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HomeMy WebLinkAbout07/06/2004 - PB&R CommissionJULY 61 2004 APPROVED PB &R COMMISSION MINUTES CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Parks, Beaches Et Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 - 7pm Convened 7:09pm ROLL CALL Present: Debra Allen Tim Brown Bill Garrett Greg Ruzicka Val Skoro Tom Tobin Roy Englebrecht (arrived at 7:17pm) Staff: Marie Knight, Recreation Ft Senior Services Director David Niederhaus, General Services Director Teri Craig, Administrative Assistant Chair Allen thanked the commission for electing her as chair twice and thanked Dave Niederhaus and his staff, especially Marcy Lomeli and John Conway, noting the battle with the tree issues and some very long hearings and a lot of hard work especially on tree issues. The Council adopted the new G -1 Policy and noted that it never would have been done without Dave and his staff. She also thanked Marie and her staff, Andrea and Teri, noting that staff had held her hand through the whole two year process and thanked Teri stating people just do not realize how much work staff does behind the scenes, which is how the Commission is able to sound knowledgeable as so much of it is done for the Commission within the staff reports, and phone calls that are answered. She went on to say how good Marie has made her look with all speeches that she has written. ELECTION OF OFFICERS Chair Allen opened the nominations for Chair for FY 2004/05. Motion by Commissioner Ruzicka to elect Commissioner Tobin as Chair. Hearing no other nominations, Chair Allen closed the nominations for Chair Ayes: Allen, Brown, Garrett, Ruzicka, Skoro Absent Englebrecht Abstain: Tobin Chair Tobin opened the nominations for Vice Chair for FY 2004/05. Motion by Chair Tobin to elect Commissioner Ruzicka as Vice Chair. Hearing no other nominations, Chair Tobin closed the nominations for Vice Chair Ayes: Allen, Brown, Garrett, Ruzicka, Skoro Absent Englebrecht Abstain: Ruzicka Parks, Beaches It Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 2 COMMISSIONER ENGLEBRECHT ARRIVED AT 7:13PM Commissioner Ruzicka thanked Commissioner Allen for her leadership and hard work over the last two years. Chair Tobin stated that Commissioner Allen would be a hard act to follow. DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS Director Knight stated this last week was the Annual 4`h of July Bicycle Parade and Picnic Celebration at Mariners Park and thanked past Chair Allen for coming out and riding in the parade and representing the Commission. She stated that there was a greater turn out then last year and that the event is done in conjunction with the Mariners Foundation, which staff works closely with. She went on to say that staff had survived the first week of summer programs with day camps up and running, and both pools open this summer for swim programs. At the end of the first full week of summer more revenue has been taken in then all of last year for the summer season. She stated that there are two coordinator positions open; one at OASIS and one for the contract classes and aquatics program; Jan Koriath has moved to Seattle and Chris Peart is moving to Denver. She stated that the position at OASIS has been filled and the new Coordinator will begin next week; however, after interviewing for the Recreation Classes /Aquatics position it was decided that staff would wait until the end of summer and re- interview, hoping to get a better pool of applicants. Director Knight went on to say that the Commission may see a familiar face out at the pools as Jim Skahan has been hired as a temporary coordinator and will help in the supervision of the pool staff and as liaison with field staff. Commissioner Englebrecht asked if this was the first summer for the Park Patrol. Director Knight stated yes, that they had started in October of last year and that staff will be bringing a report at the September meeting. PUBLIC COMMENTS Dona Colombero read the following on the fire rings on the peninsula: That after the high tide, full moon, wind and large sea flooding near the Balboa pier last month, residents were made painfully aware of the dangerous condition being created by the present treatment of the fire rings here. That in front of my house, where the water comes up the sidewalk there is still an area of grey sand marking the exact course of the flood. Watering down and shoveling some of the debris from the rings into a waiting truck, then eventually raking the rest (including charcoal ashes and partially burned pallets) into the existing sand to be sifted and distributed up and down the ocean front is creating an escalating danger to all. Withthin the fire rings there are many things that are not meant to be there such as nails, coat hangers, broken glass and possible toxic materials. Every day the sports leagues, the Jr. Lifeguards and city sponsored programs and basically all visitors have no knowledge of these hazards and they expect to be able to use all the facilities without danger. Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 3 She asked the Commission to undertake a study of the condition, perhaps enlisting experts in the debris field and make a report with alternative plans for the removal of the fire pits. Commissioner Ruzicka asked staff if there was some kind of state law that mandates that we have those fire rings. CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Item pulled by Commissioner Allen 2. Item pulled by staff 3. Item pulled by Commissioner Skoro 4. Bench Donation. Accept donation from Mary Kilfoy of one bench to be installed at the Newport Pier. Minutes of the June 1. 2004 regular meeting. Commissioner Allen stated that she had pulled this item as it would need to be recorded that she would be abstaining from voting on the minutes as she had been absent. Motion by Chair Tobin to approve the June 1, 2004 minutes. Motion carried as follows: Ayes: Brown, Englebrecht Garrett, Ruzicka, Skoro, Tobin Abstain: Allen 3. Recreation & Senior Services Activity Report. Commissioner Skoro asked what the schedule was for the park patrol. Director Knight stated that the general schedule is anywhere between 4 -9pm during the week, Fridays, 4 -11 pm and weekends vary but that there is usually one on duty during the morning and the other starting later in the afternoon. She stated that these hours are not posted but we are generally covered during the evening during the weekdays and during the day to dusk on the weekends. Commissioner Skoro stated that he had heard from several people on Ocean Boulevard as it is a very hard area to handle and that people it needs more attention from the Park Patrol. Director Knight stated that generally what staff is finding on Ocean Boulevard is that activity increases around sunset and into the evening and that it is part of their patrols regular beat and that they have noticed an increase in activity and they are out there on a regular basis. Commissioner Ruzicka thanked staff for the revised park patrol report. Director Knight reminded the Commission that this report is from May and would not reflect the beginning of the summer as we are always two months behind in reporting. Park & Tree Division Activity Report. Director Niederhaus stated that the City will be receiving a half million dollars from the Coastal Conservancy for the design of the 55 acre Big Canyon Nature Park which is the same group that helped with the native plantings at Castaways and with help staff will be able to build that park with further grant money. He went on to say that the May Beach Maintenance report had been included to the Commission's review and that it was the most current copy. Director Niederhaus noted that some minor Parks, Beaches l3 Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 4 vandalism had been done at the Bonita Canyon Sports Park during the 4`h of July weekend with the exception of minor graffiti in the restrooms. Commissioner Garrett thanked staff for the inclusion of the Beach Maintenance report. Discussion ensued regarding the graffiti and the possibility of cameras within the parks. Motion by Chair Tobin to receive and approve Items 2 through 4 of the Consent Calendar. Motion carried by acclamation. CONTINUING BUSINESS 5. Smokine on Piers and Beaches - Director Niederhaus introduced Deputy City Attorney Dan Ohl and two representatives from the Police Department who are available to comment on the enforcement issue and Mr. Ohl is here for the legal side. He stated that since the report has been prepared, no correspondence has been received and noted that this was a little unusual for an item as controversial as this, however, staff have been in contact with the individuals that spoke at the Council meeting and invited them and shared the staff report with them, and there have been some inquiries from the media. He reviewed the important issues of the staff report with the Commission and noted that the report is specifically for prohibiting smoking on public piers and beaches as this is what the Council directed the Commission and staff to look at. He stated that staff is making two recommendations: • To support a no smoking ordinance that pertains to public piers, beaches and certain other public areas. • Designate certain areas for smokers on beaches and adjacent public areas. Equip designated areas with smoking urns and support funding for the maintenance of the urns. He stated that a question had come up on whether these recommendations were individual or collective and stated that staff is recommending both. He stated that the first is a no smoking ordinance and the other is to designate certain areas in a fairness issue for smokers as well as to have a place for them to legally abandon their smoking materials staff felt is was necessary to identify places they frequent and then provide smoking urns and some maintenance of that area. He reviewed the issues of the staff report with the commission. He stated that if there were other issues that the Commission wanted to add that staff would be happy to do that. Director Niederhaus stated that this whole issue began in the fall of 2003 with litter clean ups and when different groups began to notice the high number of cigarette butts on the beach and the issue was brought to Council on May 25, 2004 at which time they studied the report by Mr. Ohl and decided that this item should be forwarded to the Commission for study and staff is required to return to Council in 120 days. He stated that one of the first things that was done was to update the beach survey and looked at like cities and others that have initiated some kind of no smoking ordinance. Director Niederhaus stated that staff then looked at potential no smoking areas, and what area that smoking should be prohibited, and of course the two main ocean piers came to mind and staff then looked at the pier and beach amenities such as benches where staff has noticed that there is always smoking debris left there. He went on to say that a no smoking ordinance has not been developed Parks, Beaches £t Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 5 but staff has copies from other cities and a copy of the Assembly Bill that would prohibit smoking on state beaches. He stated that this is something that needs to be done and that the prohibited areas should be narrowed down. He stated that in areas where smoking is already prohibited, such as restaurants and bars by state code, and are on or near playgrounds. Also you will notice that there are signs at the entrance that state that you must stay 20 feet away from the opening when smoking. He stated in City vehicles and buildings. He stated that there are three interest groups here tonight. He went on to say that staff also focused on the auxiliary issue of litter. Director Niederhaus stated that adjacent homeowners of any designated smoking area might have problems because of the smoke or people congregating there. He stated that they are treading very softly on that issue, and went on to say that the big issue is enforcement and stated that he would like to give credit to CPT Newman that wrote the paragraph on enforcement and emphasize that a smoking ban ordinance is difficult to enforce in a beach type environment and if the ban is adopted, police officers will only cite during the normal course of their routine patrol just as they do now with other nuisance issues. Chair Allen stated that she had some concerns that the businesses around the piers had not been notified of the issue and that it would be helpful to get feedback from them before a recommendation is sent back to Council. Commissioner Brown stated that he fully supports a no smoking ordinance but that it would be helpful to hear from the residents that live adjacent to the designated areas listed in the staff report. He asked if it was essential to designate smoking areas and if so wouldn't we want input from those residents/ businesses that live close to those areas and if the Commission recommended approval would those designated areas listed in the report be the ones that would be forwarded to City Council. Director Niederhaus stated that areas have not been specifically designated and as you can see there are 90 of them listed. Staff has been looking at the 12 -14 bench areas along the boardwalk and staff has not contacted the Balboa BID or West Newport, Central Balboa Homeowners' Associations or the BPPA, and thought that this was just a preliminary discussion as staff was unclear if the Commission would refer the issue to the Beach Committee for further study and staff did not want to be so specific in the first go round, but would like to be reasonable to smokers as well. Chair Tobin asked if there were options of the design of the urns other than what has been provided. Commissioner Skoro asked if there was feedback from other cities relative to comparing absolute enforcement of the ban into passive enforcement, and has it actually deterred smoking? Director Niederhaus stated that staff has talked to San Clemente but would refer this to Mr. Ohl. Parks, Beaches B: Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 6 Commissioner Skoro asked Director Niederhaus of the Assembly Bill status and what beaches would it effect if passed. Director Niederhaus stated that the Assembly Bill had been distributed and would get the timeline in a few minutes Commissioner Skoro asked if there was any feedback on the legal issue of the no smoking ban. Deputy City Attorney Ohl stated that research has been done in conjunction with this issue and contacted other jurisdictions, no one has been able to come up with a case or a statute anywhere that states that anyone has a constitutional right right to smoke. He stated that every jurisdiction that he has talked to regarding enforcement will be using passive enforcement and that no one knows how this will work. The only exception to that is Santa Monica as they have indicated that they will be aggressively enforcing the issue. Commissioner Englebrecht asked Mr. Ohl if he believes that the burr might just be the designated smoking areas or had staff any information of what other cities had done with designating smoking areas. Mr. Ohl stated that San Clemente has an area at the base of the pier adjacent to a restaurant much like what Commissioner Allen made reference to, but other than that is unaware of designated areas where people are allowed to smoke but rather designated areas where they are not allowed to smoke. He stated that if we displace them off the beach, that smokers are going to go elsewhere. Commissioner Englebrecht stated that he would like to know what cities have designate smoking areas and where are they located and asked that staff research that issue. Chair Tobin opened the public discussion Jim Walker, Director of STOP Tobacco Abuse of Minors and commended City staff for the great work and stated that he has worked with many cities on this issue and is here to answer any questions that the commission might have. He stated that he has information on civil liberties and noted that that your right to smoke ends at someone else's nose. Narcis Kabiri, Health Education Association from the County of Orange Tobacco Use Prevention Program, distributed information on tobacco use and a fact sheet. She stated that the Seal Beach and Santa Barbara pier, Santa Monica beach, Pasadena parks are smoke free without any designated areas. She stated that the boardwalk in Santa Cruz is smoke free and are looking to expand that area. Commissioner Allen asked if there is a concern that should the City designate a fixed area that the smokers will move the problem to an adjacent area and asked staff for guidance on that and do they find that the problems occurs anyway. Ms. Kabiri stated that these cities have completely banned it so they do not have that problem. She stated that they did work with businesses and restaurants and that Parks, Beaches £t Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 7 restaurant's were able to designate a particular smoking area outside. She stated that it becomes easier to make it completely smoke free then have a smoking area here and there because every beach is laid out differently. Carolyn Wilkinson, Newport Harbor High School stated that she believes that self policing will work and that people may still smoke if the police are not around to ticket them but people for the most part are law abiding, and that if they see a sign that says no smoking, that most will follow that direction. She presented the 13,000 cigarette butts picked up from the beach back in April by the pier. Amy Brewer, Community Alliance Network distributed a letter urging the support of the ordinance and stated that as a resident she also supports no smoking on the beach. Leslie Serrel, Oncology Education Coordinator at Hoag Cancer Center and on behalf of Medical Director Dr. Bob Dittman urged the support for any smoking cessation that this City can help with. Chair Tobin closed the public discussion Commissioner Englebrecht stated that smoking was allowed many years ago anywhere, then no smoking areas were designated in restaurants and on airlines and now studies have come out and stated that second hand smoke is as much of a killer as smoking and so now we have no smoking in restaurants and bars. He is encouraged that most cities do not have designated areas for smoking and stated that he would be hard pressed to come up with designated areas and would be more inclined to say "smoke free beaches." There is no need to provide designated areas for smoking. Commissioner Allen stated that we need to find out how the residents along the ocean front would feel if there were smoking areas and noted that we are a different than San Clemente, but added that she is not abdicating smoking areas as she would not want to live next door to one. She stated that she is concerned that since we have 11.8 linear miles of beach of that 6.5 miles is ocean and 5.5 bay beaches and hoped that staff would encourage homeowners, HOA and business associations for any ideas and comments and asked staff to research other cities for information on whether it has affected tourism. Commissioner Ruzicka asked if the smoking companies had tried to ban these ordinances. Mr. Ohl stated that he was unaware of any of the national tobacco companies intervening and in fact some of the literature gathered from the web sites has been just the opposite stating that they are supportive of these type of efforts. Commissioner Brown stated his support of Commissioner's Allen and Englebrecht comments. He asked if they could recommend on one of the recommendation without the other. Director Niederhaus stated yes. Parks, Beaches li Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 8 Commissioner Brown stated again that he supports a no smoking ordinance but is not ready to reject the idea of designated smoking areas. He stated that he is leaning that way but since there is time, more information is needed on what impacts negative and positive that designated smoking areas could have. Commissioner Ruzicka asked if we could table this. Commissioner Skoro asked that if and when this is passed on to Council and assuming that smoking areas are designated would we need to specify those areas in the recommendation? Director Niederhaus stated that a couple of routes could be taken. If the Commission is in favor of a no smoking ordinance and the issue is the second recommendation, but remembering that staff is trying to be fair to smokers by giving them an outlet and to address litter issue and to have signs posted. He stated that there is no ownership of the designated area paragraph, which is why staff did not list those specifically, but if they had, staff would have notified HOA and business associations at that time. Commissioner Englebrecht again stated that there is no need to even discuss designated areas. Commissioner Garrett stated that designated areas could open a huge can of worms and that it it is not a good idea, but possibly an area on each of the piers for fisherman could be designated, also commented that the floats should be addressed. He went on to say that we should look at this more quickly than later. Commissioner Skoro asked how long staff would need to address these issues. Director Niederhaus stated that he would be ready for next month. Motion by Commissioner Skoro to table this issue until August for action. Commissioner Ruzicka asked if staff would notice all that would be influenced by such an ordinance. Director Niederhaus stated that they would notify HOA's and business associations as well. He also stated that staff would withdraw the second recommendation if that is the direction of the Commission. Commissioner Allen stated that the recommendation should stay as is because the commission would receive more response from the community. Commissioner Ruzicka asked that the motion be restated. Commissioner Skoro stated that his motion was to table the issue until August with stated recommendations as is. Motion carried by acclamation. OLD BUSINESS Parks, Beaches Et Recreation Commission Regular Meeting July 6, 2004 Page 9 6. Committee Reports • Finance - Commissioner Garrett stated that they met with Director Knight several weeks ago and approved the budget. • Park Development - Commissioner Skoro stated that the next meeting would be July 20 at 8:30am in the Fire Conference Room and asked the Commission to notice the grading that has been going on at Upper Bayview at Jamboree and Coast Highway. He stated that enhancement information had been given at the June meeting and hopefully within a year the park would be completed. • Rec ii Open Space Element - Nothing to report. • Recreation Activities - Nothing to report. • Seniors - Director Knight stated that City staff is still meeting with the Friends and that nothing has been finalized. • Beach Activities - Commissioners Garret thanks staff for the inclusion of Beach Maintenance as part of the monthly Parks £t Tree Activity Report. • Ad Hoc - Community Service Award - Director Knight asked the Commission for any recommendations and stated that press release would be done requesting nominations from the community. - Youth Sports Liaison - Nothing to report FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS • Smoking on the Beach l3 Piers - August • Donation Brochure- September • Irvine Terrace Park Encroachment • Review of Council Policy G -5 possibly requiring approval of HOA where benches will be installed or gage number of benches in parks. • Liability Aspects at Marina Park • Ordinance 11.04 — Conduct in Parks • Special Tree Committee appointment - October • Staff report on Fire Rings ADJOURNMENT - 8:37pm Submitted by: Teri Craig, Admi As ' tant