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HomeMy WebLinkAbout04/01/2003 - PB&R CommissionAPRIL 1, 2003 APPROVED PB &R COMMISSION MINUTES CITY OF NEWPORT BEACH • Parks, Beaches £t Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 1, 2003- 7pm CONVENED AT 7:02pm • • ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Allen, Beek, Englebrecht, Garrett, Ruzicka, Skoro, Tobin Staff: Marie Knight, Recreation Et Senior Services Director David Niederhaus, General Services Director Andrea McGuire, Recreation Superintendent Teri Craig, Administrative Assistant PRESENTATION OF CERTIFICATES TO BOYS & GIRLS BASKETBALL LEAGUE CHAMPIONS Director Knight announced the names of the Mariners Boys "B' SCMAF Champions, Anderson Girls B and Harbor View Girls C champions. Chair Allen handed out certificates and posed with the champions for pictures. OVERVIEW OF ORANGE COAST RIVER PARK AND UPDATE Jean Watt, President, Friends of Harbors, Beaches and Parks introduced Lena Hayashi. Ms. Hayashi displayed a PowerPoint presentation of the Orange Coast River Park project and discussed the history and status of the project with regard to the other cities involved. DIRECTOR'S COMMENTS Director Knight thanked Chair Allen announced the following special events: April 10 -Youth Government Day Apri l 11 -City Track Meet April 19 - Easter Egg Hunt April 30 - Arbor Day for her involvement in the Special Olympics and Director Knight stated that the Council would be discussing the Park Naming Policy at the Study Session on April 22. Director Niederhaus stated that after some discussion, that instead of removing the gates at MarinaPark, that the caretaker had taken the responsibility of opening and closing the gates each day on a trial basis. After some discussion of the motion to remove the gates that was made at the March meeting, Director Niederhaus stated that he would have the gates removed by Friday. Director Niederhaus also stated that the City would be receiving the Tree City USA Award and the Growth Award at the City Council meeting of April 22. Chair Allen stated to the public that the Commission had a heavy agenda and intended to hold all comments to 3 minutes. PUBLIC COMMENTS None Parks, Beaches Et Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 1, 2003 • Page 2 CONSENT CALENDAR 1. Minutes of the regular meeting of March 4 2003. 2. Item pulled by Commissioner Skoro 3. Recreation Et Senior Services Activity Report 2. Parks Et Tree Division Activity Report - Chair Skoro asked if the West Park of Bonita Canyon Sports Park had been seeded. Director Niederhaus stated yes. Motion by Commissioner Englebrecht to accept items 1 through 3 of the Consent calendar Motion carried by acclamation. OLD BUSINESS 4. Creation of a Park Patrol Program - Director Knight stated this item had appeared twice on the Commission agenda and that in the past it had been discussed that the program would be only seasonal but after careful review and discussion with staff it was decided that the program should be year round as continuity of part-time staff is important as is there will be an extensive training program. She stated that the cost of the Park Patrol Program would be covered by increase in facility rental fees, Special Event Permit fees, and funds from the Youth Sports Organization Commission members. She stated that this type of program has been proven to work well in surrounding communities. Commissioner Englebrecht stated that staff has done an excellent job and urged the Commission's support of the program. Commissioner Tobin asked if staff had investigated the use sending the project out for a RFP and privatizing it or forming a coalition with neighboring communities. Director Knight stated that she did not feel that having an outside company in control of the program would be a viable solution. Commissioner Beek asked if police volunteers were considered. Superintendent McGuire stated that the staff had discussed this with the Police Department and that the volunteers are not interested in a job with regular hours, only for special type of events. • Commissioner Skoro asked staff to consider a pilot program. Chair Allen opened the public discussion Tony Anish, AYSO 57, stated that the soccer coaches are constantly having trouble with unscheduled users and that it sometimes becomes very difficult for the soccer coaches them to get them to leave. He stated that the Ranger Program works extremely well in Parks, Beaches it Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 1, 2003 • Page 3 Costa Mesa and warned the Commission that because of the success in Costa Mesa that these traveling teams and or Club Teams have started to move to Newport Beach fields and that this will cost the City more funds to keep the fields up. He urged the Commission to support the Park Patrol program. The following members of the public representing various youth sports organizations urged the Commission to support the Park Patrol Program: Charles Massengill, Newport Harbor Baseball Emery Molnar, Newport Beach Little League Marce Almarz, AYSO 97 Chair Allen closed the public discussion Commissioner Ruzicka suggested adopting it for 12 months as a pilot program. Director Knight stated that staff regularly reviews all programs on an annual basis and as such this would just be another program under continual review. Chair Allen asked staff to bring the item back in a year's time for an update on the program. • Director Knight stated that program logs would be kept and evaluated. Motion by Commissioner Enalebrecht to approve the Park Patrol Program. Chair Allen asked Commissioner Englebrecht if he would accept an amendment to his motion to add a 12 month pilot project. Commissioner Englebrecht stated that he would not. Chair Allen withdrew her amendment. Commissioner Beek stated that basically the job for a Park Patrol would be to enforce signage. She reminded the Commission that the real reason that Costa Mesa began this program was because of the homeless problem. She asked if we really want to hire someone that would have no power to enforce. Commissioner Skoro stated that he would like to see a pilot program and to have staff come back in year with their assessment. Commissioner Tobin reiterated that he thought that staff should look at privatizing the position. • Director Knight stated that it was staff's intent to update the Commission on the status of the program in a year. Motion carried by the following vote: Ayes: Allen, Englebrecht, Garrett, Ruzicka Parks, Beaches it Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 1, 2003 • Page 4 Nays: Beek, Skoro, Tobin 5. Field Allocation for Youth Sponsored Sports Groups - Director Knight reviewed the staff report and the background with the Commission reminding them that the issue had been brought to them for input at the March meeting and that since that time staff has met with representatives from the Youth Sports Organizations to garner their input. Commissioner Skoro asked how the resident vs. non - resident count is done. Director Knight stated that one of the requirements to be a sponsored group is to provide a roster that includes addresses to staff. Commissioner Ruzicka thanked staff for their hard work on this report. Commissioner Beek asked staff to add to the policy that City will not use the names or addresses contained in the sports rosters for other purposes. Chair Allen opened the public discussion Rex Jones, President, Newport Beach Little League, stated that they are uncomfortable • with the formula but want to be part of the solution and be fair. Dwight Doering, Newport Beach Little League, stated that he schedules the games and that they only ask that the formula be fair and equitable; commend the efforts of staff. He stated that there are some concerns regarding the use of school fields and asked that staff continue to explore a joint use agreement with the school district. Director Knight stated that joint use of school fields is an item up for discussion at the June Joint Meeting with Costa Mesa Parks and Recreation Department. Charles Massengill, Newport Harbor Baseball commented that because of Measure A many of the school fields are unavailable. Marce ALmaraz, AYSO 57, stated that all the groups need to work together and but the 8% to not allocate is much to high as it equates to two fields, should be lowered to 5% which is equivalent to about one field. Aaron Reyes, Newport Harbor Baseball, stated that they have seen a tremendous increase in registrations for baseball and that they are having to refund families because of the field shortage. Chair Allen closed the public discussion. • Director Knight stated that staff feels that 8% of the available fields must not be allocated and used for maintenance rotation, community use and other items not anticipated on an as needed basis. These fields will be reallocated to qualifying organizations as they become available based on the allocation formula. She noted that it is hard to disagree with AYSO as they are very supportive of staff but feels that it is Parks, Beaches ft Recreation Commission Regular Meeting April 1, 2003 • Page 5 important to rotate the fields as staff sees fit. Director Knight promised that fields would not be idle. Motion by Commissioner Beek to approve the Field Allocation at Use Procedures and Youth Sports Commission Member Organization Criteria and Responsibilities Policies. Motion carried by acclamation. 6. Potential Revision to City Tree Policies and Ordinances - Director Niederhaus discussed the role of the Ad Hoc Tree Committee to review the Council Tree Policies and Ordinances, and the creation of the Ad Hoc Tree Committee per the City Attorney and City Council. Chair Allen stated that three meetings had been scheduled for April 10, 24 and May 15. Chair Allen appointed herself and Commissioners Skoro and Tobin to the Ad Hoc Tree Committee. Chair Allen opened the Dublic hearine • Linda Grant, Vice President, Balboa Arbor Society, stated that Allen, Skoro and Tobin do not even care about trees. She commented that an arborist should be part of the committee and that the agreement with the City is being twisted and not being fairly represented. She stated that each of the groups should be represented on the committee. Chair Allen stated that the Council had directed her to appoint from the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission. Commissoner Garrett asked Ms. Grant how many people were members of the Balboa Arbor Society? Ms. Grant stated 50 at least. Yvonne Houssels stated that she was speaking for 449 homes as part of Harbor View Homes South, and was concerned that Council Policy G -3 was being entertained to be discussed. She commented that Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission should only be discussing the G -1 Policy as it clearly stated in the City Council minutes. She asked the Commission to remember that Newport Beach was not always a "Tree City" and should be recognized as a "View City." Director Niederhaus stated that there are conflicts in the G -1, G -3, G -6, L -2 and L -6 and • that is why it is important that they all be reviewed. Jan Vandersloot, President, Balboa Arbor Society, stated that the City needs a Tree Ordinance because it is more enforceable than a policy. He stated that members from the public should be on the committee and he is very uncomfortable with the Commissioners that were chosen. Parks, Beaches Ft Recreation Commission Regular Meeting • April 1, 2003 Page 6 Larry Porter stated that he looks forward to the discussions and that even if he is not part of the committee that he will be allowed to take part in the discussions. Linn Miller stated that the Committee should have included Commissioner Beek. She stated that she has a problem with reforesting big trees with twigs. She also commented that the trees in the parkways were not being watered and trimmed properly. She asked how many trees had been replaced in the last 10 years. Iris Kimmel, Harbor View Hills Community Association stated that she has spent a lot of time sending emails trying to get support in directing Chair Allen to only discuss the G- 1. She stated that the Council meeting minutes reflect nothing about review of any other policy except for G -1 and asked staff to review those minutes. Chair Allen closed the public hearing. 7. Committee Appointments and Reports Finance - Nothing to report. Park Development - March and April Meeting cancelled. Next meeting scheduled for June 17. • Recreation Ft Open Space Element - Nothing to report. Recreation Activities - Nothing new to report Seniors - Nothing new to report. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS Status of Grants /Bonds for Park Development - June /July ADJOURNMENT - 9:40pm Submitted by: '-�- L= Teri Craig, Admin A stant •