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HomeMy WebLinkAbout01.17.2023 PR Comm Minutes CITY OF SOUTH SAN FRANCISCO PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION MINUTES FROM TUESDAY, JANUARY 17, 2023 I. CALL TO ORDER: 7:00 p.m. A regular meeting of the Parks and Recreation Commission of the City of South San Francisco was held on Tuesday, January 17, 2023, via teleconference due to the COVID-19 pandemic and local health orders. II. ROLL CALL: Present: Commissioners Battaglia, Burgo, Camacho, DeNardi, Uy, Firpo and Lock Staff: Greg Mediati, Director of Parks and Recreation Angela Duldulao, Acting Deputy Director of Parks and Recreation Joshua Richardson, Parks Manager Kari Jung, Management Analyst I Laura Armanino, Recreation Supervisor Erin O’Brien, Business Manager Philip Vitale, Deputy Director of Capital Projects Kasey Jo Cullinan, Recreation Supervisor Jeanette Yoshida, Administrative Assistant II Brian Noce, Aquatics Supervisor Cynthia Lin, Aquatics Coordinator Billy Gross, Principal Planner Consultants: John Baker, Swinerton Kim Van Truong, ELS Meghan McNulty, Raimi & Associates III. PLEDGE OF ALLEGIANCE: Skipped. IV. AGENDA REVIEW: There were no changes to the agenda. V. APPROVAL OF MINUTES OF THE NOVEMBER 15, 2023, MEETING: Approved by motion. Motion: Commissioner Battaglia / Seconded: Commissioner Camacho VI. CITIZEN PARTICIPATION: Rosalind Stewart Edwards Toatley Carlos Moreno William Oliver VII. Old Business A. Election of Officers Chair Lock asked of there was a nomination for new Chairperson. Commissioner Battaglia nominated Commissioner Firpo and Commissioner DeNardi seconded. Director Mediati took a vote in which all Commissioners voted in the affirmative. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 2 Newly appointed Chair Firpo asked if there were any nominations for Vice Chair. Commission Camacho nominated Commissioner DeNardi and was seconded by Commissioner Lock. Director Mediati took vote in which all Commissioners voted in the affirmative. Chair Firpo asked if there were any nominations for Secretary to which Commissioner Camacho nominated Commissioner Battaglia and Commissioner Lock seconded. Director Mediati took a vote to which all Commissioners voted in the affirmative. New Officers are Chair Firpo, Vice Chair DeNardi and Secretary Battaglia. B. Capital Projects Update Deputy Director Vitale is joined by John Baker from Swinerton and Kim Van Truong from ELS Architects. Philip provided an update on the Aquatic Center’s schematic design. Project scope includes a new facility, an indoor and outdoor pool, activity room, swimmer’s lounge, and wind screen. During the construction of the new pool facility, staff hopes to maintain operation of existing pool. Deputy Director Vitale noted that since they shared the concept design in the fall of last year, the design team has continued to have meetings with members of the South San Francisco Aquatics Club and other stakeholders to get feedback on the pool design. Tabling has continued at Orange Pool for the schematic design. Email newsletters continue to be sent out and the project webpage continues to be updated to keep residents informed. The $49 million project budget is broken down into $9 million for soft costs which include things like designs, permits and fees. $40 million is for construction costs. Deputy Director Vitale notes that the Aquatic Center is being funded through the most recent bond sale for Measure W. John Baker from Swinerton reports that they just finished the schematic design process which is the first of the design document phases. Plans, as estimated, are slightly over budget by 9%. He states that they are currently working with City staff for cost saving measures that do not impact the program such as design elements. One additional cost item was identified after receiving the geotechnical report is a soil stabilization mitigation issue. It is not an uncommon situation for the kind of soft soil that we have. Engineers are looking at the ways to mitigate that and costs will be between $1 and $4 million. Those costs are not considered part of the construction cost. John Baker goes on to note, in addition to the base project there are additional elements that could be added if there was funding still available and talks about options they’ve looked at and received pricing for. Option 1: To do an all-electric project. This option would cost $700,000. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 3 Option 1A: All-electric (pool and building) with the PVT (photovoltaic/thermal) system included. This option would cost $2.6 million. This option may provide a substantial operational savings in terms of the operation of the facility. Another item not currently in the project is a new Veterans Memorial Plaza. This would be most likely at the current location or across Tennis Drive. This would cost between $1.5 to $2 million. Another item that can be added to the project is a multi-purpose room to the Aquatics Center. Cost for this would be $3.5 million. Kim Van Truong from ELS is introduced by Deputy Director Vitale to go over base design and speak on the value engineering options. Kim Van Truong shares a slide of the baseline site plan at the end of 100% schematic design. She explains that everything within the red dashed line is included in the cost estimate for the scope of the project. Kim shares another slide to show how potential changes won’t impact the overall design of the project. The first idea is to remove the shade trellis. It can be removed without effecting the windscreen element and wind at the facility. Shade could be provided more inexpensively by providing umbrellas or other shade structures if needed. We are also proposing to remove the concrete seating under the trellis. This would result in saving around $850,000. Kim Van Truong also states that another change that could be made is to remove the hardscape and replace with softscape like lawn planting or turf. Kim Van Truong shares another slide which shows the main entrance and lobby, pointing out that those will not change. She points out the multi-purpose room, which is an alternate to the design. The indoor pool would look similar to the view shown on the slide and states that by reducing the size of the indoor pool, you’re also able to reduce the size of the natatorium which would amount in a fair amount of savings. Kim Van Truong then gives another example of potential savings in the sitework area included in the project that is outside of the pool enclosure itself. That area could be postponed or done as a second project. By doing this it has a potential saving od $850,000. Kim Van Truong then shares a screen with other options and the related savings. One option notes a smaller indoor pool with 6 lanes at 7’ width, a smaller natatorium, removed trellis and seating, and replace softscape for hardscape. This with the site reduction previously talked about would be a $3.8 million savings. Another option may note that the trellis and seating underneath is removed. Number of lanes in both indoor and outdoor pool remain the same but width of lanes is reduced to 7’. Replace softscape for hardscape. Reduced natatorium. One thing to note about this option is that the outdoor pool will no longer be a 25-meter pool, but you are still able to have competitions. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 4 The competitions would still happen in the 25-yard direction. These changes along with the site reductions would result in a savings of $3.0 million. Commissioner Camacho asks how much it would save to remove the trellis, seating and softscape so that the lanes of the pools do not have to be touched. Kim responded that just removing the trellis and seating would save $850,000. As for replacing the softscape with hardscape it would depend; to put it in perspective, a concrete pool deck can range from $45 to $50 a square foot whereas something like lawn is $15 to $20 per square foot. Deputy Director Vitale adds in that these are just options. We don’t have to pick either of the options and combinations can be used. This meeting and others are to get information from the commissioners and the public to see what the priorities are and to inform possible savings to address the overage of $3.3 million. Director Mediati adds that staff members met today to view these and some other options that we’ll be sharing. We just want to hear what the priorities are. ALL-ELECTRIC STUDY Deputy Director Vitale reintroduces Kim Van Truong who talks about the all-electric study. Kim Van Truong goes on to say that since the last time the project was presented, they have completed the all-electric analysis and there are different level the project can pursue. The current base design includes electrified building with gas heated pools. The annual operational cost for this is $255,000 per year. Option 1: Would be to electrify the pool suing heat pumps and supplement with electricity from the utility provider. It would generate greenhouse gas emissions on site. The initial incremental cost would be $672,000 and annual operational costs would be $282,000 a year. Option 2: In addition to the heat pumps, you can install PVT on site. These are dual photovoltaic and thermal panels which generate both heat and electricity and could be installed on top of the natatorium. Initial incremental cost would be $2,265,750 and annual costs would be $165,400 per year. Commissioner Uy asked how long the life is on the PVT and how much would it cost to replace them. Deputy Director Vitale responded that they could look into and respond back whether through memo or at a Council meeting what the life expectancy and cost is for the PV versus the PVT. He also states that they have started to have conversations with Peninsula Clean Energy who have some approaches and may be able to help offset some of the capital cost for the PV version. This study that was conducted was to understand what it would cost to do all electric building and what the cost would be to do an electric building with the PVTs to see what direction we would like to go. This is the time in the design process to incorporate those pieces if chosen. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 5 Kim Van Truong explains that the pool heating takes up 80% of the demand of the entire project and although making the building all electric will be fairly easy, heating the pool will be the challenge on this project. With option 1, the saving will be $2.4 million over 25 years and with option 2, the saving would be $3.38 million over 25 years and would be generating over 41% of the overall demand. Kim Van Truong shares a slide that shows how much more the natural gas price surges are compared to the increase in California electricity prices. A lot of the major utility companies are aiming to move away from gas by 2030 and a lot of municipal clients are moving towards being all electric as well. Commissioner Uy asked if there has been any thought into potentially having a battery system on site that could capture some of the energy. Deputy Director Vitale responded that in some of the conversations with Peninsula Clean Energy, they learned that they have some incentive programs not only to help fund the solar panels but also programs to have battery storage onsite. He states that they are excited to learn more about those incentives and if they do incorporate them into the project, how much space it would take up and what the return would be. We are starting to look at those incentives, but they were not part of the all-electric study that was done. Commissioner Camacho stated that the question that Commissioner Uy asked about the lifespan is important because if the lifespan is less than 13 years than it wouldn’t make sense to spend that money for the PVT, unless Peninsula Clean Energy offset some of that cost. Veterans Memorial Deputy Director Vitale shares a slide to show different options of where it could be moved to. With the construction of the new facility, the Veterans Memorial items will be displaced. There are a few options of where they can be moved to. Option 1: The entry plaza to the new Aquatic Center. Good location because its prominent and that area can accommodate some events. Moving to this location will fit within the budget. Option 2: Relocating to the landscape area at the end of Tennis Drive parking lot. Relocating to this location would also fit within the budget. Options 3: Because of the desire to have an area to have bigger events, a new Veterans Plaza could be created in the same area as option 2. It’s a prominent area and the parking lot could be readjusted to fit the plaza. This area would be out of budget and the estimated cost would be $1.5 to $2 million. OPERATION STUDY The consultant company initially looked at the existing Orange Pool which serves roughly 100,000 people per year and through our fees which they noted to be very low and made a couple of recommendations. Since the new pool space will almost be twice as big and could potentially serve almost twice as many people, we could implement a minor fee increase. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 6 Revenue would be almost $2 million a year and operation costs would be around $600,000 which would be about a 77% cost recovery. The consultant also gave another scenario which would be to increase fees even a little bit higher, which would still be competitive with our nearby municipal pool facilities but would have a higher revenue which would have a higher cost recovery of 86%. Deputy Director Vitale states that this is to give everyone a sense of how much more we’re going to get in capital investment. Other things still need to be factored in like hiring more lifeguards and the maintenance of the facility. SCHEDULE City Council will receive the schematic design update, followed by Design Review Board and Planning Commission in March. Staff will continue to update the Park and Recreation Commission and City Council in the spring as we move to wrap up design development. Deputy Director Vitale states that their intent is to finish construction documents this summer then go out to bid and start construction in the fall and open the new pool in spring 2025. Chair Firpo asks staff to call upon members of the public who would like to speak. Carlos Moreno states that he was attending the meeting on a personal basis but wanted to share some information because he works for Peninsula Clean Energy and gave the original presentation to staff. Carlos Moreno gives some broad points and doesn’t get into specifics since it’s only the beginning stages of this program. He states that the point of this program is to put all the capital expenses upfront so that the only cost for the city would have to pay for is the energy cost. Carlos Moreno explains that this is the second round of this program and there are a few sites in development from the first round which all saw savings immediately on their energy bill. Chair Firpo asked Carlos Moreno if he knew how long the photovoltaic panels would last. Carlos Moreno responded that at least for the current round of these contracts they should last around 20 years. Edward Toatley is the next public speaker. He states that he is questioning making the lanes smaller in width. He shares that he recently was with the swim team at Oceana and heard complaints from parents about the lanes being too small and crowded. He gave another example of a meet in Milpitas where they had 60 swimmers in a lane because they had a meet with 600 swimmers. Narrowing the lanes will cause a problem during meets. Deputy Director Vitale thanked Edward Toatley for those comments. He goes on to say that they are just looking at options and trying to hear from the community on what they prioritize; number of lanes or lane width so that they can see where they can address the overage of the $3.3 million. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 7 Next public speaker is William Oliver. He shares that he agrees with Edward Toatley in not decreasing the lane widths. As a swim team they would like to train the width as well as the length of the pool because that would be 25 meters. He asks for clarification on if the plan is to decrease the length or width of the pool. Deputy Director Vitale responds that it’s not one or the other. Currently they are exploring if we reduced the lane width how much money could we save. By doing that it reduces the overall width which makes it no longer 25 meters. We’re trying to hear from everyone how much of a priority having the 25 meter is. William Oliver replies to Deputy Director Vitale’s explanation. He said they would prefer to keep the pool at 25 meters. We plan on having competitions in the form of 25 meters as well as 25 yards. William Oliver also shares that there is a need for as much deck space as possible. When there is soft space and people are walking on it during competitions it’s going to turn into mud at some point which will create a mess. Chair Firpo asked William Oliver if he prefers a larger lane than the current 7 feet. William Oliver responds that he prefers lanes 7.5 feet or wider. With trainings and competitions, he would like to have the lanes as wide as possible. Next public speaker is Rosalind Stewart. She’s been a regular at the pool for many years and agrees that the pool width needs to be bigger. Director Mediati responded that they could possibly go to Oceana to measure the lanes to get a baseline. Commissioner Uy shares that he likes the idea of the PVT and feels like the city needs to move towards being more environmentally friendly. He thinks the cost could be offset but would like to see the real numbers. Next, Commissioner Uy gives his thoughts on the pool widths and lengths and believes that if the pool is being created to support our swim team and engage in activities, then we should go all in with them. We should create a pool that is the right size and find somewhere else to cut corners for example the multi-use room. He believes the hardscape should be used everywhere because the outdoor pool will be primarily used for competitions. Commissioner Lock agrees that we should do everything possible to maintain the width. He agrees with Commissioner Uy that one of the options to cut back on cost would be to remove the multi-purpose room. Deputy Director Vitale responds to clarify that the base design does include an activity room, which is a smaller room that can be used for parties, trainings, or waiting space for parents and is in the current budget. The multi-purpose room is a separate room that is not in the current budget and is listed as an alternate. Commissioner Camacho agrees to prioritize what is needed to have an impactful pool to be used for the community and what it is intended for. If that means, it’s not as nice looking as Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 8 far as design or the building isn’t as flashy that’s ok. Maybe look to see of the lobby could be made smaller. Little things like that could add up. Commissioner Camacho also adds that in future presentations, she would like to see the options individually priced so that you could pick and choose things and know what it would add up to. She also asks if the fee increases can be separated by classes versus rentals and what the fee increases would be in dollars; maybe think about doing a smaller increase in fees for classes compared to fees for rentals. Commissioner Burgo agrees that cutting out the trellis and having umbrellas is more cost effective. She is on the fence regarding the hardscape versus softscape. Her concerns are if it’s all concrete, it could potentially be too hot. If there is turf, the maintenance of the turf and the granules getting all over the place when wet. With a lawn there’s potential for mud to get all over the place when too wet. Commissioner Burgo asks the question if it is possible to have concrete with artificial grass over it. She also likes the idea of cutting out the sitework area outside of the pool enclosure to help cut down cost so that we can maintain the size and lane widths of the pools. Commissioner Burgo says she’s leaning more towards the PV option. She asks if starting with the PV option, once they make the money back or if we get a grant of some type, would converting to the PVT be an option. She would also like to see a breakdown in fees for the pool to see where we need to be to break even. For the Veterans Memorial, Commissioner Burgo prefers options 1 or 2. Secretary Battaglia wants to make sure that the pool remains a community pool. She has no other comment at this time. Vice Chair DeNardi states that hearing from the community and swim teams that the 25 meters and the 25-yard form is what is needed, then we need to go in the direction of what those needs are from the community who is using it daily. Vice Chair DeNardi goes on to say that she would also like to see what other swimming pools rental fees are in the area because we’d like to see class fee stay around where they are, noting perhaps rentals can be increased a bit. Chair Firpo comments he would like to see no reduction with the pools, maybe less lanes so the lanes can be wider if we had to. He especially does not want to see reduction in size for the indoor pool because on cooler days more people are going to use the indoor pool and would need adequate space. As for the all-electric, if what Mr. Moreno says is true and it last around 20 years, it’s a no brainer to help with costs. Chair Firpo comments that we need to do a nice job with the Veterans Memorial move and feels like Council is going to make this a priority as well. He states that he would like to keep fees for the pool as close as possible to what we have today for the residents. He likes Commissioner Burgo’s idea of putting turf on top of the concrete, if possible, to provide a little cushion and warmth when sitting on it versus just concrete. Deputy Director Vitale adds that if anyone has additional questions or comments, there is a comment section on the project webpage, and you can also send emails to [email protected]. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 9 VIII. New Business A. Lindenville Specific Plan Update Billy Gross, Principal Planner for the City of South San Francisco, states that City Council adopted the general plan updates, the accompanying zoning updates, and the climate action plan in October. The Lindenville sub area was one of the four areas identified in the action plan. We received a grant through Metropolitan Transportation Commission and used some City money to start on a Lindenville specific plan. That effort was started towards the late summer of last year and worked through community engagement and is now moving forward with looking at alternatives and feedback from the public and different Commissions and Committees. Ultimately, we’re planning to go to City Council at the end of February to ask them to select a preferred alternative. Meghan McNulty from Raimi & Associates gives update on the specific plan. Meghan McNulty shares a slide that shows the boundaries of Lindenville and a slide of a list of existing plans and studies that they are using to build from. She shares that they will be conducting technical work to complement the community engagement component of this process. These studies will analyze current conditions of Lindenville like water supply, utilities, and transportation. Meghan McNulty goes on to explain that they have a series of activities that are being conducted for community engagement including stakeholder and focus group meetings, community workshops, and online surveys. She shares that they’ve launched the project website and encourages everyone to check it out. Some of the feedback they received in the first round of engagement was a lot about open spaces and parks, the desire to revitalize Colma Creek, and promotion of cultural arts. They also heard a lot about maintaining industrial uses and having a balance between tech and industrial and supporting local businesses. Round two of activities started in December with an online survey that is currently live, community workshop, virtual stakeholder meeting and Planning Commission meeting. There are a couple more of Commission and Council meetings in February. Commissioner Uy asked what the current population of Lindenville is and what is the projected population in the next couple of years. Principal Planner Billy Gross responded that the housing element they are moving forward with, will require us to identify the ability to have at least 4,000 units. He explains that the general plan will last around 2.5 to 3 housing element cycles, and we know that the requirement is going to become larger in future cycles because of our employment growth. The general plan looked at accommodating between 14,000 and 17,000 housing units within the city. In the Lindenville area, adopted as part of the general plan, was approximately 5,500 housing units. Meghan McNulty shares background information on the Lindenville area and shares a slide that shows that currently the existing land in the Lindenville area is used for mostly Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 10 industrial uses. She also states that we are starting to see some changes with a small amount of R&D and will start to see more with the Southline Development. She makes note that Lindenville is limited in the way of retail and services, parks and open spaces. These are things to think about as we plan for this area. Currently there are no City parks, trails and very few trees in the Lindenville area. There are also several environmental challenges to consider as Lindenville grows like, sea level rise, ground contamination from the industrial use and compatibility between residential and industrial uses. Meghan McNulty shares that the general plan establishes a land use policy that retains a large portion of Lindenville for industrial services and transportation uses. It also extends the urban fabric downtown, south around Colma Creek and into Lindenville. It creates a mixed-use environment on South Spruce Avenue. The general plan vision is to also transform the Colma Creek area into a walkable corridor and protects against sea level rise, provides biodiversity, and creates an amenity and recreational space for the residents of the city. In addition to the land use policy for Lindenville, there are several district and city- wide policies that will guide preparation of the specific plan. The general plan establishes a direction where different open spaces should be well connected to the trail network, and bicycle connection should be established as identified in the active South City plan. Meghan McNulty shares a map that illustrates a number of potential active transportation connections as identified in the active South City plan. Taking all the information and the general plans vision statement for Lindenville, they developed a couple of tool kits and example alternatives to share with the Commission. There are 2 components, the first is the “kit of parts” and the second is three example alternatives. The kit of parts includes 6 different tool kits which focus on different aspects in things like housing, open spaces and blue-green infrastructure, employment uses and more. The idea is to mix and match different options form these toolkits. For today, we’ll focus on the open spaces and blue-green infrastructure framework. The toolkit for the blue-green infrastructure are landscapes that contributes to open space and water management. The options in this toolkit are intended to improve ecology, provides spaces for people to gather, to support storm water management and to support community resilience. Meghan McNulty shares a screen that shows the different options that include parks, mini parks, linear parks, plazas, trails, and green streets that are intended to be applied throughout various locations in the Lindenville area. Meghan McNulty then shares slides of 3 example alternatives and what they show is how all the items from the kit can fit together and form land use frameworks for inclusion in the plan. Alternative one is the least transformative compared to the general plan because it strives for a balance of industrial, commercial, mixed uses and residential land uses. She points out the alternative three is the most transformative because it dedicates more land for mixed use and open spaces, which in turn leaves less room for industrial uses. Alternative one focuses options for open space and blue green infrastructure along Colma Creek. In this scenario other new spaces would be added in Lindenville on a site-by-site basis as opportunities arise. In alternative two there is more open space area. There would be blue green open space and blue green infrastructure on the south side of Colma Creek and a new linear park connection going south from Colma Creek to Victory Avenue. Alternative three is the most ambitious vision for open space and blue green infrastructure. Colma Creek Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 11 would be naturalized, and open space and blue green infrastructure would be expanded on both sides of the creek. A linear park would provide connections from Colma Creek to Centennial Trail and generally more open space throughout the district. Principal Planner Billy Gross adds that the alternatives do not have to be exclusive. We can mix and match the kit of parts. Meghan McNulty shares that beyond just the land use, the specific plan can contain policies. She shares a list of policy ideas for consideration. Some of the ideas include connecting Lindenville internally and externally to other parts of the city and beyond through parks, trails and transportation. Another policy to consider, to allow transfer development away from Colma Creek to create more opportunities for Colma Creek enhancement. Commissioner Uy asked what kind of housing is being planned to be built there. Meghan McNulty responded that there are a variety of different options that are being proposed and nothing has been decided yet. Commissioner Uy responded that the only reason he asked is because to plan the future open spaces, it will make a difference who we’re trying to create for. It will make a difference in recommendations of open space if housing is more live work style for professionals or created more families. Principal Planner Billy Gross responded that the area is big enough that he hopes we can accommodate all types. He said that if there are certain types of open space types you’d like to see with certain housing types, it would be good to know. Commissioner Lock shares that he walks through the Lindenville area at least once a month and said there is a significant lack of infrastructure in that area. Linden is a very narrow street as is it and is hard to walk down or ride a bicycle. He then asked about the little patch of former tracks at the south side of Railroad Ave being a possibility for an open space. Principal Planner Billy Gross responded that the spur at that parcel is connect to a rail parcel that fronts on the south side of Railroad Ave. There is a preliminary application in to build town homes along the south side and that spur would then be open space. So that is currently a space they’re looking at. He agrees that the width on most of the roads in Lindenville are very narrow and said that it’s limited on what can be done there. Part of the decision will be on the land uses we choose in different areas. For example, if one of the corridors is predominately industrial and the other is predominantly residential then may we choose the residential as primary for a bicycle pathway. Spruce Ave is a little wider than most other streets in Lindenville, so we are looking to see if we can do a little more with that road and what else can be accommodated there. Mobility and adequate access for all the users are being looked at. Commissioner Lock then asks about the small green area on the slide that is surrounded by the industrial area. Principal Planner Billy responds that area is a standalone space that could be some level of open space. It’s going to be hard to connect to the larger area. He explains that 5 acres is Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 12 what is necessary to meet the requirement of open space for the Lindenville area, and because that’s not a small amount of space we’re trying to see how much of that we can get from the Colma Creek corridor if we were to redo some of that. He then asks if space requirements in the area are not being met, are there smaller recreational needs or certain types of facilities we should prioritize. Commissioner Camacho asked if more green infrastructures could be added to the current tool kits list or separately, for example rain gardens or infiltration basins. Since some of the areas will be dug up with development, could you make agreements with the developers to add those kinds of green infrastructure and include it in as a detail when doing the trails and paths. If it’s new development, then can we add blue roofs to capture rainwater and green roofs these are steps for the planning department to check on. Commissioner Camacho likes alternative three because it would be expanding Colma Creek, giving Old Town additional green space and connect it down closer to El Camino like a trail or expanding Sister Cities. It seems like this alternative would have a better transition between industrial, commercial and residential. Chair Firpo asks if there are members of the public who would like to speak. Carlos Moreno states that he is a cyclist and riding on Linden can be terrifying. He’s followed the active South City plan and it looks promising but when it comes to parking spots it can get tough. He would like to see safer biking lanes. Commissioner Burgo states that she thinks a dog park is necessary and will benefit the most regardless of the type of residential area. Secretary Battaglia makes comment regarding seeing shows that have roof gardens and one that had a soccer field on the roof and wonders if that is something we could be done here. It would help give more green spots in residential and industrial areas on the new building being built. Principal Planner Billy Gross responded that they call those privately operated public open spaces and we now allow that as a way to help us get additional recreation or park. We don’t have to maintain it, which is one of the hardest parts for us. Vice Chair DeNardi says her concern right now is the air quality in the area. When there are businesses that have been there for a long time, commercial vehicle starting up every morning and people living there among all that, she would like to reserve her opinion on parks and open spaces until we see the technical studies on air quality. Another concern is about current small business owners in the area, are they going to asked to move somewhere else? Principal Planner Billy Gross responds that alternative one is basically what is in the general plan as of October. Someone could come in tomorrow and submit an application to do a residential project on the northern side of Colma Creek and the south side of Colma Creek. This is a long-term vision and transition. We’ve already approved some residential projects Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 13 in the northeast portion of Lindenville. There are going to be impacts to small businesses in that area and we’re already seeing impacts just based on the larger regional trends from cost for land. For air quality concerns, we have done some high-level analysis when we adopted the general plan and any of the housing projects that come in will have to do their own specific analysis and may have to have specific mitigation measures. Commissioner Lock would like to see a much more formal connection to the existing green spaces in all of South San Francisco. He likes the idea of some sort of extension along Canal. Working off what Commissioner Camacho said, take Sister Cities and make a formal extension along Canal all the way to the Bay Trail. That way if you can’t have the amount of green space targeted, at least people have a nice way of getting to our existing green space. Chair Firpo shares that he realizes this is for the future and there may be more uses and residents in the future. He goes on to say that he agrees with Commissioner Lock in looking at connecting areas to the parks and trails we have now. Maybe connecting to these areas in a better way will accomplish getting some more of those open spaces. He likes the idea of running the trail all the way to Bay Trail. He asks the question if it possible to have a trail along the Caltrain tracks, so there aren’t so many intersections that bikers and walkers have to go through, that would get you almost to San Bruno Caltrain from the station in South San Francisco. Chair Firpo suggests that one of the things left out that may fit in that area is a gym. If there is an existing building that the City was to acquire, it would be a good opportunity for residents to use the facility there since the closest other one is Terrabay. B. SSFUSD Joint Use Agreement Update Director Mediati gives update that earlier in the year they heard from the school district that they would like to renegotiate the joint use agreement. The current agreement has been in place since 2008. The goal is to maximize public benefit of city and district facilities by providing access and use to the public for little or no fee. Fees may be collected to cover some direct out of pocket costs, for example overtime. In some cases where there is a great deal of community/public use the City may assume some of the maintenance of those facilities, for example the ball fields. Negotiations have been going well. Chair Firpo asks if Sunshine Garden Park will be part of this agreement and about the track at El Camino High School. Director Mediati responded that the City and district still need to clarify that one particular site because of the hours in which it would be available for public use because they also have a tremendous demand for that site. The use is less concerning at South City High because it seems there is more availability for that location. He goes on to say that we’ve put in the request to have an opportunity to have all playground sites included. Not sure to what the extent the district will want that to be added, however they have been good about partnering with the city and opening the playgrounds when they are not being used by the school, especially at Sunshine Gardens. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 14 Commissioner Uy asks if this includes the green space that is in between Westborough Middle School and Westborough Park. Director Mediati responded that they are working to clarify the specific areas there. Not sure if that area is being contemplated for the 2023 revision but will check and report back. Commissioner Uy says that area is huge amount of wasted space for the City and that the district hasn’t allowed use of that area because of potential conflicts with parking and the motorcycle classes, which is revenue for them. He suggests if the City could do something to offset that loss for them then we would get use of that field to support large scale team sports. Director Mediati responded that the City Council members on the School District Liaison Committee brought the field up and said it’s a great opportunity site and asked why it wasn’t being used. One point that was made was the motorcycle classes and that the field is in disrepair. Director Mediati also says he’s not for certain, but believes this is one of the sites they are looking at for their new bond measure that will be coming forth. Commissioner Uy commented that it is his understanding that a lot of the community groups that are interested in youth sports would help to repair the field in kind for the ability to use the fields. Commissioner Camacho is happy to hear that we are trying to add playgrounds of the elementary schools to that list. It’s a safe place for kids to play or ride bikes away from cars. She also asked if it would be possible to list parks and picnic sites for specific school use. For example, Monte Verde takes the kindergarten class to Sellick Park every year for a field trip. For Los Cerritos it can be Orange Park since its down the street. Then it would be like a partnership. Commissioner Camacho asks if they will be updating the list of facilities as they meet annually. Director Mediati responded that it would probably need to be a side letter or amendment to the agreement and would probably still need City Council and Board of Trustee action. Director Mediati added that childcare will continue to be a separate document. Commissioner Camacho asked if the portables, like at Ponderosa, were City property and if maintenance for those are clarified in the agreement as far as who is responsible for it. Recreation Supervisor Laura Armanino responded that she believes the portables are district property. Historically, going back 20 years when there was only one portable, the City has taken care of the interior and school district has taken care of the exterior. Since then, it has changed a couple of times and Director Mediati and the District will need to decide on who is responsible for what moving forward. Commissioner Camacho asked if it could be written in the agreement that if the district is using bond measures for new builds, that we can offer services or ideas for those since we’ll be the ones maintaining it. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 15 Director Mediati responded he thinks that we could do it with new construction or improvements that directly affect one another. IX. Friends of Parks and Recreation: Deputy Director Duldulao reported there are no updates at this time. X. Beautification Committee: Director Mediati reported there are no updates at this time. XI. Items from Commission: Commissioner Uy reports that he heard from members of the community tennis courts lights at Orange Park are out and asked if we can get someone out to fix. He also reports that he spoke with Director Mediati earlier in the week about the trees along El Camino having braces and falling over. These trees are not owned by the City and Director Mediati came up with a solution to inform the property owner. Commissioner Lock asks about the taped off area at the ball field at Paradise Valley. Manager Richardson responded that there is a tree there that was identified as being a hazardous tree. It is a school district tree and we’ve notified them about it. We’re hoping that we can work with them and/or they’ll expedite the work to take care of it. Commissioner Lock inquired about the status of the former Boys and Girls Clubhouse. Director Mediati responds that we are going to try again to offer the Kids Club program at that site in this next session. It will be more of a class based after school program that each day will have a different theme. The next session is starting soon and in the next couple of weeks our hope is to reactivate that program. Commissioner Lock then asked how the park staff held up during the storms. Manager Richardson responded that generally we held up well. Overall, across the city we had about 50 incidents and lost about 10 trees. On Sign Hill we did have some minor mudslides but were able to mitigate those and no homes were put at risk. We weathered well in main rains but when the storms that came in after and everything was saturated already is when we started to see issues. Manager Richardson states that he is working on addressing those and getting some contractors on board because the erosion concerns are larger than we can handle in house. Other than that, no real flooding, or major issues. He says that there are some areas in the parks that are closed off. At the upper area of Westborough Park some trees fell on the upper pathway. At Brentwood Park a large tree uprooted and knocked down some power lines and fell on a couple of homes that PG&E mitigated and responded to. The back of the park is closed due to some hanging limbs and will remain closed until the area dries up enough to get equipment back there. A tree limb fell at the Orange Park ball field project and struck one of the light poles and caused minor damage. A large tree came down Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 16 at Alta Loma Park but luckily no homes were damaged. Given what other cities are dealing with now, we’ve done okay. Commissioner Lock talks about the slides on San Bruno Mountain which are coming down onto Hillside. He would like to know if that is the City’s responsibility. Manager Richardson responded that it is County property and their responsibility. He goes on to say if rocks fall onto the road, typically we’ll clear the hazard. Commissioner Lock then asked about the storm water capture project, and if water was being collected. Director Mediati responded that he believes they are still testing. We didn’t capture any water on this go around. Manager Richardson adds that during high storm flows, it will close, so the system is not overwhelmed. These systems are designed to operate during low and minimum flow. Commissioner Camacho shares about Wreath Workshop being a huge success and says that the workshop may be changed to the second Saturday of December this year. She shares about another event that IPP will be having at Sellick Park on February 4th. Commissioner Camacho asks a question regarding the March calendar and the San Francisco Opera at Orange Park. Manager O’Brien responded that they are partnering with the San Francisco Opera and will be hosting a 3-day event. South San Francisco is one out of four cities selected for this event. The dates and times for the event will be Friday March 17th at 7:30pm, Saturday March 18th at 7:30pm and Sunday March 19th at 2pm. The event will be free to the public. Commissioner Burgo shares that she attended the Nutcracker which she found to be amazing. Secretary Battaglia shares that she enjoys the Christmas lights around the city and thanked staff for doing that. She enjoyed the Wreath Making Workshop and the Nutcracker, which she attended with a friend. She also attended the Santa comes to Town event and the Women’s Club / Chamber of Commerce open house. Vice Chair DeNardi shares that she attended the Cultural Arts focus group and the affordable housing HUD meeting. She enjoys the Wreath Workshop and that it gives the community options to pick up their materials to bring home and do at their leisure. Vice Chair DeNardi shares that she was also involved with the Kiwanis Club for Santa Comes to Town and states that the weather was perfect that day. She thanks staff for putting on such wonderful events for the community. She attended the community workshop with the skateboard community and was impressed by the great representation there of the skateboard community. Vice Chair DeNardi also attended the community outreach at the Fire Station 61 regarding the Lindenville project with her husband and were able to share some insight. She shares that she attended the Nutcracker with her mother-in-law and thought it was a fantastic Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 17 production. Vice Chair DeNardi thanks staff for offering a bocce league for the community. Likes that the information for the bocce league is on the back of the winter brochure, but noted an incorrect email address was used. Deputy Director Duldulao responded that she will investigate that. She said that they were putting that as a prompt placeholder but in the spring guide, people will have the opportunity to register, so the information will be clearer. Vice Chair DeNardi shares that she like that the shrubbery has been trimmed down along the tennis courts in the sculpture garden and behind the bench in front of the bocce courts. Chair Firpo shares that he picked up a wreath to bring home and that he heard both sessions were packed. He’s heard people say that they should do another and suggests maybe it would be worthwhile. He shares that he was in the EOC most of the days during the storms and commends Director Mediati, Manager Richardson, and all staff on doing such a good job. Chair Firpo thanks Commissioner Lock for his amazing job as chair. XII. Items from Staff: A. Calendar of Events Deputy Director Duldulao refers to the brochure in the calendar of events included in the packet and points out a couple of dates. Tomorrow is the Valentines for the troops event and breakfast will be provided for anyone interested in joining. There is also a 2D art show coming up. Deputy Director Duldulao shares that they’re glad to have a lot of their signature events back and points out that some of the events in the fall and late summer are still listed as TBD because they’re waiting to see when they’re going to open LPR and construction at Orange Park. The hope is to have a little more information in the coming weeks so we can get dates set. B. Administrative Update The administrative updates were let out of the packet so they will be emailed to the Commissioners. Director Mediati gives update that it sounds like the emergency declaration that gives us the Brown Act exemption to meeting in person maybe set to end at the end of February. It looks like the March meeting will possibly be in person. Director Mediati will try to update everyone before the February meeting. Manager O’Brien shares information on the CPRS conference in San Diego scheduled in April 3-6. She goes on to say for the people interested in going, the pre-registration ends January 26 and to contact Director Mediati if interested in going. Manager Richardson shares that he’s recently start the master plan process for Sign Hill. He has a consultant on board and will be coming back to the Commission with updates in the upcoming months. We’ll be working with Gates & Associates and WRA who also worked on planning at San Mateo County’s open space master plan and their trail alignments. This master plan will oversee both trail alignments, making the more accessible, managing that with sustainable and beneficial maintenance activities and habitat prevention for endangered species. Parks and Recreation Commission Minutes of the Meeting of January 17, 2023 Page 18 Deputy Director Duldulao shares with the Commission storm response information on the Recreation side. They would be responsible for providing temporary shelter for up to 150 people. In this case it was because of power outage and fortunately we didn’t have to deal with people who were displaced because of the storm. She adds that there is a lot of administration stuff that comes with that like time keeping and reporting. XIII. Adjournment: 10:12 p.m. Respectfully submitted by Jeanette Yoshida, Administrative Assistant II Next Meeting: February 21, 2023