HomeMy WebLinkAboutMinutes Parks And Recreation Advisory Committee - 11/11/2020
PARKS AND RECREATION ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Regular Meeting * Wednesday, November 11, 2020 5:30 p.m.
Webex
MINUTES
I. Call to Order by Chairperson Alissa Mejia at 5:30 p.m.
II. Roll Call of Members
• Present: Alissa Mejia, Twila Stevens, Lawrence Heatley, Mandy Cox, Florence East, Casandra
Lorentson, Howard Schauer, Diego Solis.
• Absent: Jacob Dryden, Hannah Husby, Amy McCoy.
• Quorum was met.
III. Public Comment
• None
IV. Adoption of Minutes
• Regular Meeting – Adoption of Minutes from October 14, 2020: Minutes from October 14, 2020 were
passed unanimously.
V. Police Department Report
• Police Department Report – Captain Weldon Weber: Artesian Park and La Ratama Park have extra
patrols in place for the Christmas decorations. Ocean Drive Park also has extra patrols for the flags
for our heroes that are on display. PD is working with the City and other community partners to
provide a safe harbor location for the homeless population. This should help keep them out of City
parks. Bike units have helped with the Safe Fun Fit event in the Shoreline Park area. Night shifts in
the Delta District have increased their curfew patrols . Ted Harrison will be communicating with Parks
and Recreation to find which parks need the most help with cleanup. Permission has been granted
by Municipal Court for homeless individuals to work off community service under Ted’s supervision.
• Alissa Mejia: On Ocean Drive, the Revive the Drive construction project is currently underway. The
waterfront parks Palmetto, Poenisch and Swantner are currently blocked off with barrels, but it
seems that people are still allowed to access them. People are driving through openings in the
barrels or up the other side of the street to access them. There’s no clear signage indicating what
the situation is.
• Captain Weber: Usually placing barrels indicates that they do not want people to access those
areas. Regarding signage; I don’t have that information at this time, but I will look into it and provide
an answer as soon as possible.
VI. Old Business and Possible Action
• None
VII. New Business for Discussion and Possible Action
• Connective Pathing to Webb Elementary – Interim Director Tracey Cantu: Presented the Connective
Pathing to Webb Elementary item. Talked with Public Works about creating a path. Due to their high
volume of projects they are unable to approach this item at this time. However, they were able to
provide information about the construction of the project. There is potential for construction of this
pathing through Transportation Set Aside Act which focuses on pedestrian and bike mobility. Sarah
Munoz from Streets is the liaison for this committee. She indicated there would be a call for projects
within the next three-to-four months. If possible, this project will be submitted to them as soon as the
availability arises.
VIII. Committee, Liaison/Staff Reports –
• Island Strategic Action Committee (ISAC) – Liaison Twila Stevens: In the October meeting there had
been inquiries regarding a splash pad at the island. Twila passed along the information from the
October PRAC meeting to ISAC regarding the costs of splash pad maintenance and the City’s
intentions of installing splash pads in areas with pre-existing water facilities. The ISAC members
appeared to appreciate the information and seemed unaware of those details prior to. Question was
posed whether the City would be willing to invest in a splash pad at Billish Park if an independent
organization could raise half of the money for purchase and installation. Question was posed
whether improvements were planned for Douden Park now that 2020 Bond had passed. Provided
information about the new playground and shade structure installations currently underway.
• Tracey Cantu: Regarding splash pad installation; if they can provide details about how they plan to
fund that and what they would like then we can look into it.
• Becky Perrin: We also still have the issues that Billish Park doesn’t have any pre-existing water
facilities and we do not have enough staff to perform maintenance on an additional splash pad, so
those factors will have to be taken into consideration as well. We would need another full-time staff
member to perform that additional maintenance.
• Watershore & Beach Advisory Committee – Liaison Howard Schauer: Provided the WBAC
information on the Bond program before the voting. They indicated they have nothing to add to our
agenda.
• Flour Bluff Advisory Committee – Liaison Florence East: Nothing new to report at this time.
IX. Director Reports –
Tracey Cantu, Interim Director
• For Bond 2020, all three of the City’s Bond projects brought forth received a 73% approval by voters.
This encouraging turnout will continue providing Parks with more opportunities to improve the City.
We had a successful Veteran’s Day and sign unveiling this morning at the new Sherrill Veteran’s
Memorial Park. We received a question from Alissa this afternoon regarding a Park Officer telling
people that they shouldn’t use land boards at the beach. Due to land boards being wind powered with
no braking system, they have to be treated as a vehicle. It creates a public safety concern because
they’re supposed to be used in the driving lane. If a child were to run in front of a land board, there’s
no way to stop it. In the interest of public safety, these individuals and activities are being redirected to
the Newport Pass area. Additionally, we were looking at hosting in-person meetings again,
specifically having PRAC meetings at City Hall, but the increase in COVID-19 cases lately has been a
cause for concern. We’ve currently increased safety precautions which will prevent any in-person
meetings for now. In the meantime, we are working on upgrading the 3rd Floor conference room in
preparation of an eventual return to in-person meetings.
Becky Perrin, Assistant Director
• Seniors have been wanting to return to meeting in-person at the Senior Centers for activities.
Unfortunately, due to increases in COVID-19 cases we aren’t ready to bring them back yet. We are
currently designing a plan for their return though. We want to designate spots for each person stay at
during physical activities to prevent excess socializing and maintain social distancing. Currently, we’re
ensuring that anyone that comes through the drive-through will receive both food and lists of
exercises and activities. We have also been reaching out and calling them on birthdays, Mother’s
Day, Father’s Day and Veteran’s Day to let them know that they’re being thought of. For the Beat the
Heat event during Summer, we passed out one thousand, four hundred and ten fans to keep them
cool. We’ve also offered activities via Facebook Live for them to participate in. We have also
performed over five hundred wellness checks. We have also been able to host parking lot bingo so
they can maintain social distancing by playing bingo in their cars. During the last meeting we
discussed how meal distribution had risen to fourteen hundred provided per day. Currently we’re at
several hundred to thirteen hundred per day.
X. Committee Member Comments/Announcements/Agenda Requests
• Twila Stevens: During the October PRAC Meeting Joseph Johnson had indicated that the Parks staff
is planning on installing toddler parks with funding from Bond 2020. Can the PRAC members be
informed as to the locations of any currently existing smaller playgrounds and at which locations the
new toddler parks will be placed?
• Tracey Cantu: Yes, we can send you that information. And now that Bond 2020 has been approved,
we can go back and review to see where we might have some flexibility with the language.
• Alissa Mejia: Can we have an overview on storm damage relevant to Packery Channel, Swantner
Park and our piers?
• Yes, we can certainly look into that and bring that information forward for the next PRAC Meeting.
Packery Channel is unique as the damage was caused by Hurricane Harvey which is a federally
funded project.
• Twila Stevens: Request to have October minutes amended to have “Village” changed to “Billish”.
Motion was passed. Approved as amended.
XI. Adjournment at 6:09 p.m.