted through the trails committee
back in 19 and 20.
I think, I believe we received this template
either from state parks or East Bay Regional.
And we've amended it so that it fits our needs.
But it really takes you through all aspects of trail
evaluation, whether it's starting
with existing conditions and what
are the positives and negatives of making this trail work.
What are the surfaces?
The current uses.
What are the current uses on these social trails?
Are they already multi-use?
And that's been successful for a period of time.
Are they single use?
Existing volunteers, at what rate or do we have volunteers out there?
Is this a high use area?
Is this a high use trail?
Those types of things are considered.
Effects on condition, oh sorry, circulation, my eyes aren't very good.
On circulation patterns, as I mentioned, if you can put a loop in there, which gives people
an opportunity to only go half the distance because they're in a hurry or they can only
can deal with half the distance, and we find that to be beneficial.
It goes on for, you know, soil conditions, safety-related issues.
Can you get an equestrian and a biker and a hiker all on the same trail?
As the example I shared at Shell Ridge, the trails just are too narrow for more than one
use.
what are the options that we have for improving safety?
One of the big tasks that the committee took on,
not only did they help develop this,
is we actually met out in the field
and we walked one of these trails.
In line of sight is really important,
especially when you've got multiple uses on those trails.
And oftentimes you get a lot of switchbacks back and forth
and that can impact your line of sight
because of vegetation or grade or whatever the case is.
And so line of sight is really important.
The steepness, right?
Because you're typically gonna pick up speed
on some of these trails.
And so that is strongly considered.
When we're dealing with situations
where we're talking about grade,
we have the option to make these trails one directional.
And so a biker coming uphill
is not gonna go the same speed as a biker going downhill.
So if you're hiking downhill, you come across a biker,
it's likely those speeds are going
to be manageable between the two users.
Fisting conditions, let me see if I can see.
Yeah, so I mentioned soil conditions,
the steepness of the slope.
And what type of erosion will that create?
If you've got sandy soils, sandy soils
are going to erode quicker.
So if you have a valley that is intersecting with a trail,
oftentimes you can put in what we call a hardened crossing
or an armed crossing, where you're putting rocks out.
You're setting rocks in the trail tread that
are almost flat like pavers.
And so you can walk over those, and the water
won't erode that particular area way.
sustain improving sustainability for wildlife.
I'm going to have to get these bigger.
I'm sorry.
can't read that far, I apologize. There's management options, you know, the whole goal
of everything that the open space staff is trying to do is build sustainable trails
so we don't get the erosion, so we don't get the impacts negative impacts
that oftentimes end up into our stock ponds, filling our stock ponds. That's why we've
been draining a number of them over the years. Sorry, desilting a number of them over the years,
thank you. And then this is the final summary that we use that the staff uses
when they're putting their findings together and you know we're going through
and checking the boxes yes and no and and we're making comments regarding
installing armored crossings uphill downhill directional all that's all that
information gets is added to the to the final checklist here. So that concludes
my presentation. So your action for tonight it was to hear the presentation
and provide feedback on the recommended improvements. I'll turn it over for
questions. I have a few questions. So this long sheet you just went through
with us this analysis that the staff is doing the two trials that are being
proposed have gone through that right okay and the answer came up yes this
would be a you know would meet these criteria and you move forward like as a
percent how many of the trails in the has this been applied to and in the our
open spaces so we've we've only I only know of two trails that we've done it
formerly with and that's both these trails that were identified in that list
of recommendations however I say informally when we were together as a
committee we went out to the Twin Pond Loops Trail which is near the end of
White Cliff and went out and talked about what criteria we would want to
use what what criteria we would want to keep in this list the original list I
like I said I can't remember if it came from State Parks or East Bay Regional
but I think it was about eight pages long and we reduced it down to what we
felt would satisfy our needs.
Okay, but there's not an ongoing effort to review all trails to see, for example, whether
single track should become multi-use or anything like that.
There is not.
Not right now.
This will continue.
This is really our first crack at it, but we'll continue to evaluate these trails.
There are other social trails that are pretty active in the open space that people use that
are not on the map and we're allowing that continued use at this point.
I understand this and I think I'm not saying it's a good or bad thing, but I'm a little
concerned about safety. Like most of the social trails I know of are like little narrow tracks.
So our standard for even a single track is four foot. So how are we meshing with those
concepts? Are we going to actually go in and make physical changes to those trails? Or
are we just going to assume liability now that it's a real trail for something that
that doesn't meet our standard.
Yeah, so it is just that, it's a standard.
It doesn't mean that every trail is going to meet
this specific letter of the recommendation.
These trails have existed, as I mentioned, for many years.
I mean, when it comes to safety, there's no doubt.
That's our number one responsibility
is to ensure that these trails are as safe as we can make them.
In fact, when the committee was together
out surveying a number of these areas, there's trails called Mach 5 that are up at the very
top of Lime Ridge that were not safe. We didn't deem them as being safe. We also seen the
impacts that they were having on the environment, and so we closed those trails down. The other
benefit to these trails is we're not looking to remove any vegetation or any trees for
line of sight. So there's no need for any sort of sequel process or anything along these
lines. Now, as I mentioned, the trail in Shell Ridge, it is approximately about two feet.
Does it meet our four-foot standard? It does not. That's why we're holding our holding
it to a pedestrian only trail. Okay. And then on the one in Lime Ridge you
You said certain areas will have to have stairs put in
to accommodate steepness.
And the stairs would obviously be pedestrian only.
And the ramp or whatever it is
would be bikes and or horses, I'm assuming.
Yes, it'd be a slope.
There'd be a slope somewhat adjacent
to the staircase stairwell, so.
Okay, and did I understand you say
that there might be restrictions
on which direction you can go?
Or did I hear that?
Not on these particular trails.
But as we evaluate trails in the future that's one of the things that we're looking at is
If there's line of sight issues you can do directional type trails if there's
Soil condition issues and you're going to get more erosion if bikes are moving out at quicker speed downhill we can tackle those
We look at that as we're moving as we're evaluating the trails
So the real advantage to making this
An official trail versus a social trail that we just let people use is
That it'll be on maps and shown as being open
Yes, and what else what other advantages there? Well, not only that is that they're highly used to begin with I understand that
and and so it's it's
Basically accommodating the need or the want by the community that has existed for several decades
Are we gonna treat it any differently though? I guess is my point
Yeah, no, no, it'll be part of our regular. I mean we've done fair amount of maintenance to it anyways
Over the last several years because of the amount of use on this trail
But it'll be a sanctioned trail and it'll be wrapped into our regular maintenance program
Yeah, the big benefit is that this trail is already sustainable
Just just by the can the conditions of the of the routes that or the more formal more heavily used route
that's out there and the soils are perfect. We don't get a lot of erosion in this particular area.
Thank you. Other questions? Just a few, Mike.
You see, I've been the long-time runner and mountain biker to some extent, not
more for a good workout as opposed to any, you know, any screaming downhill kind of thing. But
You mentioned not a safe trail, but the trail holds.
I guess my question is just around the safety of a trail that we're not maintaining,
but it holds. How much work is required to maintain a trail?
So there's no work for us to maintain these existing trails, is what you're saying.
the social trails that we're going to be authorizing? Yes. Yeah so there is there's no more effort
that will go into these trails than go into our regular single tracks or or um I would say single
tracks. I wouldn't say um fire roads. Okay. Yeah. Um are I know Save Mount Diablo has um acquired
some properties uh it seems like in the Lime Ridge area but is there a connection to Lime Ridge and
in Mount Dablo State Park now, or maybe there has been.
I don't get to Lime Ridge a lot,
but I don't think there was a connection.
The properties haven't been connected yet.
Not through a trail system.
I mean, obviously you've probably written this,
is you can get on the roads, right?
You could go through Lime and then jump on a road
and find your way up at Mount Dablo in the state parks,
but not through a trail system.
Does the, as a liability question,
just because I'm interested, does the city by,
I think maybe Fran was hinting at it,
but does the city assume any more liability
by making it an official or putting it on a map
as a real trail?
No.
Okay, that's a good one.
And then lastly, and I brought this up
to the Mount Dabble Mountain Biking Association,
the guys that are in charge of that,
and that's about using, or the city maybe getting behind
some sort of program about having,
Encouraging mountain bikers to have a bell
Has I don't know if you and I talked about this at any point along the line
But I've been to I couldn't imagine riding my mountain bike not having a bell right because you're coming behind
Walkers or hikers or runners and where you're going downhill and like not having a bell would is kind of I'd my brother lives in
over by
The headlands and red headlands and everybody's got a bell
Yeah, and so there's there there'll be more presentations coming this year and and bells will be part of it
It was a topic of conversation for the committee
And there's like anything we deal with in life. There's various opinions about bells and and you know, the big
The big angst with bells for some people is the impact it might have on wildlife
And pushing wildlife away from certain areas especially on a weekend if a trails really busy and there you can hear a bell bell bell
Not only that there might be individuals that are just hiking and just want to be you know
Some peace and quiet and they're hearing a bell. So
We're trying to avoid
We're trying to make sure that the line of sight is
Is adequate so that we don't need some of these other measures
We're probably not going to be able to do that everywhere, but that is our focus when we're out there evaluating these trails
Great. I think that's all I have. I
just want to make some comments not questions, but I
Really appreciate Mike you going through this especially the the updates on all the recommendations the 17 recommendations tremendous progress by
Corey Frazier and the and your staff
To get through so many items many of which
Have safety elements to them, and that's why they were priorities and and why perhaps
You know the use of the checklist for the trails
Was not as extensive as we might have might have thought at this point
But by using that that for the two social trails that you're looking at to convert
It's totally appropriate, and it should help us get the safest result
So thank you very much for your
For your efforts your staff's efforts in working through all these items over the last five years. Thank you
We want to open up for a public comment
Sure
Are there is there anyone from the public that would like to speak on these topics?
Step right on up
You have two minutes
Leaving out important things, I think but in only two minutes and goes quick
My name is Barbara Ganas. I've been a resident of Walnut Creek since 96
In you know in Mike's presentation he's talking about converting, you know to social trails to official trails I
Want to speak specifically on the trail and lime Ridge?
There's a lot of native plants that exists right along the edge of it
It's also very narrow I don't see where you're gonna do stairs and a bike traffic go by there some I just looked today
It's about two feet and there's a drop off on the other side and the soils are very erosive
Anyway, a lot of it with mountain bike traffic going through there a lot of the native plants will be disturbed or even destroyed and
Some additional information for that particular trail since I only got a short period of time here
This is also an area where a wildfire erupted in September 2024
City staff stated that the cause was undetermined a retired firefighter viewing the area
Stated it appeared three to four start points indicating the fire was not accidental
This is right in the area where they want to put this
Social trail open it up. It's also an area where there or a fencing has been
vandalized after being up for only one week.
They had to put in six by six posts
to prevent them from cutting through it.
Not far from that, there was fencing put up by city staff.
It also was cut by vandals,
right through a split rail fencing.
Quarry signage was removed and thrown to the ground.
It's also moved elsewhere.
I see where it is, but anyway.
And also the area right above this proposed
new social trail to be official trail.
there's all kinds of illegal bike trails, jumps,
and things way up at the top of the quarry area.
There's also multiple illegal single-track trails
that drop down.
Okay, anyway, and a mountain biker died there in 2023.
Mike kind of alluded to that,
but me, I don't think it's a good place
to open up as an official.
Great, thank you.
Nothing to approve there for us, Mike, was there?
Okay.
That was a information report, yes, thank you.
Great. And lastly item C on the Commission consideration is the staff
report in regards to the playground equipment replacement project at Civic
Park and Walden Park. So this is a fun one. I was before you guys in October
just kind of giving you a brief update on where we're at. So I'm glad to be able
to bring it back. We've made some progress and I'm happy to run through it with you.
I'm going to move through it at a moderate pace, so I think you'll be excited and you'll
be happy to see with some of the recommendations that we're suggesting here. So I'll share
a little bit of the background with you and then the two parks that we're talking about
as a reminder are Walden Park and Civic Park. We have a public outreach process that I want
run by you and get your feedback on and then we'll briefly talk about next steps.
So this body back in 23 recommended that we put $500,000 of capital money aside during
the 24-25 capital budget that was approved by council.
As I mentioned, last October I was here giving you an update and currently we've been working
with a consultant who has put together a number of renderings for us and that's kind of that's
are focused here today. We have three options for each of the parks along with some cost
estimates that I'm going to share with you. So, these overview images are a little tough
to understand or a little tough to get details about. But if you can envision this, the reason
we don't have a real image overview is because there's so many trees there you can't see
the playground. But there's currently a resilient surface pathway in the same shape that it
is here, this blue pathway, and then the rest of the park is bark and will remain so.
So we've broken it out into really three different zones.
Zone A1 is the swings, the swings at Heather – sorry, the swings here at Civic Park are
in great condition.
And so we're going to be saving the swings, and then you can see we've got a 2-5 area,
which is A2, and then a 5-12, and just so everybody's aware, 2-5 is the appropriate
age group for that type of structure, and five to 12 is the appropriate age group for
the other structure.
So, a little bit more detail, like I said, the swings are going to remain, but we're
going to add what's called a generational swing, which is where you have a toddler or
a young person sitting in the child's seat, and then the parent or the guardian can sit
across from them.
Some of them call them iPhone seats, not iPhone, it's something along those lines where you're
You're constantly taking pictures of your child or whatever.
They're really fun.
We have one up at Arbolado, and it's really heavily used.
Normally you'll see spring rockers, which actually have the spring.
You would normally ride back and forth.
The second arrow here is indicating a seat that actually just spins.
This is the two to five area.
You can see the spring rockers there on the bottom left.
It has, obviously, a number of slides.
There's a ramp system that that center arrow is pointing to to make it more accessible.
All of these playgrounds will be accessible and meet the ADA laws.
Some of them just have ramps and some do not.
Underneath the slides, there's various panels.
There's areas where kids can kind of hide in like the general store type panels and
those things.
And sometimes it's just fun for kids to get away from all the noise and, you know, collect
their thoughts away from everybody else.
This is the 5 to 12 area and if you notice, there's not a lot of shade in this particular
option, so just keep that in mind.
The 5 to 12, pretty active, a lot of slides, you can get up to some six foot elevations.
It's got some musical instruments right across from where all the parents are relaxing and
sitting.
I think that's wonderful when you just beat on the drums all you want and disrupt everybody.
But these don't all have to go in these locations.
These are just options, and if you look above the last set of drums there, you'll see a
four-seat teeter-totter, and there'll be a better image of that here in a minute, but
they're getting creative with a lot of this stuff.
So that was option A, and I'm not sure, Chair, do you think it's better that I stop at each
option or just go through them and then we'll circle back?
What do you propose?
I think we could just go through them.
that's what I was thinking. So option B, you know, very similar, the swings are going
to remain, we're going to put that generational swing in there. This is the 2-5, it's got
some ground panels, it's got some fun spring rockers there, it's introducing a little bit
more shade, as you can see. It also has a ramp system, there's some additional seating,
There's a retaining wall that goes around the entire playground.
We're looking at adding some additional seating for parents.
This is pretty unique because there's opportunities, there's kind of hiding opportunities.
As you're climbing up the ladder, you see the structure on the outside to the right.
There's ladder system in there and you climb up to the next level.
I'm going to show you the image on the other side.
There's actual bars there, and so parents can see in what's going on, but from this
image you wouldn't be able to get a very good view.
But very active, there's a lot of different amenities in this 5 to 12 playground.
There's some musical instruments over there, and when we get another look at the other
side of it, they have what's become very popular is these rope climbers.
Kids really like those.
see that centipede looking device there on the middle left. That's really just a climbing
apparatus. And I think you climb up and you slide down or something along those lines.
You can see the bars that I was talking about on the upper story. And then there are some
panels underneath there, some play panels, educational play panels. Same here, same,
very similar with option number three. A little bit more shade. This structure here, you see
how it has the four-person teeter-totter, has a lot of balancing, climbing. This one
just looks like it's really quite busy and a lot of fun. You'll see a little bit more
seating on the far right of the slide. This old-school climber there on the left side
kind of where the arrow is, and then some ground panels and a few more musical options
as well. This is just another look at it here. Lots of slides so that everybody has
opportunity. It's not really a ramp system, mostly stairs, which is accessible. And then
this is the 5 to 12, or sorry, the 2 to 5 structure. A little bit more shade, some ground
panels. There's some climbing devices, obviously you can see the slides. And it's, you know,
Some of this stuff is about bringing color and fun to the area.
So this is civic, we'll circle back to this for certain chairs so we can have a little
bit more of a discussion.
But...
Can I ask a question here though, since you're done with civic?
Yeah.
There's pictures of kids in wheelchairs out on the bark, but explain to me how bark is
accessible to someone in a wheelchair.
Yes, state the state law states that bark is accessible. Yep, sand is not but bark is actually it's accessible
It's within the ADA limits
Yeah
It's surprising to me as well, but it does meet. Did we consider anything else?
Or did you have any public input like from the park users about that?
So we're gonna get to that
And in fact, I'll share a little bit with you right now.
The purpose of me bringing these renderings,
which aren't, they're not perfect, right?
They're just kind of a general idea of what it is.
If you're comfortable, I'm gonna address
these renderings up a little bit,
then I'm gonna go out with my public outreach program,
which has us with pop-up tables at the playgrounds,
showing the parents the pictures.
We're gonna have some additional panels out there.
Oh, I like this educational panel.
like this panel for this reason and kind of do a plug and play and let the parents help
provide some feedback. We're going to do online surveys. We're going to go to the farmers
market. We're going to go to first Wednesday. Some of these different pop up events that
are around town to really drive this. We're not going to turn this over in the next couple
months because we're going to wait to get all the feedback, make some changes based
on the feedback and then come back to the pros commission and say this is what we've
heard from the community, you know, please help us, give us some further direction.
Okay, just one more thing about the bark. What, that's, I mean, we don't have bark
at the All Abilities playground at Heather Farm, correct?
We do not have bark at the All Abilities playground. We almost did. And the county,
the county came up with about $500,000 of in lieu, their own in lieu park funding, which
helped us get to that next level, which is the resilient surface.
I'm assuming there's a big cost differential between-
It's huge.
It's huge.
And staying with that same example, I don't know the last time you were out
at Heather Farm, but the portion of Heather Farm Resilient Surface that
is closer to the 5 to 12, that park is kind of broken up with those turf
mounds.
The portion that we're for the older kids needs to be replaced badly.
but to replace all that resilient surfacing out there
is close to a million dollars, just for replacement.
Excuse me.
Yes.
I was going to ask, are there any plans
regarding some of the other parts of the playground,
like the sand pits, the train, or the rock structures?
Like what are the plans surrounding those?
Great question.
So the sand pit is going to generally remain the same.
We do have some options.
they're not up here about changing up a little bit how the flow of the water comes out.
Right now there's three troughs.
You push the button and you turn the funnel, something along those lines and it goes to
different troughs.
And so that is fairly worn out.
It's not that uncommon because of the sand wears those instruments out.
So we're going to be providing some opportunities to make improvements to the sand.
The small train we installed not that many years ago,
that small train will remain.
We'll put the new resilient surface around it.
And the boulders at this point
are gonna remain in place as they are.
Okay, one of the big, you know,
this is why the shock factor here is the dollars, right?
These, this almost eats up the entire,
I mean, if we were to go to with option B there
in the middle, it almost eats up the entire budget.
What this includes, you can kind of see
on the bottom right there.
It's the removal of the equipment,
the installation of the new equipment,
those curb mounting seating,
and then there's an area in between where the boulders are
and in between the actual structure that really gets muddy.
It's mostly dirt, and it's hard even if we were
to put bark in there because of the angle.
The bark would just slide out.
We want to put synthetic turf in there
so that the area's more usable.
There's more opportunity for people to put down blankets and those types of things when we go forward and put in a new structure at civic park
The first thing we're going to hear about is parking
Because everybody loves a new playground right and they all are going to focus on the new playground
It's going to be the new thing and so we want to make sure that there's enough space for everybody to have an opportunity to
Put their blanket down and relax and it's a shaded area. So the turf won't get that hot
Okay, so as I roll into these options
These options at Walden Park
For the this is only a two to five are
Somewhere in the range of 200 to 250
When we only have 500,000, so just be keeping that in mind and I'll share the rest of it here with you in a minute
but this is the
Yeah, this is the five to twelve. Sorry at Walden Park
You know not not a lot
Not a huge improvement from what we currently have out there
I'd like to see a little bit more, I think some of the shading is pretty cool, but it
just isn't super exciting to me.
I'd like to see a few more panels and those types of things.
So this is just a different look at it, we've got some musical panels over there.
And this is going to be an interesting topic right with the music, because the music can
become very distracting and very annoying, and it's also loved by many of the community
members that want their kids out there and being active, and it's just another amenity.
So, it's going to be some good discussions, we're going to learn a lot.
Just another look at the same, option A, this is option B, and it has the pirate ship kind
of theme with the sails there, you know, a ground panel, you can see the climbers there
in the background, you know, that twirly slide, and then there's that kind of storefront feeling
that you get underneath one of the platforms there.
Sorry, did I go too fast there?
You guys are comfortable with that.
Different look.
This one has a lot of shade, as you can see,
which is valuable over there.
The playground around the playground itself at Walden
has a fair amount of huge oak trees.
But they're not over top of the existing playground.
So generally, you've got your slide, a couple of climbers.
You've got your music, kind of a different look.
What we haven't had in some of these,
and it just dawned on me now, is some of those seats
that I was sharing earlier, that spin,
or maybe some spring rockers, or something along those lines.
We haven't had those here at Walden so much.
This is for 12-year-olds.
It's 5 to 12, right?
Okay, so this is the two to five area.
So we have a five to 12 area,
and then the two to five is the sand pit.
It's almost all sand with resilient surface around it.
The benefit to improving this area is what you see here,
and I'll show you a number of slides.
It's between 40 and $50,000 to do this work.
And so if you chose one of the other options
that are in the 450 range,
and then we just move forward with updating the sand area,
The sand area at Walden, by the way, is the most active area.
Because typically, over in Walden,
the kids are much younger, and they really like the sand.
The other benefit we're going to do over here,
and it's not shown in this, is we're
going to bring a water source over there.
And so they're going to have another water source
to play with in the sand.
That is a huge element at all these parks.
In fact, that green table that terraces
will be one of the water elements,
so the water will kind of tear us down through there.
So, these are the numbers, this actually includes the sand area, but if you pull the sand area
out, it's somewhere, in fact, I think I have it, yeah, it's about $45,000 for that, and
that includes the demo and the replacement costs and those types of things.
So, I already shared this portion of you, these are next steps is to kind of get a nod
from you guys about, hey, we're comfortable with the approach, love to hear your feedback
on what you're thinking in terms of cost or amenities, one of the reasons I still want
to move forward and show you what we have here at Walden, and I think it's important
that we go out to the community, even if we can't afford it, we go out to the community
and get feedback from them on what they would like to see in that area in the future, and
so that we do have a shovel-ready project that's already been vetted through the Community
If we're going to be out there anyways, we might as well get this information.
And the next cycle, or even halfway through this cycle, the commission could make a recommendation
that, hey, we want to move forward.
And there is money in the park and loo fund or there's maybe there's some more grant money
we can find, you know, something along those lines.
So I think it's important to get feedback whether we're going to do this portion of
it this year or not.
So just my two cents.
I'm waiting to get your feedback.
So if you're comfortable, I'm going to move forward with the public outreach process and
move forward with the design and circle back with the pros commission once we get the feedback.
Yeah, so your action for tonight was just to provide feedback on the proposed playground
renderings and the public outreach plan.
Feedback for Mike?
Mike, could you talk a little bit more in detail about the public outreach plan?
I think you kind of give us a framework just like the detail dates and so don't have dates
specific although there are events already on the calendar I just don't know that the
specific date I mean the farmers markets every Sunday and so moving forward we put a plan
together and be able to attend a couple of the farmers markets share the information
with council there there almost every every every Sunday we got our first Wednesdays that
I think start first Wednesdays is a program that's run by Walnut Creek downtown typically
on Cyprus but sometimes they've done it on Locust Street we'll be out there in fact we'll
be out there at Moat I think there's four of them this year we have a number of different
projects going on in public works so we'll be out there advertising a lot of this stuff
and then we you know the weather's turning uh conditions are getting better we want to
be out there and at Civic Park and Walden Park with our tables our pop-up tents drawing
information as soon as we can, within the next 30 days, getting out there and start
getting information.
The other part of this is pushing this information out through our public information officer
on social media, on Nextdoor, to try and drive people to provide feedback through an online
survey.
And we can push that out relatively quickly, you know, May, June, those types of things,
And lastly, was the farmer's market as an example.
When are you planning to go out to bid for this?
So we are, it's a good question.
Obviously, we've got to gather all the feedback
and come back to the pros commission
and get the nod from the commissioners
that we're going to go out for a formal bid.
I would say it's late fall probably, maybe middle fall.
Are we generally having comments now?
Did you want comments from us?
Questions first and then we can open it up
for public comment and Chair did it look like
you had a question.
You'll bring it to the pros commission in the fall
for further discussion after the public comment.
Yeah.
And then after that would.
Would go out to bid.
We go out to bid.
Yeah, okay.
Yeah, we wanna make sure that we get all the feedback
we need from the commission before we go back out to bid.
And I'm sure the community is going to be interested
in what package we're going to go out to bid with as well.
Yeah.
OK.
Any other comments?
OK.
Would any member of the public wish
to make a comment regarding this item?
All right.
And with that, we will move along.
Yeah, I would just ask that if there are any other comments,
please give them to us now.
And if there are no other comments,
if you can give us a thumbs up or something.
We don't need to make a motion,
but I'd like to hear from you if you're comfortable
with this approach in this direction.
I have comment.
So I like that options presented for civic.
You know, I think they're very good substantial options.
We'll make that a pretty outstanding play area.
But in Walden, I know it's a smaller park,
but it seems like in comparison,
it's a much reduced facility and like there's no swings,
you know, there's not as much climbing areas,
that type of thing.
So it's a smaller park, they have the basketball courts,
they have the Frisbee golf and stuff like that.
But is it really just a matter of,
it's more of a neighborhood park
that serves a smaller set of people traditionally?
Is that a lot of it, or is it a space issue or?
Yeah, I mean we could, so there are swings there.
I, unfortunately I didn't show them,
and I should have, that was an error on my side.
This, the swings are gonna remain,
because they're in good shape,
and we are gonna put a generational swing.
We are gonna add a generational swing,
assuming it fits with the four seats that are out there.
The seats, the generational swings are a little bit wider,
and everything has to have a specific buffer around it,
and that's kind of what reduces some of the amenities
that you have in this small space
is because you need these big buffer zones.
And the buffer zones have changed
since this playground equipment went in back in 97, 98,
something along those lines.
And so you don't get all those amenities
that you wanna see in these areas.
In fact, you go out to them and you say,
wow, it's so spacious out here.
why couldn't you have done this or done that
in California laws just restrict us
from doing those types of things.
So it doesn't mean that we can't get more creative
with some of these options.
But for example, if somebody is standing on the bars
on the top platform there and jump,
you have to have everything six feet or more away from that
because they figure a toddler of that age
can't jump that to that distance.
That's how it's all measured.
But there's challenges with the laws
that we have to navigate through or comply with.
That makes sense, actually.
I really, I will say this.
I really, really like your idea of bringing water
to the toddler site.
I think that'll just be a really, really nice addition.
So I really like that.
It's good to hear we have a drinking fountain over there.
And the maintenance staff that has to constantly tear
the drinking fountain apart and pull all the sand out,
they'll love it, too.
Yeah, yeah, no doubt.
I think you've got a good package
to start the feedback process for the public.
And I hope that we get some good results from that
to kind of steer the direction of the projects.
So thank you, good start, thank you.
Yeah, appreciate the packages,
the options that you've presented.
I have one question about parent and guardian seeding.
I didn't specifically see in the graphics
that you presented.
So there's some seeding, I'll show you,
and assuming the seeding works out okay,
we're gonna be, so if you were at Walden Park,
I don't know how familiar you are with that,
but there's a raised, it's almost like a retaining wall
around one of the oak tree, tree wells.
And it's really not a retaining well,
it's more of a concrete bench.
We want, we're looking to,
no, I'm sorry, I'm going the wrong way, I apologize.
So you see the seating on the bar right there,
where's, right here.
The seating on the bottom right,
we're looking to add some seating to the retaining wells,
both at Civic and at Walden,
for parents so that they can be closer,
especially in the two to five areas.
So they're not sitting so far away under the grass
that they can literally be in a comfortable spot
instead of sitting on concrete.
Just another element to make it a little bit more pleasant
for the people that are there overseeing the youth.
In fact, I have grand plans to put shade structures
over the seeding and all that,
but that's only if a budget didn't exist.
So it's where we are, where we're at, yeah.
Yeah, it looks great, Mike, thumbs up.
I will just add that because Walden Park's location
next to the Ironhorse Trail and the Canal Trail there,
it is a huge starting and finishing point
for runners and hiking groups.
There have been many people there over the years myself.
So thank you for fixing the water fountains.
We appreciate it.
Oh yeah.
You're welcome.
Anyone else?
Think we're good?
Yep, thank you very much.
Okay, commissioners' reports.
Any commissioners want to share a report
from some group or organization they've attended?
Okay, staff reports?
Yes, I have several staff reports here.
The kickoff for the start of the ball field lighting
over at Tice Valley Park was today.
Contractor is now on site.
They've started mobilizing.
By mobilizing, they've set up a fenced off area,
and I think they brought a trailer or two out
where they can meet and those types of things.
I haven't been out there just yet.
But today is the actual kickoff day
for the Tice Valley Lighting Synthetic Turf.
The start date for the Synthetic Turf Project is next Monday.
Well, let me back up.
So the Tice Valley Light Project just started
And it's scheduled to be completed by mid-July.
We're working with PG&E to hopefully get them
to flip the switch and turn it on when we're completed.
But we're still working through that permitting process.
So we feel confident.
We've got actually a pretty good relationship with PG&E.
So we feel pretty confident that the lights will
be ready to be turned on once they're installed.
Synthetic Turf Project is about a six, six-and-a-half month
half project, six-and-a-half month project,
starting in middle of April,
finishing sometime around the beginning of November.
We've been working very closely with the soccer club
throughout this entire process,
including monument signage,
banners, we have a new entryway that we've designed,
kind of more of a formal grand entryway
that we've designed for Ball Field One,
that we're still working through those details
and getting pricing for.
And it's gonna be quite the process.
If you can envision the two fields,
Ball Field 1 and 2 are about five acres,
and they need to remove about 12 to 14 inches
out of five acres of land.
That is a lot of soil.
There's gonna be a lot of trucks going in and out.
It's gonna be quite the construction project.
And obviously, once they remove it,
they gotta bring it back in layers
and get back up to the correct elevation.
So it's a good project, we're looking forward to it.
You know, the voters of Measure O
are starting to see their efforts take place.
So we're really excited about that.
The new aquatic and community center project,
we are still patiently awaiting
some of the permits from the regulatory boards.
We feel like we're getting pretty close to getting those.
We're currently scheduled to, we've got a couple options
and this is important for you guys
as you may get some questions over the next few months.
One of the first phases is to expand the nature lake
by approximately 16,000 square feet
and at the same time reduce the size of the concrete pond
by about 16,000 square feet
And we're probably going to do both of those projects
through the same contractor being done at the same time.
And so the other challenge we're having
is we have to get two boring samples from inside the area
of the concrete pond that is going to be eventually going
away because we have to figure out what engineered soil is
going to be put in place in order
to support the new foundation.
And so part of the challenge with that
is we've got to put the second phase out to bid here
fairly soon. If we don't get the permitting, the regulatory permitting, and get to start
in July, we're not going to be able to pull those boring samples. So we anticipated this.
We applied for a separate dewatering permit, which we feel we'll hopefully get this week
or the beginning of next week, in that this additional dewatering permit will allow us
to start dewatering the pond much sooner, and then we can get out there and get those
samples as we need to complete the design of the project. So the pond and
don't hold me to any of these dates it's this is definitely a moving target that
we could start draining the pond as early as the beginning of May just in a
few weeks from now. That being said some of the information and all this by the
way is going up on the city's website so that we can point to people and they can
get this kind of brief information. If they approach the commissioners I'll
I'll send you this link tomorrow when I send the invite to you and you can push this information
out whether it's through Nextdoor or just through social events.
What we don't know is when we dewater that pond, what the smell of the organic matter
is going to be.
And it's challenging.
We've got weddings that are going to be taking place over at the garden center and other
events, not necessarily out of the existing Heather Farm rec center, but we're looking
at the, we don't know what the organics are, because we haven't seen them. Obviously we've
gone in and done some sonar testing, so sonar is probably not the right word, but we know
the depths and those types of things. We know that, and as you guys can envision, that portion
of the lake that we're removing is typically where everything floats over to when the winds
blow that way. We know there's a minimum of 18 inches of organic matter at the bottom
of that pond because we dewatered it enough to be able to get in and measure that. We
don't know what's in the bottom of the main portion. And right now we're thinking we're
going to be removing that organic matter, but we're going to make a more in-depth decision
once we get those ponds drained and really see what we have in there. So we're not anticipating
any large cars or probably a few shopping carts and maybe a few bikes are
in there but we don't know what we're gonna find. So that's that's gonna be
great. So that's the pond. Yeah ask a clarifying question. So you need the
borens to issue the specs for the second phase? So we need to pull the soil soil
samples and send them to the lab so that they can determine, so they take these samples
down I think one's 8 foot and one's 12 foot down and they'll come back and decide okay
since you're not going to be excavating down 8 or 12 feet, here is the engineered specs
on the materials that you need to put in place compacted in order to hold the foundation
in the future.
I get that, but my question is more about what is that holding up that you don't have
permission to drill yet?
We can't get in the pond.
We need to get in the pond and we need to get the equipment in the pond in order to
drill it out and you can't, the boring company won't do it if the soil samples get wet.
Okay.
Yeah.
So we got to dry the pond, we got to get in there, physically get in there.
I have another question. So I think I know you've covered this in the past but
remind me like the Walnut Festival won't be happening in Heather Farm with the
turf project. The Walnut Festival will not be happening in September, right?
Yeah. And this project's not done until... Yes that's correct. The Walnut Festival
will not be happening in Heather Farm Park. We have moved the art and wine this
year over to Civic Park. The recreation team is not here. They are the ones
who coordinate those events, so I'll have to follow up with you and what's going
on with the Walnut Fest, but I thought at a minimum they're taking a year
break, but I have to double check that. Thank you. So two more updates.
from court resurfacing.
I mentioned this, I think, at the last meeting,
but we are going to be resurfacing the courts
at Arbalotto, the tennis courts at Arbalotto and Rudgear.
And in addition, we had the funding
to resurface the basketball court at Arbalotto too,
or as well.
And then lastly is just a brief update
on what's taking place over on Sutherland
and Fossil Hill Project.
The pilot program is, I would say is going fairly well.
We receive feedback daily from not so much from the homeowners
but from visitors, a lot of phone calls that come in.
We do get some emails here and there.
Some people are supportive and some people are frustrated
that they don't have access.
Obviously the roads, the streets over there in the county.
So although we're supporting what the county
and the neighbors wanted, we have no jurisdiction
over what takes place on those roads.
Most people understand that at this point
and they're questioning why we closed the parking lot down.
And the reason we did it is so that people
aren't driving back and forth to try and see
if there's a spot in a, it's about seven, nine spots
depending on how people park.
And so it's not accommodating very many vehicles
to begin with, but people,
we're trying to prevent this back and forth,
and this is a pilot program.
And so we're trying to measure our successes and failures
and see what we learn out of the process.
So for the most part,
I know that the neighbors are fairly happy
with the way things are working out,
and some of the visitors are a little bit more challenged
with the situation.
Yeah. And that's all I had.
Great, Mike. Very informative.
Hey, a couple quick things backtracking a bit.
When did the tennis courts get resurfaced on Arbolado
and Red Gear for my tennis friends?
So there was a scheduled conversation today,
to the best of my knowledge, today,
and we're still waiting to hear back from lifetime activities,
but beginning of July at Arbolado.
and they'll do Arbolado first,
and then they'll go to Red Gear.
Okay, and then there's, on Ball Field One,
there is a outdoor exercise equipment, right?
Is that along that trail?
That's correct.
Does that get, have to be removed
in order to complete the turf, or does that stay?
I don't remember if that's a cement area or...
Yeah, so some of it's actually in the trail,
and we're gonna be able to save some of it.
the portion of the trail that's going to remain.
Some of it is right along the edge of the trail,
and it's not bolted in, it's in footings,
and so it would have to be cut.
And so we'll circle back and add some equipment,
that's a good point.
I'll come back once that project's complete,
back to the commission, and there might be other
opportunities that weren't thought of during this process,
and maybe we can have a conversation about funding
or other amenities that can be added.
Because a lot of that, during the day, as you know,
those two soccer fields, they go underutilized
during the school day.
And so we want to benefit all the users that
are using that portion of the park.
And the walkways are a big part of it.
And so it'd be worth visiting in the future.
Yeah, my mom lives over there.
And I do occasionally walk that.
And there are definitely people in the morning that use that.
And the equipment out there, and they
push the strollers and mom's work out on those so okay great anything else all
right we are adjourning this meeting this concludes April 7th 2025 pros
Commission meeting we are adjourned to the June 2nd 2025 scheduled meeting
thank you very much