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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1990/10/24 - Minutes - Adjourned Joint (Park and Recreation Commission) October 24, 1990 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MINUTES Adjourned Joint Meetinu City Council and the Park and Recreation Commission A. C~T.'r. ~ ORDER An adjourned joint meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council and Park and Recreation Commission met on Wednesday, October 24, 1990, in the Tri-Community Conference Room of the Civic Center, located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. The meeting was called to at 7:10 p.m. by Mayor Dennis L. Stout, in memory of Sam Punter. Present were Councilmembers: William J. Alexander, Charles J. Buquet II, Pamela J. Wright, and Mayor Dennis L. Stout. Absent was Councilmember: Deborah N. Brown. Present were Commissioners: Molly Mitchell, Leslie Riggs (arrived 7:30 p.m.), and Mark Whitehead. Absent was Commissioner: Pam Henry. Also present were: Jack Lam, City Manager; Linda D. Daniels, Deputy City Manager; Jerry B. Fulwood, Deputy City Manager; Joe Schultz, Community Services Director; Paula Pachon, Management Analyst II; Tarry Smith, Park Development Superintendent; LeAnn Smothers, Redevelopment Analyst; and Jan Sutton, Deputy City Clerk. B. ITEMS OF DISCUSSION B1. CENTRAL PARK LIBRARY - CONCEPTUAL DESIGN UPDATE (1404-06 PK DEVEL) (1601- 06 LIBRARY) Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated the pre-application for the library grant was due November 23, 1990, and the final grant is due February 15, 1991. He then introduced Bob Mueting, Project Coordinator; Dale Lang and Kip Grubb of Wolff, Lang and Christopher; Jon Von Szeliski, Theater Consultant; Marshall Brown, Interior Consultant; and Barbara Anderson, San Bernardino County Librarian. (1) City Council Minutes. October 24, 1990 Page 2 Bob Mueting, Project Coordinator, gave an overview of the historical development of the buildings, and discussed the layout and heights of the buildings and the impact they would have on the view of the neighborhood to the north. Councilmember Buquet asked about the elevations of the buildings. Bob Mueting, Project Coordinator, stated the elevation at the street was 30 feet, the elevation of the plaza was 50 feet, and then the mezzanine level was 18 feet above the plaza. He stated they have designed it to nestle into the landscape so that the elevation will be camoflauged. Councilmember Wright asked what will be the highest point in the project. Bob Mueting, Project Coordinator, stated the highest point will be the fly tower on top of the theater, which would be 90 feet above Milliken at the highest point, but there will be several building masses in front of the tower so the perspective will step up to that point. The Council asked if the architects would prepare a site line plan, including te landscaping to the north, that would help to abate the concerns regarding the view. Kip Grubb, Wolff, Lang & Christopher, went over the elevation models that will be presented to the Planning Commission, and discussed the style of architecture that will be used on the buildings, the "California Classical" style, and how the buildings all relate to each other in their placement. Jon Von Szeliski, Theater Architect, presented information on the concepts of the theater, and the interior seating design and various seating options, and reviewed the floor plans for the theater. Mayor Stout stated there were three things they were looking for in this theater, one was flexibility, another was to make sure the audience could enjoy the theater, and the third thing was to present a setting that professional theater groups would want to perform in. Jon Von Szeliski, Theater Architect, stated that is what they have strived for, as well as considerations for the economics of running the building, and felt there would be no problem in attracting professional touring groups. Marshall Brown, Interior Consultant, presented information on the library grant procedure, and the current priorities of the State Librarian, that he will be funding headquarter facilities, with the priority being communities with the highest growth rate in the last ten and the next twenty years. The second and third priority would be cities with under-staffed library services currently, and the fifth prioritywould be funding libraries which are providing the highest per capita square foot per citizen. He stated another advantage is that the City owns the property the library is to be located on. He felt that Rancho Cucamonga was in the forefront of all of the priorities the State Librarian is looking for. City Council Minutes October 24, 1990 Page 3 Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated $18 million is the projected cost of the library facilities, and the State would fund only 65% of the project, with the balance coming from Redevelopment funds. Me stated they are considering asking for $12-13 million, with Council's approval, in order to be successful in receiving the grant. Council agreed with the $13 million grant request figure. Kip Grubb, Wolff, Lang & Christopher, went over the floor plans for the library. He stated staff offices would be on the lower level with access to secured parking or into the outside courtyard. The mezzanine level would be the main entry level for the library, with access to other levels available which could be locked off from public access to the library for after hour functions. He stated this level would contain the reference and adult sections, with the upper level containing the audio-visual and children's section. Councilwoman Wright stated that when they had the committee meetings, they had discussed having a unique atmosphere for the children. Bob Mueting, Project Coordinator, stated the whole upper level will be dedicated to the children, so they will be as able to be as creative as they want to be, and will be starting to develop the details at this point. Councilmember Buquet felt that they would have to sell the project to the community, and recommended setting up the model in the City Hall. Councilmember Wright suggested having the model in the current library to gain support. Jack Lam, City Manager, stated the model would need to be top quality for the community to understand it. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated that once the Planning Commission has approved the final plans, staff will start speaking at various group meetings in the community to promote the project. · , · , , , B2. DISCUSSION OF CHALLENGES FOR FUTURE PARK LAND ACQUISITIONS (1404-06 PK DEVEL) Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated that the current City goal is to have 5 acres of parkland per 1,000 population, which should currently give them 900 acres of open space. He stated they are aggressively pursuing open land acquisition, but felt the City's hands have been tied with the legal opinion that they cannot finance real estate acquisitions over time, ~nd the City Attorney has stated that the only option that does exist is cash or lease-option to acquire land. He felt if they were to take that conservative approach, the land (2) City Council Minutes. October 24, 1990 Page 4 would not be available by the time the City accumulates the capital to purchase it. He stated he has run into similar situations in other states, and the only option they have had was to change the legislation to allow long term financing for open land purchases. Mayor Stout stated that when they set that goal it was very idealistic, and felt there were different ways to accomplish it other than having active parkland. He felt they have not opened their horizons far enough yet to start considering those other options. He stated one thing they had not considered at that time was maintenance cost for the various different types of parkland. He felt they have been successful with private options, such as larger setbacks in privately owned residential areas. He stated the City has historically gone through cycles, first they were land banking, now ~hey are in a development cycle, which is almost done, and felt they were close to going back to land banking again. He did not feel the 5 acres/i,000 population needed to be active parkland. Councilmember Buquet felt that with the current economy, now would be a good time to acquire parcels for parkland. He felt it was important to explore options and alternatives to the active recreation use park, but to not backslide so that they needed to go back and retrofit the parks. Councilmember Wright understood that staff wanted to provide a better way to do land banking, and would like to give direction to proceed with changing the legislation. She stated she did not want to back away from the policy of having 5 acres/i,000 population in parkland. Mayor Stout stated he was concerned that their present goal would not be reached if they continue doing what they are presently doing. He stated that according to the formula they should have approximately 500 acres of parkland, and if the City grows another 80,000, which is expected, then that would be an additional 400 acres of developed parkland. He felt that was not feasible at this point and they needed to look at other ways of having open space. Councilmember Alexander stated that currently when residential units go in they have them acquire certain amounts of land for parkland, but possibly they could look at'mandating that when large ~ommercial projects are approved, that the owner provide a certain percentage of acreage for recreation facilities for their employees, which could be counted in the inventory. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated that option has been explored in the form of impact fees on square footage. Councilmember Alexander stated he was also looking at something the company would maintain. Councilmember Buquet stated when a large industrial project went in at Cooly Ranch, they were required to build a recreation complex as part of the project, which employees used at lunchtime, and at night it was used by residents. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated they might be able to use that option from Foothill south to 4th Street. City Council Minutes October 24, 1990 Page 5 Jack Lam, City Manager, stated it could be done, but felt the most fruitful way of doing it was through impact fees, and explained how they needed to do that to balance the economic development goals. He stated the days of extremely large land holdings in industrial areas were past, and impact fees allow you to pool the money to purchase pieces of land. Councilmember Alexander stated the City would then still be responsible for maintenance. He felt they needed to look at some very different changes in order to meet their goals. Jack Lam, City Manager, stated one of the problems was that when they incorporated the City and set that goal, they were already behind, and that even with Redevelopment resources, they would not be able to catch up to the goals. He felt they needed to have other financing sources. Councilmember Alexander felt the people were tired of taxation and they needed other means to show.they are doing something for the employees and the residents, possibly finding private funding for the public benefit. Councilmember Wright agreed, that the public sees a project like Central Park and they wonder how the City can afford that park, but not have enough money to provide 5 acres/1000 population throughout the City. Even though Central Park is not being paid for that way, that is the public perception. Jack Lam, City Manager, stated that most of the residential areas are not in the Redevelopment area, so you cannot use those funds. Councilmember Wright stated that where most of the growth will be occurring is in the Redevelopment area and that is probably where most of the parks will be, that you would not be going back to the developed parts of town and try to put in parks. Mayor Stout stated that the point he was trying to make was not that they necessarily try to change the goal, but he just wanted to present the idea that it would be very difficult to obtain the goal if they don't start doing something different than what they are doing now. He estimated they needed 550 acres more in parkland than what they have now. That would be the equivalent of 55 ten acre parks, and that they needed to start considering other types of development other than active parkland. He stated they shorted themselves in the Victoria and Terra Vista developments by giving park credits for landscaping and trail systems. He felt the point was not to set a goal that they did not mean to keep. Commissioner Whitehead asked if the Council did not want them to count things like the trail systems in the park inventory. Mayor Stout stated he did not mind including those items as long as the public understood. He stated a lot of people like park areas just because they are open space and there are no houses on it. He felt the entire City was set up like a park since they have emphasized the open landscaping and green areas around the entire community. (3) City Council Minutes October 24, 1990 Page 6 Councilmember Wright thought it would be pushing the description to say the City itself is set up like a park. She felt that was just good planning. Councilmember Alexander stated that if a residential or commercial project was built around a central park area, could that not theoretically be added to the inventory. Councilmember Wright stated that could be, but she did not want to go back and include anything that has already been developed. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated the school improvements are adding to the inventory because of the long term commitment, there is also the possibility of adding another 200 acres if the bond issue is approved for Chaffey Park, and also possibly they can include the natural areas in the mountains once the City has reached build-out. What they were looking for tonight would be direction to attempt to change the legislation to allow cities to finance the acquisition of open space. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, asked if they would also like them to study the possibility of impact fees for the industrial area. The Council stated yes. Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated they wanted to be careful to not discourage development by having too many fees. Councilmember Wright stated she would also like to direct staff to investigate changing the legislation. ACTION: The Council concurred for staff to explore changing the legislation to allow greater flexibility for the use of the City's dollars. - , , , , , B3. DISCUSSION OF MARKETING IN THE PARKS (1404-06 PK DEVEL) Commissioner Riggs stated that since there is a concern about funding maintenance of the park system, the Commission was interested in the Council's feelings about corporate sponsorship in the parks, such as names on the trash cans, or on the scoreboards at the sports park, etc. Councilmember Wright stated putting a name on the trash cans would probably be alright, but wanted to be sure the Council would know when to stop. Commissioner Riggs felt they might also want to look into marketing a product that makes use of the City's name. Councilmember Alexander felt the Planning Commission should also look at any product they are planning to market, to help decide what would be good or bad for the community's image. City Council Minutes October 24, 1990 Page 7 Councilmember Buquet felt it was a policy decision on whether to be commercial or not, and in the past the Council has resisted being commercial, such as with advertising on bus stops. He did not want to see them allow what they see as a potential revenue source to make them loose perspective as to what they will be getting out of it in the long run. He felt they should be able to do something along those lines, but under very close supervision. Commissioner Riggs felt they had a good opportunity with the sports complex. Councilmember Buquet stated that with the feasibility study they recently received, the Council will have to be looking at long term maintenance costs for any project they approve now. Commissioner Riggs stated another thing they were looking at was forming a group like "Friends of the Park", similar to the Friends of the Library group, or possibly doing a short film that could be shown at the Edwards Theaters before the feature to raise the community's awareness. Councilmember Buquet agreed that they needed to bring the awareness level up in the community, that it will have a long term impact in helping to cut down on vandalism. Commissioner Mitchell stated another option might be selling the seats in the sports complex, with a small plaque on each seat with the name of the person who made the donation. , , , , , B4. DISCUSSION OF NAMING THE SPORTS COMPLEX (1401-03 SPORT ACT) Joe Schultz, Community Services Director, stated they had discussed whether they should name the sports complex something other than the Rancho Cucamonga Sports Complex, and the possibility of naming individual fields in the complex. He asked if the Council wanted the Commission to explore options for names and submit them to the Council for approval. Mayor Stout stated he would not mind having some other name as long as it still had sports complex in the title so that people did not get confused. ACTION: Park and Recreation Commission to come up with several alternatives for names at the sports complex and submit them to Council for approval. , , , · , , B5. DISCUSSION OF ITEMS OF MUTUAL CONCERN (1404-05 PARK) Mayor Stout felt the Commission needed to play a larger role in dealing with the sports groups in town, to put more emphasis on the recreation aspect of their Commission. He felt they would have more expertise in that area. (4) (5) City Council Minutes. October 24, 1990 Page 8 Commissioner Whitehead stated they have tried to get the groups to come to them in the past, but they always end up going to the Council. Councilmember Buquet stated he would like to see the Commission act as a sports council, where they would have to go through the Commission for field allocations, etc. Mayor Stout felt the groups should go to the Commission first, and then only come to the City Council as an appeal board, but stated if that happened, the Council would definitely listen to the Commission's opinion on an issue. He stated the Commission would have the authority to solve the problems and needs of these groups. He also stated they would need to be sure their decisions were well reasoned out so that the Council could support them. The Commission concurred that they would be willing to act in that capacity. Mayor Stout stated another problem they have had in the past is that there is usually no continuity in the sports groups from year to year, so there are always people in charge that do not know how things are to be done, and he would like to see the City be more active in providing stability for these groups. Councilmember Buquet felt they also needed to make the groups plan ahead and consult with the City, such as when the Little League broke into another division and there were no facilities available for them to play on. He would also like to see the Commission conduct an equitable study of what was available and start making sure that groups that have been waiting a long time are taken care of first. Mayor Stout stated he would also like to see if there was some way they could make the ball fields multi-purpose and usable by both Little League and softball, possibly by having portable pitchers mounds for the Little League. He stated he would like to have the Commission be more active, and work with the staff in coming up with ideas and solutions, and increasing their credibility so that the groups think about going to the Commission first, instead of coming to the Council. Councilmember Buquet stated he would like to see them explore some innovative approaches for expanding or utilizing the resources they have available. Things such as starting a nighttime softball league when the sports complex is built, since there are a lot of adults that work odd shifts and would be available to play at night. He would like to see the Commission work on developing and managing some of these programs and concepts. Councilmember Wright stated she would like to see them emphasize recreation and sports activities in the community, and not Just park development, and play a major role in deciding how these programs should be run and not Just oversee what is already established. Commissioner Riggs stated she would also like them to consider environmental issues stressed in the parks, such as recycling in the parks. City Council Minutes October 24, 1990 Page 9 C. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC No communications were made from the public. , , , , , D. ADJOURNMENT Mayor Stout adjourned the meeting at' 10:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, J~n Sutton Deputy City Clerk Approved by Park and Recreation Commission: December 19, 1990 Approved by City Council: January 16, 1991