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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04-05-2016 PBR MINUTES CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 5, 2016 – 6:00 PM I. CALL MEETING OF THE PARKS, BEACHES & RECREATION COMMISSION TO ORDER – 6:01 PM II. ROLL CALL Present: Walt Howald, Chair Marie Marston, Vice Chair Roy Englebrecht Laird Hayes Absent: Tom Anderson Ron Cole Kathy Hamilton Staff: Laura Detweiler, Recreation & Senior Services Director Mike Pisani, Municipal Operations Director Sean Levin, Recreation & Senior Services Deputy Director Jonathan Harmon, Recreation Manager Justin Schmillen, Recreation Manager Stephanie Brown, Recreation Supervisor Teri Craig, Administrative Support Specialist Marie Lindeman, Administrative Support Specialist III. NOTICE TO THE PUBLIC IV. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON CONSENT CALENDAR – None V. CONSENT CALENDAR A. Minutes of the March 1, 2016 PB&R Commission meeting. Waive reading of subject minutes, approve and order filed. B. Parks, Trees, & Beach Maintenance Divisions Activity Report Receive/file Activity Report. C. Recreation & Senior Services Activity Report. Receive/file Activity Report of past and upcoming projects and events. D. Bench Donation - Rhine Wharf Park Approve bench donation by Lynn Gamache at Rhine Wharf Park in memory of Sean Millikan. Chair Howald asked how many benches were in Newport Beach and if the fee covered the maintenance. Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Minutes April 5, 2016 Page 2 Director Pisani stated they would find out how many benches there were, but with respect to maintenance each donated bench has a 10% maintenance fee attached which covers any expenses involved and that it is based on the cost of the bench plus 10 percent. Motion by Commissioner Englebrecht; second by Vice Chair Marston to approve Consent Calendar items V-A through V-D. Motion carried unanimously with Commissioners Anderson, Cole and Hamilton absent. VI. CURRENT BUSINESS A. Bonita Creek Synthetic Turf Maintenance Update For information only. Director Detweiler stated that when the synthetic turf project was installed and completed that the Commission had asked for an update on the maintenance and other aspects of the project in six months. Director Detweiler introduced Manager Schmillen to provide the update. Manager Schmillen provided a PowerPoint presentation that included slides related to the installation of the synthetic turf in August 2015. He noted that the synthetic turf has provided increased opportunities for additional groups to play including high school sports, adult leagues, and open field time. One of the pivotal parts of maintaining the fields is preventative maintenance and education. There are specific rules that apply to synthetic turf fields. He went on to say that Park Patrol has done a great job with public contact and providing information to youth sports groups and individual users and the substantial participatory care from the public and the Youth Sports Commission has been extremely helpful. With respect to maintenance Manager Schmillen said the fields are swept weekly or twice a week based on usage and that the groomer is run every four to six weeks across the field which takes two to three hours. Manager Schmillen explained that there were a number of new groups using the fields and presented the distribution of usage between the groups and provided several photos of the field both before and after and highlighted features of the field. Manager Schmillen noted that staff was able to offer a winter season for the first time because of the new turf. Grass fields are closed from December 12th to January 31st for rest, recovery, and maintenance purposes which are not necessary with synthetic turf.. Commissioner Englebrecht asked Mr. Schmillen about overuse of the synthetic fields especially with adult users. Manager Schmillen said that the installer, Field Turf, advised that with routine maintenance and normal use the typical life of a field is between 8 and 11 years and that the size of the players is not a factor. Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Minutes April 5, 2016 Page 3 Commissioner Englebrecht asked if the Department was getting more revenue because of the increased use. Director Detweiler said they received increased revenues with increased rentals, but stated that the intent was never to recoup the cost. The intent was to increase usage which they have done. The field is costly with installation around $1M, but a great investment for the community. Commissioner Englebrecht stated that the 466 additional use hours was tremendous. Vice Chair Marston said it was a good report and thanked the staff. Commissioner Hayes confirmed that every group except for the schools paid for the usage of the field. Manager Schmillen stated that Commissioner Hayes was correct. Fee structure for the youth sports open groups is $1 per hour. The YSC club groups rate is $15 per hour. Commissioner Hayes asked if the school groups had priority over non-school groups. Manager Schmillen said that the school groups do have priority and indicated they were in Class D which follows Class C which is open youth sports groups and off season groups. Commission Hayes asked if private instructors giving private lessons without paying the City a fee was an ongoing issue. Manager Schmillen indicated it was something they saw, but noted that Park Patrol educated people about policies and procedures and that usually it is a onetime offense. Director Detweiler said there is a lot of self-policing that goes on. She also noted that there was a mated osprey couple that was courting at the field, and explained that the City built the osprey a platform on the middle light standard. Commissioner Englebrecht asked if the high schools received a special rate Specifically, if the schools were charged less than a public entity who wanted to rent the field. Manager Schmillen said that under the joint use agreement that no fee is charged. Commissioner Englebrecht stated that the taxpayers of Newport Beach gave the Newport-Mesa School District special treatment for the use of the field yet the Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Minutes April 5, 2016 Page 4 Newport-Mesa School District was going against the taxpayers to build a football stadium at Corona del Mar High School. Director Detweiler explained that the joint use agreement has been place for a long time and that the City receives great benefit from use of school facilities in order to offer a well rounded recreation program to the community. Chair Howald complimented the staff on the report and requested further updates in six months and a year. He asked if there was signage related to dogs near the field. Manager Schmillen confirmed there was signage near the field and along the pathway. There are no doggie bags near the field, but there are in other places as well as adequate trash receptacles. Chair Howald asked Director Detweiler if there were contingencies in the budget for replacement of the turf in the future. Director Detweiler explained the condition of the field would be monitored. She expects to get the full useful life of the field due to diligent maintenance efforts. Eventually the rug would be replaced, but this would be substantially less than the initial installation. It would be much less than the initial $1M and would go through the CIP process. Chair Howald opened the public comments; hearing none the public comments were closed. VII. ANNOUNCEMENTS / FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Chair Howald has heard from a number of people related to the dog beach issue. He advised people that it was a County property, but that signage would be added. Director Detweiler said they were moving forward with the Commission’s directives, but needed time to work through the process. Chair Howald asked about the timeline related to Poppy. Director Pisani said the design stage had taken longer than expected, but the contract would be on the next Council meeting. The project is on track to begin construction in September; with PB&R Commission review in June or July. He stated that there would be a complete reconstruction of the street, curb, gutter, sidewalk on Poppy along with the planting of 64 trees. Director Pisani announced two free bags of compost would be given out on April 9th between 9 and 11am at the OASIS Auxiliary Parking lot. Chair Howald inquired about the new Corona del Mar Library and the fire station, but the staff did not know if the start date was determined. Parks, Beaches & Recreation Commission Minutes April 5, 2016 Page 5 Director Detweiler stated that Marina Park hosted their first Movie in the Park at Marina Park with about 350 attendees. She noted that the Mayor’s Spring Egg Roll event had been well attended. She stated that the pickleball courts had been included in the CIP update to the Council. She announced that each year the City takes applications for special event support from the City Council; the process is open until May 2nd and nonprofits are encouraged to apply. Director Detweiler commented that the Department is preparing for their summer program and introduced Supervisor Stephanie Brown. Supervisor Brown addressed the Commission about summer camps and that registration is up 49% to date from 2015. She provided three promo videos on aquatics, afterschool classes (ACE) and the 2015 track meet and reminded the Commission that the 2016 track meet is scheduled for April 15. VIII. PUBLIC COMMENTS ON NON-AGENDA ITEMS – None IX. ADJOURNMENT 6:51 p.m. Submitted by: ________ Teri Craig, Admin Assistant Approved by: _____ Walt Howald, Chair Teri Craig Walt Howald