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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1995/08/28 - Minutes - Adjourned August 28, 1995 CITY OF RANCHO CUCAMONGA CITY COUNCIL MEETING Adjourned Joint Meetinq A. CALL TO ORDER An adiourned joint meeting of the Rancho Cucamonga City Council and Park and Recreation Commission was held on Monday, August 28, 1995, in the Tri-Communities Conference Room of the Civic Center, located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. The meeting was called to order at 5:05 p.m. by Mayor William J. Alexander. Present were Councilmembers: Paul Biane, James Curatalo, Rex Gutierrez, Diane Williams, and Mayor William J. Alexander. Present were Commissioners: James Clopton, Bruce Ann Hahn, Massie Hazegh, Ann Punter, and Chairman Mark Whitehead. Aisc present were: Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager; Joe O'Neil, City Engineer; Shintu Bose, Deputy City Engineer; Karen Emery, Associate Park Planner; Suzanne Ota, Community Services Manager; Kathy Sorensen, Recreation Superintendent; Paula Pachon, Management Analyst II; and Jan Sutton, Deputy City Clerk. B. ITEM OF DISCUSSION BY CITY COUNCIL B1. CONSIDERATION OF USING A REPLICA OF THE CITY SEAL BY A SERVICE ORGANIZATION Mayor Alexander stated he requested this item on the agenda because the City has received a request by Rancho Grande Kiwanis to use the image of the City Seal in a wall hanging they were developing for a fund raiser, and introduced Patrick Crawford, President of Rancho Grande Kiwanis. Patrick Crawford, Kiwanis, stated they would like to produce a quilt or blanket to market in the community which would promote several of the local historic properties and showed an example of what it would look like. He stated other cities have done this and that the proceeds earned would go into a trust account which would then be used to support different activities in the community. Councilmember Curatalo asked if the Council were to give approval for the use of the seal, would anyone on staff be consulted to give approval of the final layout. Councilmember Williams felt the City should have some type of veto power. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 2 Paula Pachon, Management Analyst II, stated a lot of the photos which were going to be used in producing the blanket were from the Sesquicentennial calendar, so there would be a lot of integrity to the finished product. Mayor Alexander stated it would be fair to request that it be shown to the Council prior to sending it for production so they could be sure it was something to be proud of. Councilmember Williams concurred because someone else might think the layout was nice but it would have a different impact to the Council. Patrick Crawford, Kiwanis, stated what when they get the proof back from the company for approval, they can bring it back to the Council for approval. Councilmember Williams felt it would also be to the Kiwanis' benefit if they could say that is was authorized by the City because it would keep other people from misusing the seal in the future. Patrick Crawford, Kiwanis, stated if they wanted to see something right away, he could show them what they are going to send off to the company. Paula Pachon, Management Analyst II, stated it might be best for the Council to look at the layout before it is digitized by the company because there might be a cost involved if changes needed to be made afterwards. Councilmember Williams stated that would be all right because she did not want the club to incur any unnecessary costs, she just wanted to be sure that other groups did not start using the seal in the future without authorization. Mayor Alexander asked Jerry Fulwood if he would coordinate getting the information to the City Council and see if there were any concerns. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated they could give tentative approval, and then the Council could call if they saw any problems with the proof. MOTION: Moved by Curatalo, seconded by Biane to approve the use of the City seal by the Rancho Grande Kiwanis pending submittal of the final design to the Council. Motion carried unanimously, 5-0. Patrick Crawford, Kiwanis, stated he would submit the proof to Jerry Fulwood tomorrow. C. CALL TO ORDER - PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION The Park and Recreation Commission called roll under Section A along with the City Council, D. JOINT ITEMS OF DISCUSSION D1. DISCUSSION OF CITY COUNCIL PRIORITIES FOR THE PARK AND RECREATION COMMISSION City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 3 Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated this item was requested so that if the Council had any general direction or priorities for things in the City, the Commission would want to know what they are so that they could concentrate on them. Mayor Alexander asked what is the City doing with the Central Park site because he is asked about that quite frequently by the residents. Chairman Whitehead stated they haven't discussed that issue at the Commission since the interim library opened. He stated they wanted to get the Council's feelings on that since they have heard there might be some temporary uses for the property such as reviving the vineyard, and they had also heard that the park use was going to be abandoned. Councilmember Williams stated she would be interested in knowing who it was that stated it was going to be abandoned because she did not think anyone on the Council, either past or present, had ever expressed that sentiment. Chairman Whitehead stated he had heard it from a Planning Commissioner. He stated the Park and Recreation Commission would like some idea of where they should be focusing their efforts, and stated items 2-6 on the agenda were some of the things they brought up as possible priorities. Mayor Alexander stated money was the biggest issue when it comes to Central Park and did not feel the community would want any extra assessments to cover the cost of it. D2. DISCUSSION OF JOINT USE AGREEMENTS WITH THE SCHOOL DISTRICTS Mayor Alexander stated they have already been participating in joint use with the Districts in some of the parks. Councilmember Williams stated they have had good and bad experiences with joint use agreements in the past. Sometimes a change in administration at the School District can create a change in attitude totally. Commissioner Clopton stated he will be teaching at Etiwanda High School this year and he also coaches football, so he is often asked when will they be getting a District football field. He asked if Central Park would be a situation where maybe they could do a joint use agreement to build a field there, where instead of having the School District purchase the land and then build a field, they could use City land that was already available. Mayor Alexander stated if he was being specific to Central Park, it has been designed as a passive use park. Commissioner Clopton stated if money was an issue, and they could at least get started with someone else's money, are they locked in to what they planned before or are they open to new thoughts. Councilmember Williams stated it was locked in her mind to have Central Park remain a passive park. The rest of the Council and Commission concurred on Central Park remaining passive. Councilmember Williams stated maybe they could look at some of the land the School District already owns, and they own a lot, and see about the possibility of a joint use agreement to build something on their own land. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 4 Mayor Alexander stated he thought it would be a good idea as long as they were not using the Central Park site. Commissioner Hahn asked why Commissioner Clopton was bringing this up because she thought the high schools were using the fields at Chaffey College now. Commissioner Clopton stated they do and they pay a lot of money each year to be allowed to do so. He wasn't sure of the exact amount but thought it was around $25,000.00 annually. Mayor Alexander stated Chaffey College is going to find out soon that they have focused on making so much money rapidly on the use of their property, that eventually the high schools and others will get together and build their own field. Councilmember Gutierrez stated he supported football but agreed there was little chance of having something along those lines developed at Central Park. However, he would be interested in seeing a timeline for when they could start the park, even if it was something as simple as putting in some trees, trails and picnic areas. He stated in the area east of Haven there has been a large turnover in the population and there are a lot of new people that wonder what will be happening with that site. Councilmember Williams asked what was the status on revitalizing the grapevines. Joe O'Neil, City Engineer, stated they have been working with the Filippi winery on a proposal that will be coming to Council about recovering five acres of grapevines and seeing if it is viable for them and the City. He stated Cai Poly Pomona is interested in the proposal also. If they are able to get the first five acres going, then they can see about clearing and using more of the acreage. Councilmember Curatalo stated he was concerned with that area being an eyesore and asked how long would it be before the other 95 acres could be cleared. Joe O'Neil, City Engineer, stated it would be 2-3 years before they have a cash crop. He stated when they get the revenue from the first five acres, then they could look into using that to go back and start fixing up the other acreage. He stated there will be a report coming to Council that will outline the whole program. Councilmember Williams stated possibly Cai Poly would be interested in conducting some different types of classes that would utilize the property and help to clear it at the same time, and asked Joe O'Neil to look into that and provide any information gathered back to the Commission. Chairman Whitehead stated possibly there might be other schools that would be interested in using the property also, like Cai State San Bernardino. Mayor Alexander felt contacting the schools through the Park and Recreation Commission was a good way to start and see if some type of program could be developed. Chairman Whitehead clarified that there was no money for the park and none for the street improvements. Joe O'Neil, City Engineer, stated that was correct, the two go hand in hand. Chairman Whitehead asked if we have a joint use agreement with each of the five School Districts. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 5 Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated they have a joint use agreement with several schools within all the different Districts. Chairman Whitehead asked if they were consistent or if each one was negotiated separately. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated they were consistent with the Districts except for the Etiwanda School District which has a blanket agreement for the District, but they also require separate agreements for each school. He stated they have to do separate agreements for each of the high schools as well, so it can get complicated sometimes. Councilmember Williams asked if they have tried pursuing a minor league football team, and maybe they could get a private enterprise interested in coming in and helping to finance a field. Councilmember Gutierrez felt if they adjusted the field to include soccer, someone might be interested. Suzanne Ora, Community Services Manager, stated they have not talked to anyone in particular, but they have [,ad calls from a minor league football team inquiring if they could do a field overlay at the Epicenter. Councilmember Williams stated she would be interested in seeing if there was a private enterprise that would be interested in Rancho Cucamonga, and felt they have been very successful with baseball, and the location and demographics worked in their favor. Councilmember Gutierrez felt if the driving range were to close once the golf course was open, then possibly that might be a site they could look at building a football/soccer field at. Commissioner Hahn stated maybe they should pursue the idea of a football/soccer field and try to market it. She asked if it would be possible to do an overlay at the Epicenter. Kathy Sorensen, Recreation Superintendent, stated the field was not large enough for football. Chairman Whitehead asked in reference to the joint use agreements with the School Districts, do they feel they are getting their money's worth from it. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated yes for the most part, what with the different community services programs and playing fields that are utilized. Chairman Whitehead stated most of it seems to be outdoor use and asked if they were getting a fair share of indoor use. Suzanne Ora, Community Services Manager, stated yes. Recently they have gotten the use of the gym at Rancho Cucamonga High School and that has been working well. Councilmember Gutierrez asked if they would be able to use the swimming pool at Rancho High when it was done because he felt that was important to the community. Kathy Sorensen, Recreation Superintendent, stated yes, that would become available when it was built, but they would have to go through the District to receive authorization for the use, and they do get charged a fee. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 6 Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated they have to be mindful when they are talking joint use of things like the pools and the gyms because a major challenge that faces Community Services is the cost of these facilities. Every year the costs are rising and that is passed on to the residents, and if it gets too high, it might discourage the use by the residents. He stated they have been looking for creative ways to cut costs, such as allowing Rancho Cucamonga High to use the Epicenter for their graduation ceremony in exchange for the use of the gym. Councilmember Williams asked if there were ever private concerns that would be interested in building a swimming pool. Kathy Sorensen, Recreation Superintendent, stated some people will form a consortium to build water parks such as Raging Waters. She stated a group built a water park in Vista that greatly exceeded their revenue expectations. Commissioner Clopton stated the Industry Hills Swim Center is also profitable. He stated it took them a couple of years but they are doing quite well now and that might be something the City would want to look into. Councilmember Williams felt this would be a good thing for the Commission to look into. D3. DISCUSSION OF YOUTH PROGRAMS Chairman Whitehead stated the Commission has considered starting a Youth Advisory Committee. They currently have a Senior Advisory Committee and it seems that the youth could use some help in that direction also. He stated they would like the Council's direction on this idea. Commissioner Hazegh felt there could be a number of programs developed for the kids and it goes back to a joint use of the schools for after school programs. She stated the YMCA is providing after school programs but they are expensive. She thought the City might be able to provide something that would not cost the parents so much, whether it was a sport activity or using parent volunteers instead of using paid employees. Another possibility might be setting up a joint use between the seniors and the youth where the kids could come to the center and the seniors could tutor them in their subjects. This provides companionship to both groups. Mayor Alexander felt those suggestions would be a great use of school and City funding, and was in favor of programs like that. Councilmember Gutierrez stated there were some cities that provided centers the children could attend that would teach them computer skills which would be very important to them in the future. Commissioner Hazegh felt they should try to help the kids before they get into trouble. Intervening before they became a problem would take less resources as well. Councilmember Gutierrez stated that some of the seniors have been very vocal about having their own center and did not want the kids around at all. Councilmember Williams stated a computer center was recently set up at the Upland Housing Authority. She stated this was funded by many agencies but was very creative. She added they needed to keep in mind that when they were adding programs that would mean they would need more staff and more funding, and they City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 7 would have to consider where they were going to get the money from. She stated maybe the Commission could get interested individuals to help with the funding of new programs. Commissioner Hazegh stated the schools have the facilities and equipment already, so possibly the parents could volunteer their time to support a program and all they need is for someone to ask them. Councilmember Williams stated maybe the Commission should be the ones to ask the parents for their help. She stated the Boys and Girls Club for their summer computer program at Bear Gulch School hired the District's teacher to run the class which made the District feel more secure about allowing their equipment to be used. That was another option to look at. Chairman VVhitehead stated there has been a lot of emphasis on youth sports, but felt there were a lot of kids out there that were not necessarily interested in sports. Mayor Alexander felt the Commission had the support of the Council to look at other options to suggest to the Council, but to keep in mind that there is not a lot of money available to fund new activities. He stated Councilmember Curatalo is interested in looking at the issue of youth sports paying for the lights on the fields, and yet the City cannot afford to subsidize the lights, and many in the community might not be in favor of subsidizing that. Councilmember Williams stated she has felt if the sports groups don't want to pay the fees and play under the lights, they can hold their practices during the daylight hours. Chairman Whitehead stated the Commission recently revisited this issue and recommended to the Council to continue charging the fees. Commissioner Hahn stated when they discussed the lighting fees at the Commission, all of the sports groups were notified but no one showed up to make any comments, so felt it may be a non-issue. Commissioner Punter stated there are a lot of people in the community that do not have children and would never use those fields so they would be subsidizing that use, rather than the people who were using it. Councilmember Curatalo stated his concern was for the families with multiple children in sports activities and if having to pay these fees would keep the children from being able to participate. Councilmember Williams stated the City got the cost to a point where it is about a dollar per child and the rest of the fee goes to the league, so if the league feels strongly about keeping costs reasonable for the kids, they should not be collecting the big administrative fees. Councilmember Curatalo stated that was another question, if the league were to save money, would it be passed on to the children. Chairman Whitehead felt the leagues would not pass on any savings to the kids. He stated the leagues all have scholarship programs available for kids that cannot afford the fee if the parents will ask. Even if the light fee was done away with, the leagues would still continue to raise their fees. Councilmember Williams stated that now that they have gone to the touchpad lighting system, everyone is very careful about their light usage, and felt that this would help to lower the bills for the sports groups. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 8 D4. DISCUSSION OF DEVELOPMENT AND MAINTENANCE FOR FUTURE PARK Chairman Whitehead stated they had already touched on this topic under the earlier items. D5. DISCUSSION OF PRIORITIES FOR CULTURAL ART PROGRAMS Chairman Whitehead stated the seniors in the community recently held an art event, and the Commission would be interested in seeing something like this developed for the youth of the community. Commissioner CIopton felt there was very little exposure available for student artwork, and felt they needed to provide a forum where some exposure could be provided by the City. He stated Chaffey College attempts to do something but they have to turn participants away and don't have the funding for more displays. He felt they needed to find a way to sponsor art shows, and should work in conjunction with the school art teachers. Commissioner Hahn stated possibly they could use the concourse at the Epicenter to display artwork. Councilmember Gutierrez stated they might also be able to do something in conjunction with the Founder's Day celebration. Councilmember Williams stated Nina Cole at the Library has sponsored a photo contest for kids. She had asked about using the empty space on the upper floor for permanently displaying things, but was told that it would need to be staffed because of the possibility of vandalism, and they did not have the resources to staff that area at this time. Paula Pachon, Management Analyst II, stated if they are going to ask the schools for artwork, they need to give plenty of advance notice to the teachers because it is considered an additional assignment. Councilmember Williams stated maybe they could approach some of the banks about displaying some artwork in their facilities on occasion. Councilmember Biane stated maybe they could have a traveling display that could go from school to school. He stated he supported the idea because even though the City does a good job focusing on youth sports, there are not many avenues available for other children that are not interested in sports. D6. DISCUSSION OF ACTIVITIES IN NORTHTOWN PARK Chairman Whitehead stated Northtown Park was one of the most underutilized parks in the City. He stated the location has tended to damage its reputation and asked the Council for suggestions on ways they could utilize the park better. Councilmember Gutierrez asked what problems have they had there. Mayor Alexander stated they have had problems with graffiti, vandalism of the fields, and reportedly shots fired in the vicinity. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August 28, 1995 Page 9 Councilmember Williams stated with the opening of Villa Del Norte, it will help to improve the neighborhood by having people come in that will care about their surroundings. She stated maybe they can look now for ways to help improve the park, whether it be more lighting or security or something else. Councilmember Curatalo stated he thought there had been a memo recently stating that the neighbors were starting to take special pride in that park and were participating in the upkeep of it. Commissioner Punter stated when they first opened that park the residents were adamant that they were not going to allow someone to come in and take over that park. Councilmember Biane stated he lives close to that park and there have been times when he has gone there and not felt comfortable being there with the type of people that were hanging around. He stated maybe when the new residents come in, the more they use the park the safer it will become for everyone. Councilmember Williams asked if they have looked at having full time security there to keep loiterers away. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated they have looked at having security during some sporting activities, but they have had problems at other parks also on occasion, and if they do it for one park, then everyone will want the same thing done at their park. Councilmember Williams stated possibly having security there would also have the opposite impact of giving the appearance that the park was not safe so people would not go there. Mayor Alexander stated maybe they could ask Capt. Bieberdorf to talk to the new residents about what they can do to help keep the park safe, and possibly have the Citizen's Patrol add that to their route. He stated he would also like to see if they could prohibit the wearing of gang attire at the parks like the schools have done on their campuses. Councilmember Williams asked if they have had activities at Northtown Park that people did not want to attend because they were being held there. Chairman Whitehead stated some of the sports groups that are assigned that park for their practice have had problems when they were there so they tend to not want to go there, and they will even go to other fields if they are available and use Northtown Park as a last resort. D7. DISCUSSION OF ITEMS OF MUTUAL INTEREST Chairman Whitehead stated he wanted to clarify that in regards to the fees, they should be to recover costs. Mayor Alexander stated that was correct. He stated what they will have to be careful of is if they find a way to cut the fees for the youth sports as discussed earlier, then the other groups will all be wanting the same treatment. Councilmember Williams stated they don't have the money to absorb the costs associated with the different activities, but they do offer some of the best programs for the money of any other city around. Chairman Whitehead asked the Council if they were comfortable with Sports Complex being used by adults only. City Council/Park and Recreation Commission Minutes August28,1995 Page 10 Mayor Alexander stated that was what it was designed for so they had no problem with that. Commissioner Hahn asked if there was something that the Animal Shelter could be used for to generate income instead of just sitting empty. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, explained how the financing for the Sports Complex worked with the tax-exempt bonds and how they had to keep contract events to a certain level in order not to jeopardize their tax-exempt status. Councilmember Williams asked what if a non-profit group were formed to operate the Animal SheLter. Jerry Fulwood, Deputy City Manager, stated that might be a possibility. He stated they are still exploring that option. Councilmember Curatalo wanted to thank the Commission for all of the time that they give to the community through their service and felt they were doing a fine job. E. COMMUNICATIONS FROM THE PUBLIC No communications were made from the public. F. ADJOURNMENT MOTION: Moved by Williams, seconded by Gutierrez to adjourn to Wednesday, September 6, 1995, at 4:30 p.m. to meet with PHH Fantus for a workshop to discuss economic development, to be held in the Tri- Communities Conference Room located at 10500 Civic Center Drive, Rancho Cucamonga, California. Motion carried unanimously, 5-0. The meeting adjourned at 7:00 p.m. Respectfully submitted, Jan Sutton Deputy City Clerk Approved by Park and Recreation Commission: October 19, 1995 Approved by City Council: November 1, 1995