Parks, Arts, & Community Services Commission - Regular Meeting

Good evening, everyone. Thank you so much for coming out tonight. We really I'm gonna ask for your attention at the front. Hi. Welcome to the meeting of the June 12 meeting of the Parks and Community Services Commission. We're so glad to have you all turn out for this meeting. I feel quite popular, so thank you. We are I'm gonna call the meeting to order at 06:01 p. M. And I really appreciate how everybody is seated and ready to engage in conversation today. Thank you so much for that. Vice chair Wright, would you do the pledge of allegiance first?

Yes. Please stand.

Great. Thank you. Ms. Fetua, the roll call.

Let the record reflect reflect all commissioners are present except for Commissioner Houston.

Great. Thank you. So now we're at the point in the agenda, and this is the order that we're going to follow for tonight's meeting for those of you who have not been to a Parks and Community meeting. This is an opportunity for there to be public comment, and this is for anything that's not on the agenda. So if you're here to talk about Brentwood Park, you're going to wait until your agenda item. But if there is anyone in the council chambers who would like to make a public comment on something that's not on the agenda, now is the time. Miss Fatuah, it looks like no one is in the council chambers to speak on that. Anyone online?

If there are any members on Zoom, please raise your hand. Chair, there are no hands raised.

Okay. Rolling along. We now go to commissioner comments suggestions, and I am going to start, how about I'm gonna start with, Commissioner Doran Parker.

At this time, I don't have any overall comments at this time. Thank you.

Commissioner Kamala.

All

right. Hi, everyone. Good evening. First off, thank you, everyone, for coming out tonight. I just wanna give a big shout out to all the, Eastside residents who came out recently to share their thoughts on Brentwood Park, Whether you filled out a survey, stopped by to chat at the park last week, I just really appreciated that FaceTime. So thank you for that. And I love the science, especially the monkey bars one. I love that one. Also, a huge thanks to our awesome public works team for all their hard work bringing the new batting cages at TeWinkle Athletic Complex to life. It's great to see that project just come together. So thank you to the public's work team team, and I'm excited to hear all the comments tonight about Brentwood.

Thank you. Commissioner Ledger.

Okay. So first, I do want to say my son and his friends suddenly decided to take up tennis. So we really do appreciate the tennis center and how affordable it is. Also,

I want to give a shout out to our police department. I witnessed two things. First one is the school I work at every year, we have a sixth grade versus staff kickball game at the end of the year. And two park rangers were going by our back gate during this game. And the kids started cheering to see the police. And so we flagged them down and asked if they wanted to play. And one played on the sixth grade side, one played on the staff side, and they each stayed for an inning. And the kids absolutely loved it. Another one being I was at the Costa Mesa High School graduation. Parking was at the OCC lot.

And the police did an amazing job with traffic control, creating a makeshift crosswalk for everyone. And I witnessed one of them stop a girl on her bike from going in front of a car with just lightning quick reflexes, and then was still very nice to the girl letting her know to wait. So great job on that. And then with everything else that is going on, I just wanted to do something a little different today. And I wanted to read a couple scriptures.

So the first one being Matthew 2five thirty four through 40. Then the King will say to those on his right, come, you who are blessed by my Father, take your inheritance, the kingdom prepared for you since the creation of the world. For I was hungry, and you gave me something to eat. I was thirsty, and you gave me something to drink. I was a stranger, and you invited me in.

I needed clothes, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you looked after me. I was in prison, and you came to visit me. Then the righteous will answer him, Lord, when did we see you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to drink? When did we see you, a stranger, and invite you in, or needing clothes and clothe you?

When did we see you sick or in prison and go visit you? The king will reply, truly I tell you sorry, I lost my place. Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did to me. The next one, Matthew five seventeen through 20, do not think that I have come to abolish the law or the prophets. I have not come to abolish them, but to fulfill them. For I truly tell you, until sorry, I don't have my reading glasses today.

For

truly I tell you, until heaven and earth disappear, not the smallest letter, not the least stroke of a pen, will by any means disappear from the law until everything is accomplished. Therefore, anyone who sets aside one of the least of these commands and teaches others accordingly will be called least in the kingdom of heaven. But whoever practices and teaches these commands will be called great in the kingdom of heaven. For I tell you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the Pharisees and the teachers of the law, you will certainly not enter the kingdom of heaven. Last one is very short, Acts five twenty nine.

Peter and the apostles replied, we must obey God rather than human beings. Thank you.

Thank you. Commissioner Garcia Arcos.

Hello, everybody. Thank you for making it out. Thank you for staff for all the great work that they've been doing. There are some things that I wanted to get off my chest. There are some things that are being neglected, especially on the West Side.

It's really difficult to express how much pressure there is around and how many people are suffering right now with what's going on around. And on top of that, being neglected by or just being forgotten with just something as small as maintenance. What I saw today and I saw last week, today, BrightView, it's company that's hired by the city of Costa Mesa. They came into Shalimar Park, where I'm a resident in, and they came in for three minutes dragging themselves out and just left all the trash behind and debris parked incorrectly, like, few feet away from where they should have and just drove off. And the same thing happened last this same week on Tuesday.

And for they stayed for at least for five minutes. Right? But they didn't take any trash or any of that. And, yeah, I encourage everybody here is if you see something similar to that anywhere in the city of Costa Mesa, report that to 311 or report that to city staff. I think this is something that will encourage and increase positive impact for residents.

Just to bring something up, on Sunday, there was a shooting at my neighbor's house. It was shot towards them. And I'm wondering what's going on with policing. And I know this is probably not the space for that, but I want to encourage everybody to just pray for one, for our neighbors, but also ask be more involved with other people and ask them how they're doing. I feel like sometimes it can be a little chaotic and sometimes you don't know what's going on around our own neighborhood.

I'm sure you guys didn't see it in the news and it's not the only time that it's happened. So yeah, I encourage everybody to either speak up or ask a few questions. Yeah, I just don't want to bring up any more information. I think that should be pretty clear. So thank you.

Thank you Commissioner. Vice Chair Wright.

Hi everyone. To start, my heart is also really heavy with the ICE rates that are targeting our community. I am in supportive and really proud of city council members and our mayor for sending out a message of solidarity and safety towards our community. I can sense the fear in our community, and it's extremely sad to keep it on the topic of parks. My favorite park, the park I live closest to is Lions Park, the airplane park.

And the last few days, it has been completely empty. I have never seen that park empty. So Another big thing I've been working on related to Lions Park is the crosswalk that connects the Lower East Side neighborhood to that park. Unfortunately, you have to cross Newport Boulevard, Rochester and Newport Boulevard. I had a video go viral on social media where I was pushing a stroller, and there was an old man that got caught up behind me on the crosswalk, and a car was turning onto him.

So I've gotten a lot of positive response in reforming that crosswalk from the city, from city council members. And there's always room for bettering our parks, whether it's the playground equipment in them or the paths that all of us walk to them. So I'm really excited to see where that goes. We are probably going make the crosswalk longer and maybe even play around with the light order. Is that how we would call it?

Also, maybe we could change it to not be a left turn yield, but I'll dream big later. And finally, I am really excited to hear all of the feedback on Brentwood. I am a data nerd, so I loved diving in into all of the survey responses. And yeah, I'll save the fun results that I discovered and the data trends for that agenda item. Thank you so much, everyone.

Thank you, Vice Chair. I'm going to keep it brief because I know we have a full agenda. Just a few things that I want to say. First, I just want to thank those of you who turned out tonight. I really appreciate you coming out.

And for those who aren't here but who completed the surveys, I just want to say thank you for that. Like I think you hear from some of the commissioners, it's been a struggle for a while, but certainly of late. And I just want to take a moment and to think about, as somebody who's up here talking about community engagement a lot, community really matters to me. So I'm looking out and I'm seeing one community well represented or at least represented in the chambers, and I really appreciate that. And I'm thinking about the different and distinct communities that we have in Costa Mesa, that we have in Southern California, that we have in California, many of whom do not feel comfortable leaving their homes and going out into public spaces.

And I just want to take a moment and acknowledge that when we're thinking about community, that all of those communities matter to me. I want to commend staff for the agenda that we're going to be talking about today, because we see public engagement on this agenda in a variety of ways. It includes, of course, the Brentwood Park agenda item that I think many of you are here to talk about, but it also includes an article or an agenda item around principles and values. And that's something that's very much related to Brentwood Park and actually both contributes to and derives from all of that engagement. So for those of you who can participate in that conversation, we would like it.

But I want to just commend staff for that agenda item. I just really acknowledge the importance of community right now in supporting one another. And then in an awkward transition of comments, I want to talk about social media just really briefly and say that I appreciate how the city of Costa Mesa's Instagram will often put out notices for when there are meetings. For example, I often see the planning commission on their Instagram. And I have to say that I feel like the little sister who doesn't get attention.

I would love to see the Parks and Community Services and the good work that we're doing on the Instagram channel or on that platform. And I think that there's actually a lot of opportunity for commissioners and those who are engaged in park activities and park interests to be represented on that. So just a plea to take that to the social media folks for the city. Let's get PACS represented. I think that is it for the moment. So I will close commissioner comments and move to the consent calendar. Do I have a motion to accept and file?

Yes. Everyone may vote on their dais. Motion carries six-zero to approve consent calendar items.

Thank you. Currently, we have old business item number one, which is the Park Capital Improvements Principle and Values Workshop. I recognize, as a mom myself, it is challenging to keep little kids out late. And the longer we go, the more challenging it is. And then the more times I'm gonna have to say, everybody has to sit down. Laura, do I need to?

We are at the monthly report for So sorry.

Director Gruner, I was too excited to switch agenda items. Director Gruner, the PACS report, please.

Thank you, Madam Chair. Let's go ahead and put a presentation on.

It's Okay. He's used to the prior chair riding right over him.

All right. So this is my monthly update regarding the Parks and Community Services department. First off, I'm going try to keep it brief. Know we have a lot of people in the crowd here, and it's just really great to see so much support for Brentwood Park, I'm going try to go through this pretty quickly. So just a quick update on CIP projects.

On June 3, we opened up we had an opening ceremony for the batting cages over at TeWinkle Park. It was a great turnout and just a nice little opening ceremony for that. I know it's been a long making in the process, and I certainly wanna thank Public Works for all their, you know, support and due diligence on getting that completed. It was attended by Mayor Stevens and council members Camaro and Bewley and commissioners Parker and Kamala. And in that little picture, you can our mayor taking the pitch and and taking the first swing inside the batting cages. And

Commissioner Kamala and Parker couldn't go in the batting cage. I would have just smoked him.

You probably would, but that's why we didn't do that. So And then just a quick update on the Beleri Community Center. So the asphalt is complete, as I reported in in in the May meeting, And we're just waiting on the striping to be completed. And that looks like it's going to be happening within the next week or so. So we're excited for that and continuing that process, especially for the summertime and for the summertime programs.

Also on June 3, not June 3 last week, last Tuesday, the budget was approved by council. It was presented a couple weeks prior or a week prior to that in a study session and weren't really any changes to the program. So for our department, it's relatively flat, meaning that we have the same allocated funds as we did in this fiscal year that we're going to be carrying forward to next fiscal year, which is great. Looking forward to obviously the next fiscal year starting on July 1. Just a quick update on some of the aquatics programs.

So we do have youth and adult swimming lessons. We have private swimming lessons, intro to water polo, aqua aerobics, open swim, adult lab swim, and summer aqua camp. And just some of the events coming up, we do have a dive in movie night on July 18, as well as a summer luau on August 1, and a teen dive in night on August 22. So we do have flyers available, and it's also listed in the spotlight for more information on those. Just a quick Fairview Park update.

So our volunteer program that was initiated about just a few weeks ago has really blossomed into just a great program. We have currently over 30 registered volunteers coming out pretty much every second Saturday of the month and just doing a lot of volunteer work with the different restoration projects throughout the park. So it's just great to see that kind of community involvement and really helping shape and restore Fairview Park for Costa Mesa. We also have a very important meeting coming up on July 15. It's the Fairview Park master plan.

And the council will be reviewing the technical findings, which have not been released as of yet, and also looking at the recommendations from the consultant as well as from the Ferry Park Steering Committee. So that will be discussed and evaluated in addition to the Harborsorium Society's flyfield. Just a quick reminder that we are still currently in the nesting season, and that typically goes from February until September. So this is a particularly volatile time for those species that are nesting within Fairview Park and just nesting in general. And it's just a very important time frame to be mindful of that.

That's a very sensitive time for them to go through. And again, as always, I just want to remind the community of our social services program. It's a year round, no cost mental health service to seniors ages 50 and older. And that's conducted right here at our Costa Mesa Senior Center. It's just a great program, especially with the happenings occurring currently.

So if you need more information, please feel free to either come down to the Senior Center or give us a call at (714) 327-7550. And then just to highlight some of the upcoming events. So we do have a movie in the park that's going to be this Saturday, June 14. And it's going to be at Schiffer Park. And the movie is Sonic three.

So bring your kids out. Brentwood people, come out and join us. And it's always a great time and just a lot of fun for the kids to enjoy, run around a little bit beforehand, and then have some popcorn and just kinda enjoy a movie. Also want to highlight a brand new event that we're having. It's going to be Make Music Costa Mesa Day, and that's going to be on June 21 at Lions Park.

And for more information, please go on our website, makemusicday.org, Costa Mesa. The time frame is from 11AM to 2PM. And basically, it's just artists going out and just playing various music, singing. So it's just a really great fun event for people just to enjoy some great music right here in Costa Mesa. So this is actually a worldwide event, and it's the first year that we're being a part of that, so we're very excited for that.

In addition to that, some other upcoming events, of course, we have the famous July 3 on July 3. And that's from 5PM to 11PM at the OSC Fairgrounds. And everybody's welcome, of course. It's a free event. So come on out, enjoy some fireworks, enjoy some music.

We are gonna have the Tijuana dogs there again, and they always do a great performance for the city, so we're excited for that. And then just to top it off, we have the concerts in the park, which is on Tuesday, July, and that's from 5PM to 8PM at Fairview Park. And the first band we're going have on July 8, that's going be Family Style. And then on the fifteenth, it's going be Flashback Heart Attack. And then on the twenty second, we're going to have the Tijuana Dogs again.

And finally, I do wanna just highlight that July is a park and recreation month. It's not just a California thing, as you're probably familiar with parks make life better slogan, which is the California Parks and Recreation Society slogan, But also the National Parks and Recreation Association, which is at the national level, celebrates July as Recreation Month as well. And it's been about forty years now that they have been celebrating this this month. And the theme for this year is build together and play together. And together, we're building and maintaining sustainable parks and green spaces for current and future generations.

Together, we're building thriving communities focused on health and well-being. Together, we're building high quality programs and spaces accessible and inclusive for all. And together, we help people play and connect through yoga, art classes, picnics, and more. So we're excited for that. Just want to make that announcement and let the public and the commission know. With that, that sums up my report, and I'll be happy to answer any questions you have.

Director Gruner, I'm so sorry I almost skipped over you so my apologies. That's quite right. Commissioner questions? Yes, Commissioner Ledger.

So real quick on Balearic Park, you said the striping is being done this week. Then is all the work done on it?

Yeah, essentially. Yeah, pretty much they're going be installing. And of course our maintenance manager, Rob Ryan, can discuss that a little bit further. But yeah, so pretty much once the striping is in place and the hoops are installed, then that will be it for the Balleric Park.

And what about the lake repair for 2 Winkle Park? Do we have a start time frame on that yet?

There's I believe we're going back out to bid on that. No? Okay. I'm gonna let our public works director, Raja Sattaraman, address that question.

Commissioner Lejer, we are working with our contractor, to negotiate a final price on that, and after that, we'll come to city council. We hope to bring it in August and then the construction will be in the fall.

And then one final question. This is Dennis. Sounds silly, but I'm not a duck expert. But I had a resident ask me if we have relocated the ducks yet or did they migrate because it's summer?

Migrating birds, so they do migrate.

You. Other commissioner questions? Yes, Commissioner Dorne Parker.

Yeah, just clarifying on Balearic. After the community input because I know one of the questions was how to create a pickleball court. And what the community decided is they didn't want an actual court because we know there's a lot of temporary to stripe it. And they would bring, I guess, the community or the people who wanted to play pickleball would bring it, bring their nets, and go home. So thank you. That was really important to get that input. Thank you.

Vice Chair Wright.

Hello, I have a few questions. What warranted these fancy CIP packets? I'll start there and I have questions.

So, why she's right? We do every six months. We try to put together an update on where we are with some of the significant projects. We don't have every single project, but some major projects that are ongoing.

Well, lovely. I'm gonna take it home. I'll start with, I'm curious, could you summarize how the Arts Commission discussion went with the skate park?

Yeah, so that was part of the discussion that we had. And they did want to look at somehow a way for us to incorporate some type of our components with the future development of that added skate park features. So we will be evaluating what we can include. It's probably going to be more or less after the project is complete and see how we can incorporate some type of art components, whether that's on the fencing or whether that's some type of artwork in the surrounding area where we can put some artwork. But that is something that we will be looking at and definitely incorporating, yes.

Awesome. Yeah, I'm glad that they saw that. Where are we at with the coffee shop RFP process?

Right. So we're currently in the process of finalizing the scope. And then once that is finalized and approved, then we'll go ahead and go out to RFP for a contractor or for an operator to come in and operate that cafe for us. We are looking for a local operator, somebody who's definitely here from Costa Mesa. And that's one of the key criteria is that they have to be from Costa Mesa, obviously. Probably we're just a few weeks out to finalizing that, and then we should be going out to RFP midsummer, I'm guessing. And then hopefully a few weeks after that, we will be finalizing that and bringing a contract award to an operator and get the place started.

So exciting. There's a coffee shop coming to Airplane Park, guys. You've probably seen it. Yeah. Actually, I was talking to the mayor, and we threw around how great of an idea Northgate would be to run that coffee shop. So I know we have contacts with them. I just want to push that as a good culture fit, think. Was my next? Howard, what's the status with Shalimar right now and the fact that we bought the adjacent property?

At Shalimar Park? Yeah, so that has been finalized. And we are looking to essentially demo that building and then look at reaching out to the community and seeing what kind of features should be included with the Chalmers Park redevelopment plan. And so there's going be more to come on that. But we are looking to demo that building. It's simply not habitable.

Are there any grants that we're going to have to file an extension for since we're coming up to the mid year? Or are we going to be fine with timelines?

Well, she's right. We reached out to the state about the grants, especially for the Fairview Park projects. I think we'll be meeting the deadlines on all of the projects. So, they are actually agreeable to extend the deadlines. So give us enough time to complete the projects.

That's great. Well, got a lot of good stuff in here. Thank you for making these, and thanks for answering my questions.

I have two quick questions. The first is around the Fairview Park master plan and the City Council meeting. What will the interaction be between the Fairview Park master plan and PACS, if any?

So at this point in time, basically looking at the committee's direction, the Fairway Park Committee reviewed, obviously, master or has been involved in the development of the master plan and making the recommendations. So at this point in time, we're looking to just go directly to counsel on July 15 with those recommendations. We did have a study session back in January, and that was kind of like the first phase, kind of giving a high level overview of the master plan. And in this case now, moving forward on July 15, we're going get really more into the details and the technical data. But in regards to bringing anything forward to the PACS commission, yeah, I mean, it's counsel first.

Was there a reason why it should go to counsel first and not to PACS?

I think just from the preliminary process and just looking at the mean, this should have been kind of going to council back in January I mean, actually February. So with the delay of kind of pushing this project out, we felt like moving it forward quickly and just bringing it straight to council because there's a lot of input and feedback from the community and really expressing a desire to see that master plan move forward?

I recognize it's too late in the process to change it, that it will be seen by counsel. But my recommendation would be that the way in which I'm seeing the committee's work as contributing to then PACS, who then provides recommendations to counsel, ideally these types of things, I think, would come to PACS before it would go to city council. But just registering that for the future, for future process.

Absolutely. Yeah, we can certainly do that.

Thank you. And then the second thing is Concerts in the Park. I would love, if there are other commissioners interested, if we want to redo the booths, where we could set up some booths, at least for PACS, and be there as a way to do some public engagement and outreach. It could be on a variety of topics. I certainly want to talk about principles and values, but it's an opportunity to hear from people who happen to be at the concerts, but in a way that's really engaged. So maybe we're like in front of the table or walking around. So I think what I would say is, if there are other commissioners interested, Ms. Fetua, should we email you? And maybe we could I know we wanted to do a souped up kind of display, maybe a map of our parks or something. Commissioners, if you're interested, please email Ms.

Fetua. Yes. Commissioner Ledger, do you want to Okay. Any other commissioner questions or comments?

Yeah, I

just wanted

to ask.

Oh, yes. I'm sorry, Commissioner.

Yeah. For July 3 and Concerts in the Park, and you talked about how February and September are really important for nesting for the nesting birds. How will that affect those birds? Is there like some specific decibels that we shouldn't exceed distance from the nesting areas if we know of?

Yeah, I mean there's really no direct criteria or guideline. I mean we are aware of that and we are certainly sensitive to that. Fairview Park has been traditionally always held these concerts in the park. Traditionally, that's kind of what we've been continuing. And we are looking at evaluating different locations where we could relocate those concerts.

But, yeah, I mean, it's a great point, and it's something that we are definitely mindful of, and we'll definitely try to mitigate any type of noise that we can as much as we can. That's why the concerts are really not a very long period, and kind of in the evening. Most bird activity tends to be in the morning throughout the day, and kind of slows down in the evening. So that is certainly helpful, but it is certainly a concern for us as well.

Thank you.

Thank you for raising that. I know that when I was the liaison to the Fairview Park Steering Committee, that was a concern for them as well. At this point, are there any Is there anyone in the chambers who would like to make public comment on the director's report? Seeing none, Ms. Futua, is there anyone online?

If there are any members online who wish to speak on this item, please raise your hand. Chair, there are no hands raised.

Okay, is it okay if I allow Vice Chair Wright to make one final comment? Please.

Hey, so I know that our summer programming is the busiest we ever are, and it's also one of the first introductions a lot of people have to the city. So I did want to get it on everyone's radar that I would love to have some sort of way for anyone who participates in a summer program to provide feedback on that experience after the program is done. So whether they're doing swim classes or one of the camps, if we can make sure to send a survey. Maybe the software, the registration software we use has some automated email we could send and an end of summer presentation where we could invite them to come comment if they want to. I would love that.

Thank you.

Our programs do provide surveys to staff, so we send out to the people who were registered for that.

Maybe if we could participate in those results as well. Seeing those would be great then. Sure. Thank you.

We could also ask about them at a booth, too.

Yes.

Okay. Do I need a motion to receive and file, or not for that? Okay. Great. So we're at the point we're at old business, the Park Capital Improvements Principle and Values. And I would like to make a motion that we swap this with agenda item new agenda item of the approved proposed design improvements for Brentwood Park.

I will second that motion.

Chair Brown, could we actually go in order on the new business item and do the donation item first? That be possible? It's a quick item.

I think we're at the limit.

I think I'm going to go to Brentwood. I'm going to go to Okay,

thank you.

And we're going to reshuffle that.

I just want to check on that. Thank I

appreciate that though.

You may vote on your dice.

My yes isn't on.

Motion carries six zero to move old business after new business items. First new business item will be Brentwood approved proposed design improvements for Brentwood.

Thank you, Ms. Futua. Director Satharaman, I hand it over to you.

Mr. Rob Ryan, our maintenance manager, will make the presentation.

Thank you, Director Satharaman. Thank you, Chair Brown. Good evening. Good evening, Vice Chair Wright, Commissioners, and residents. Next item before you is a presentation of plan for park improvements at Brentwood Park. City plans to replace aging play equipment and other existing components. The project as approved addresses specific existing components. This project does not include other amenities such as bathrooms, sports courts, pump tracks, water features, those types of things. The report and presentation will show the existing conditions at Brentwood Park. Staff is seeking feedback and recommends that the commission approve the conceptual design and replacement of improvements of other park components.

Originally constructed in 1978 as a one and a half acre park and expanded to 2.6 acres in 2007 through the purchase of additional land that formerly held a private school. The existing playground equipment was installed in 1995. It's intended for ages for children ages five to 12. The condition of the equipment is safe for play. Howard is certainly showing its age and the amount of usage it leaves on a daily basis.

I think the city has certainly got its money worth money's worth out of this particular setup. Some of the panels are faded and have deep scratches and are definitely showing their wear. You see some photos of the current conditions. The paint on the support bars and climbers are wearing off from regular use. There are areas of rust on some of the decking, as you can see kind of that lower right hand photo and the one above that in the middle lower photo.

Maintenance staff has performed a significant significant number of repairs, replaced panels, slides, and other parts along the way in order to keep this play equipment usable over the years. Other existing components include a sand volleyball court that appears to be underutilized, a reservable picnic shelter, some existing regular lighting, and a user defined trail that runs along the south side of the park, starting at Monte Vista and kind of terminating some place in the middle of the park and kind of filling it with grass. So city council added this project to fiscal year twenty three twenty four CIP list. Additional funding was approved in fiscal year twenty four twenty five for a total allocation of $650,000. In April 2025, staff was made aware of a a potential grant opportunity offered through the partnership between Gametime and California Parks and Recreation.

There's a mandatory meeting in May and a training in May that manager Villasenora attended, and she's been driving the driving force on the grant application for this. The grant is due July 7. We should receive the results of the grant by the July. The grant is specific pieces of equipment, and the amount estimated could be as much as $50,000 in in funding. So Gametime did provide a qualifying conceptual design.

That design was based on several council meetings, study sessions, commissioner meetings over a couple years of review through the budget process, and early community feedback. We did take notes from all the public comments, commissioner comments, council comments along the way over that process. Some of those comments include separate requests for separate play areas, age appropriate play equipment for younger age children. Swings was a big one. Benches, shade, and as well as some some comments from the community to just keep it a a neighborhood park and not getting too grandiose and making a destination park.

So all those elements were put into a beginning design and proposed improvements expand the playground structure by replacing existing equipment with new elements from ages five to 12. We proposed limiting the sand volleyball court, installing a new playground equipment for children ages two to five, as well as an area for swings. We'd add rubberized playground surface, a combination of wood fiber for both play areas. We'd upgrade the lighting, benches and shade structure. Add a water fountain.

That was something that was requested, I think, by commission specifically, and some of the community feedback we received. We'd provide some accessible pathways to the playground. One would be converting the user defined trail that I mentioned on the Southeast side of the park to a more permanent, well defined decomposed granite trail that would connect Monte Vista and Brentwood Street. And, you'll see a little bit more detail in all of these later on in the presentation. With that, I will turn over to director Gruner to review some of the community feedback that we received.

Thank you, Mr. Ryan. All right. So as the commission knows and the community knows, we really wanted to focus on making sure we do enough community outreach and community engagement. And so we initially started off with an online survey that we placed out in A frames poster size throughout the park and making sure that people were able to recognize it pretty easily.

And on that survey, we had a QR code that they can easily scan and provide us their input and feedback. In addition to that, we had three separate pop up community events at the park. We staggered them out. We had on June 5, we were out there in the morning from 09:30 until 11:30. And then June 4, we were there from four p. M. To six p. M. And June 3 from 01:30 to 03:30 p. M.

So we really tried to focus on capturing all the different time frames throughout the day. And we basically also made sure that we notified residents within 500 feet that live within 500 feet of that park. And we did some candidacy that we went out door to door, making sure we put on notices and let them know about the survey and also the pop up events that we had. In addition to that, emails were sent out to all the survey participants to provide valid e mail notifying them of PACS commission meetings, which is tonight. We really want to encourage a good public input meeting here tonight and get as many people out here as possible.

And then notice of the PACS Commission meeting were posted at the park as well. Again, for those who are just passing by, maybe they weren't on our email list, at least they can still be notified and made aware that we're having this meeting here tonight. So the survey yielded about four seventy three participants, which is phenomenal. It's very rare that you get that many people contributing to or providing feedback to any type of project for that matter, especially a neighborhood park like Brentwood Park. So that was really great to see.

Some of the questions were, are you currently a Costa Mesa resident? Majority, of course, said yes. About 97 or 98% of them did. How often do you visit Brentwood Park? The majority of the respondents said either daily or weekly, and that made up about a little over 80%.

And then there's also quite a few, about 12%, that attend Brentwood Park on a monthly basis. The third question was which age range do you attend Brentwood Park with? The majority are 18, and it's pretty fair to assume that those are going to be probably 12 and under kids. Obviously, there are teenagers as well that certainly can utilize Brentwood Park, The majority of those respondents were probably 12. And then the second largest category was 35 to 54.

And then that was kind of tied with the age groups of 18 through 34, and 55 and older. I think I skipped question four, didn't I? There we go. Okay. So the fourth question was what type of park equipment do you currently use or see others using?

The majority were either the playground structure area on the slides, and that was followed by the picnic area and tables. So quite a few people just come out and enjoy the park, whether it's a picnic or obviously just bringing out their kids. Some people also utilized the volleyball area, you know, with the fitness stations and or exercise. And I'm sure there's also quite a few users that come out with, know, for example, like a yoga mat and probably do some exercises and stretching and different activities like that as well that fall under that category. The fifth question, how would you rate the current condition of Brentwood Park equipment and amenities?

About 5% said it was excellent. 18% indicated it was good. And the majority beyond that indicated it was either fair or poor. And therefore, obviously, that's why we're here tonight, to evaluate the equipment. And we know it's certainly outdated. It's been there for quite some time, as Mr. Ryan has indicated. And it's definitely in need of some improvements. Now, seventh question, would you prefer the play structure to be a combined for all age groups or a separated section of age groups? And this was kind of interesting because it's pretty split pretty evenly almost.

So either way, whether you want the playground equipment to be separated by age groups, one section would be for toddlers who are two to seven year olds, and then the other section would be for seven to maybe 12 year olds. So that's certainly an interesting result right there, but probably not really too surprising. Either way, I I think it's going to be a win with the equipment. And we'll go into that a little bit further in the presentation. And then here's the eighth question.

Which type of ground surfacing do you prefer? Wood fiber, mulch, rubberized surfacing? Was the majority of the respondents requesting that? Or a combination of rubberized surface and the mulch? So again, we're going to go into the details on that a little bit later when Mr. Ryan is going to take over and really get into the play structure and the flooring and the surface, and we can really have a good robust discussion about that. And at this point in time, I'm gonna go ahead and hand it back over to Mr. Ryan, and he's gonna talk about the 10 most requested items.

So you see the slide that there was a part of this survey, and we put I put them in order to the left. But number one, obviously, was swings. Two were slides. Three, climbing structure. Picnic tables and benches were were a huge ask from the community, obviously. Those made four and five. Number six was a drinking fountain, which again also was a a comment that we had from a commissioner. Playground tower, monkey bars, I saw a sign for monkey bars, And a sand pit, and a toddler house. Those were the top 10. I think we've done a great job of incorporating all of those and probably more into the design as you'll see.

There was some additional feedback that we received. It was question number nine. There's 233 comments or suggestions. About 96% of those seem to be overall positive with just other suggestions. Some of them outside the scope, but just adding to what we're doing.

13%, a pretty good number, specifically mentioned the open space, free play, the large trees, the shade they provide, the importance of that, the natural feel of the park, which is some more feedback on some of the pop up events. I attended the one on Thursday, and that's some of the feedback that I received personally. 4% requested only make improvements within the existing footprint or do nothing at all. So that was captured. 1% were in favor of leaving the volleyball court in place.

Now onto the proposed design. This is just an overlay of the park. I know it's hard to see anything in particular, but you can kinda see where we're proposing it fits into the existing park. So we'll start out with some of the grant information. The proposed playground design at Brentwood Park implements best practices, research published by CORE, which is a center for outreach research and education.

And Shape America, which is a society of health and physical education. It would be on track to be recognized as a demonstration site through Core's play on program, which is specifically the grant that we're applying for. The destination would highlight the the park's integration of six essential elements of active play. Spinning, swinging, sliding, balancing, brachiating, which I learned is overhead climbing, which again is the monkey bars. I learned something new.

And climbing, which are all proven to support youth physical development and lifelong wellness. Thirty minutes of playing on this playground is said to be an extra PE class in school. So, think that's fantastic. Here you can see kinda the overall concept layout. It's nature inspired.

It's thoughtfully designed to blend into the beautiful landscape, the trees, the grass, the natural area. It's been offering a dynamic and inclusive play for the entire community. There's a tree fort theme that suddenly plays homage to the parchment trees, green space, and it creates just an inviting atmosphere. Improvements to the hardscape and the surfacing further promote accessibility inclusion, make it easy for users of all mobility levels to navigate the space safely and comfortably. And then shading seed areas nestled on the trees and manufactured stage structures that you can see kind of on the left of the screen, and then in between the two playgrounds.

Those are conceptual designs. So, actual benches and amenities may differ a little bit, but we wanna give you where some good locations. For instance, I think that location on the left there for the bench, think there's some pretty good tree cover. So, we might be able to move a shade to a different location and provide additional cover and shade. Let's see. On to the next slide. So, here's an overhead view of the layout. Encourage multi generational play. Multiple access points. Comfortable seating areas.

There's some expression swings that allow parents and infants to swing together. We'll talk a little bit more of that when we get the swings. Some inclusive spinner promotes engagement for user volatilities. Again, we'll see a little close-up of that. The playground is divided into two designated areas to support age appropriate play for ages two to five, and another for ages five to 12. So the five to 12 is on the left of the screen, and the two to five would be on the right. The feedback was relatively split. The team felt that having a separate play area was safer for the younger kids. We saw a just out just out there on my own, saw a lot of parents pushing strollers. Just kind of another generation of play that's coming on board.

So we thought it was appropriate to separate the areas. And that doesn't mean there won't be crossover, but I thought it was good if parents wanted that option, they would have it to kinda keep their kid away from some of the bigger kids that get running and moving pretty quickly. And it also would offer more opportunity for that multi generational play I mentioned earlier. The one element that I mentioned that would be worked in the design that's not in here right now is the sand pit. That was the number nine, or one of the top 10 requested.

There are two viable options to add that in right now. So we'd look for feedback from the commission on those options. One is to just have a smaller pit in that two to five age range, either at that top right corner or bottom right corner of that. Can you see my cursor? Okay. So there or there. The other option is This is rubberized play surface, and we'll talk a little bit more about that in a minute. Both of these blue areas, this is what we propose to have wood fiber mulch. The other option would be to convert the wood fiber mulch to a large sand play area. So that's another option.

One of the things that you'll see in this layout right now is this little black track around the outside. That is currently not in the cost estimates. So that would be an additional if we had budget to do that. It's a rather expensive feature. However, if we were to make that center section a sand play area, that would probably provide the budget to have a little cycle track around the outside, which is something that was mentioned in some of the surveys.

So those two options, and I can come back to those at the end when we have discussions. So, first we'll start at the five to 12 play structure. That platform, you can see, is about six feet high. There's a great It's called a lemon tree shadow play topper, which casts colors down onto the ground. We have something similar at Jordan Park, and it's just a hit.

I surprised by how much kids love the different colors and seeing it cast on the ground, and the colors it puts down there. There's four slides, one of them being a tan a double slide. There's seven climbing elements, plus the monkey bars. There's walking leaves down here at the bottom, which promotes that balancing portion. There's 16 elevated components, eight that transfer, and five that are accessible by ground.

Of the five, there are three different types of accessible by ground features. So, that's a requirement. You don't want three bong or you know, five bongo drums throughout and say, hey, we got five ground accessible. So there's gotta be three different components, and you'll see there those as we move through the presentation.

Rob, I'm sorry, but you had said monkey bars are here. Can you point out from your cursor where the monkey bars are?

We'll get to that.

So it's not

on this structure. Okay. Commissioner, you gotta be patient. He's working through a long presentation.

We'll get there. I promise. I promise. So, it's another view of the slides. Okay. These are the two inclusive play pieces. So, this is inclusive whirl on the left, just spinning part. That's part of the grant, the spinning that I mentioned. The bonus part, it's inclusive. It's flush with the surfacing.

So wheelchair can roll right into that feature, lock its wheels, a companion can sit on the bench, there's a seating area there, and they can spin together, which is a fantastic piece. The next option is the inclusive seesaw on the right. And again, this is more of a transfer piece that a child could lay across that middle section, hold on to the handhelds if they're able, and rock back and forth. Or it comes with these high backed seating, specifically designed for inclusive play, that they can sit in those if they're able to and participate with others in kind of that back and forth seesaw action. And, up next are the monkey bars.

So So, a little bit of a of a dizzying view, and I wasn't sure if I wanted to put this in the presentation, but I'm glad I did for commissioner Norm Parker. We'll shift over to the two to five play area. So, here's the set of bucket swings, which again is a nice kinda tree look to it, a natural feel to it. There's two bucket seats there. We have a tree fort style play system, encourage some adventurous and imaginative play, while connecting the kids with nature.

There's a small climber, a slide, and some fun activity components. And in here, there's three additional accessible by transfer, and nine accessible by ground in three different types. So within this play area. Some of those are in this structure here. And then there's these small musical instruments. The musical flowers encourage sensory engagement and creativity. And again, in the two to five play area, there's a nature themed playhouse and some activity panels. Again, it's all nature themed and blends in nicely. And finally, the swing area. So this is a combo swing area.

Yeah. So there's two expression swings. So this is a patented design from Gametime. Other designs, they have tandem swings. But these are the only eye level swings that create eye to eye contact or attunement, which is another word I learned through the process, which is important in early childhood development.

And of course, there's two regular belt swings in that same area with a large shade structure that covers the entire piece. So, to some of the other improvements in the park. Again, improve the concrete access from Brentwood Street. There's already a like a small concrete walkway, a ramp that's here. If you can see my cursor down on the lower left.

The other is the convert what I mentioned is that user defined trail, which starts over in this area and runs along. We're proposing connecting that all the way across and making sure there's access to the playground from there. We're looking to upgrade the existing line to LED, potentially solar if feasible. We'd have to work with our contractor to make sure that those large trees wouldn't inhibit that, but we've had some really good experience in other locations. It's being includes new poles and footing some additional lighting where needed.

So it's not looking at lighting up the whole park. It'll be consistent with the existing lighting to light the pathways, playground, and those types of things. Also, we'd be replacing the existing wood structure, hopefully with a new metal structure, and add shaded benches and seating. Here's some of the samples. This is a sample photo of DG Pathway. This is the one we have at Tanager Park. Works nicely. It looks natural. Kinda meanders through the park. It's just a nice little walking path. Sample of the metal shade structure. This one's at Teeminkle Park, but we have these at a couple other parks. This is a sample on the right of the solar lighting. Right now we just installed those at the Tennis Center parking lot. There's some large trees right there in that area.

They're doing well. We've kinda checked on them at nighttime, checked on them in the morning. Do checks when it's overcast, and these lights work really, really well. So this is something we'd look at incorporating. Also helps with maintenance and reducing vandalism from wire theft.

Any feedback received from the Parks and Community Services Commission would be included in the design shared with city council at the award of the contract to purchase materials. A separate construction contract will be executed for the installation of the playground, the surfacing, the shade structure, lighting, and access improvements. Construction of the playground, if approved, could begin early to late fall, complete by December. That's one of the requirements of the grant, is that we have to complete construction by December 2025. I see Commissioner Wright's eyes kinda It's a doable timeline.

We've talked about this with the designer. Designer is the manufacturer, and they're the ones that are participating in this grant. So they've guaranteed me, you know, if we're progressing, that we'll meet that deadline without an issue. Construction areas of closure will be confined to those that are under construction. So, the playground, the DG path, some of those areas.

So, during construction, portion of the park will remain open. That'll be largely the turf area, the grass areas, and open spaces. And, obviously, we'll try to be minimizing the impact to park goers during construction. And there'll be no need for tree removals. Obviously we're gonna work on minimizing impact to trees. There's a lot of huge mature trees. The community feedback we got all around values those trees, as do we. So we're gonna work diligently to minimize the impact on those and make sure we're not intruding into the root zones too much. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you so much for that very thorough presentation. I know there was a lot to work through. Normally what we do this is the point where commissioners can ask questions, and usually we have a lot of questions. And so that would require you sitting there. So here's what I'm going to propose. We ask necessary questions, just the bare minimum necessary questions to start. And while we're asking those questions, anyone in the audience who would like to make a public comment, you can line up at either of the microphones. We'll ask our questions, and once we're done asking those those questions, we will then invite for public comment, and then we can come back and ask more questions and have more of a dialogue. Does that sound okay to folks? Okay.

So at this point, anyone who in would would like to make a public comment, please go ahead and line up at the podiums. We're going to start with questions here, and then I will turn it over to you all. Are there commissioner questions? Commissioner Commissioner Garcia Garcia Arcos. Arcos.

So my question was with DG installation and other small structures that require digging deeper than four inches. What is the you you mentioned you wanted to minimize the root, damage. What do you base that off of weight? Because I know heavy equipment will impact and compact the root systems, and you'll see decline within ten years after the compaction. What ways are you are you making sure that those trees are minimized the damage is minimal?

So that's gonna depend largely on the area we're working in. For instance, the DG pathway. We're gonna try to meander that through the park. We're not doing a straight line, just tearing up roots. So we'll try to meander that through the park and and avoid some of those more sensitive areas. Same with the sand pit areas and the play areas. And there is gonna be equipment through there. We can do some remediation after the fact, if we do wind up running over some roots and looking through some roots. Vertical mulching, things of that nature, aerating, try to decompact some of that as much as possible. Trying to respect the tree canopy and the drip line as much as possible.

But any time that we do a project of this nature, we do the best we can to avoid those areas and avoid heavy equipment.

And we'll try to use smaller size equipment too. It won't be heavy heavy type of equipment that you see on roadways.

Yeah. Correct. Much much of the equipment is gonna be loaders. There's still some weight to them, but it's not gonna be large heavy tractors for the most part.

Yeah. Thank you for for answering that question. It's it's great information. I I do wanna give a recommendation. So a lot of times, we we understand why we should protect the root zone, but we should visual like, add a zone where we can protect it from other individuals that are not informed informed of this information that are current are gonna be working in on the job site. Because I know sometimes the information doesn't follow through with all employees. So just to keep that in mind. Thank you.

Thank you. Vice Chair Wright, you have a question?

Yes. Okay, can you repeat the variables that are still up in the air? So it's a sandpit turning a dedicated part of it into sand and then the cycle track. Can you pull that up and show us?

Yes, so we would like to accommodate some type of sand play area. One of those options is to put just cut out a pit area in this top corner or bottom corner of the two to five play area. The other option would be this is wood fiber, proposed wood fiber right now. Would be to take this and convert this all to larger sand play area. Just one large play area.

The upside of doing that, one of the most expensive components besides purchasing the material to build it, and the building is pulling the sand out and disposing of the sand. So that would minimize that. So some cost savings there, provide that sand play area. We take some of those cost savings and apply them to this kind of little track, so to speak, that runs around the outside. They'd be mainly for small scooters, tricycles. This is this is meant to be yeah. This is meant to be just a smaller kids' little play area for those types of kind of foot powered bikes, electric bikes, not things of that nature.

No e bikes. Welcome.

Yes. Yes.

Okay. So, guys, there's something we need your help to decide. Do we want a little bit of sand? Do we want a lot of sand to play with? And do we wanna have, like, a small path that you could ride your scooter or your bike around? So if you think you want that, when you talk when you talk you have to tell us. Okay? And then for any parents, some things that I saw a lot in the survey responses was bathrooms and a fence related to dogs of some sort. I also know it was the lower fence was in the original mock up. So if those are variables we have opinions on, please feel free to share in your comments as well. Thank you.

Thank you. Okay, other necessary questions? Commissioner Doran Kocher?

Very necessary questions. I want to clarify because there was quite a few concerns about the lighting to make sure. And if we look at how the lighting, like from Hammett, so is this going to be updated LED specific lighting? So it so I just wanna make sure for everyone because I I believe there's concern that if we add lighting, we're adding lighting into the homes and into areas that shouldn't be. So can you clarify the type of lighting you're talking about?

Yes, thank you for the question. This would be just LED lighting strategically placed. It would match up and kind of coincide with where we have lighting now.

Okay.

We do have capabilities if there's concerns that there's a light that may be going into the home. We have shields that you can add to these lights to keep them out of people's backyards. That's the last thing we want. This is this is low level safety lighting. We have a ducks to dawn park policy. The park is closed. So, this lighting is not meant for play. It's not meant for sports play. It's just meant for security and safety purposes.

Then the other one which is interesting about right is the fencing. So I've heard a tremendous amount that's what I need to understand especially from families is there's a lot of discussion because there's a lot of urban playgrounds that actually fencing around the play equipment So that as having a runner myself and also seeing dogs off leash, I know that's been a big concern. So like our commissioner said, this is your time to help us define what are you talking about so that we can make sure we include that in addition to the survey. That's what

I have.

Just one more comment to the fencing. So the fencing, if fencing is going in, it's not proposed in this, it was not part the original plan, we would greatly have to reduce the play amenities. The fencing, we'd have to shrink the play area because there's still that fall zone to consider. We couldn't really expand because there's some grading issues that we've looked at. So ultimately, we'd shrink the play, and we'd really have to change the entire concept.

That was important to hear. So if

That's why yeah.

So priority is fencing. There'd be a reduction in play equipment.

A huge reduction and a complete redesign of the player And

it's if I understand this correct, after it gets in place, we could come back in a year or two if it turns out to be a significant challenge for the families. At that point put it in a future CIP budget?

All the things that were in those additional comments that are not captured could absolutely be revisited through a CIP process. Yeah, the fencing would be one of

those Thank you.

I appreciate those questions. I would acknowledge we're in a difficult budgetary situation with a lot of competing priorities in the parks. And so I think this is a great time to decide what what this park needs. Any other necessary questions? Yes. Commissioner Kamala.

So with the grant, the project needs to be completed prior to December 2025 or by, like, December 31?

By the December 31.

And would that be everything completed or just the equipment installation?

So that would be the the the playground specifically. The rest of the components are are not a part of the grant. Okay.

Commissioner.

Is it easy to switch out from the wood chips to the sand later?

Make things much more difficult, because you do have that all the equipment that you just installed, the brand new rubberized surfacing that you just installed, inevitably you'd be running over all of that and reducing the life expectancy of all of that, and you run the potential damaging pieces.

We will be turning it over to public comment in just a moment. So we're going to return to our questions and our comments, because I know we will have many more. I'm going to hold mine. At this point, we are opening it up to public comment. So just a reminder for those of you who haven't participated in these meetings before, you're limited to three minutes. There will be a ding that goes off, and that means you have one more minute. So don't be afraid. You still have another sixty seconds. It's also a little awkward because you're gonna come up and you're gonna talk to us, and we don't talk back to you at that point. It's very one way. So just wanna, for those of you who don't know, we're gonna be listening, we're gonna be taking notes, and really appreciate your comments. Chair Brown? Yes.

I do wanna highlight that correspondence was received as well for today's meeting. Great. And it's available on the city website.

Thank you, Ms. Futu. I appreciate that. We're going to start with you, young miss. Would you like to make a public comment? Yes.

Hello. My name is Kaya. And thank you for all you have done to make these wonderful playgrounds for all the kids.

Thank you, ma'am.

And then You're really we

looking forward to having swings and, like, a safe surface to play at Brentwood. Thank you. You. We're going to go back and forth. So if there are public comments over here, and that way everybody can line up. Yes.

Hello. My name is Lynn Tuohy, and I live at Brentwood Park. My house directly backs up to the park. And I didn't realize that you couldn't ask questions. It was only comment.

But my comment is I would like to see something done along the cinder block fence that starts at Monte Vista and it ends at my house and steps down with rebar exposed. I think it's very dangerous. And if the design structure is going to be all these new things directly at my backyard, I would like that cinder block fence to connect all the way from Monte Vista to Brentwood. And in addition to that comment, I'd also very much like the committee to really consider the lighting, which I think some of those concerns were just addressed. So, thank you for that question.

Because the lighting currently goes into my backyard. And what happens is a lot of these children, you know, they leave. They can leave the park. They go for a few hours. They visit some during the day. They visit during the week. They come once a month. But for the residents around there, we live there all day, every day. So it really matters to us. So thank you.

Thank you. Yes. Is there public comment on this side?

Hello?

Good evening, commissioners. I'm Sage, and I'm here on behalf of Brentwood Park. This community surrounding Brentwood Park has been trying to renovate the park since 2008. That is seventeen years. We would really appreciate it if you would upgrade our playground. There isn't a lot for us kids to do on the playground. When I go to Brentwood Park, the only thing to do is climb up the structure and go down the slides. It's the same for my little sister who is four years old and her friends. Oh, so no one ever uses a volleyball court except to toddlers who hang and bounce on the net.

I believe there was a video submitted with public comment. Is that correct?

My grandpa, Pop Pop, when he was alive, came to visit me in 2019. He was disabled and had to use a walker. There was no pass to the Brentwood Park, so he couldn't come and watch me play. Right now, there isn't a good place for my other grandfather, papa, who helps take care of my little sister every week to sit down in Brentwood Park and watch me, my sister, and my cousin who lives down the street from us play in the playground. This is very important to me. My papa is a service disabled veteran, and I'm so grateful and happy he is involved and active in me and my sister's lives. I love him very much, so does my sister. I am nine years old, and I've been trying to get a new play gun since I was four.

Can you show the photo? I

think there's just one picture of her at City Hall when she was four. No? Okay. Alright. That's all alright.

Okay. In these five years, I've attended 10 meetings in this hall, I believe. I have given four speeches and learned a lot about government. I think the playground needs swings, climbing equipment, and a top lot. I've seen the design proposal for the new playground, and it has all these things. I love it. I can't wait to play on it. I have a lot of happy memories of me playing at my local neighborhood playground in Venice Beach where I lived when I was little. I would love to see other kids like my sister and her friends and our neighbors be able to make happy memories at the New Brentwood Park playground. We would all be very grateful if you could approve this design for the New Brentwood Park playground.

Thank you.

Thank you, ma'am. Good evening.

That's a tough act to follow, right? Bob Stumm, I live directly across the park. Yeah, more than once. Anyway and thank you for listening to me. Anyway, to her grandpas. Okay? The kids, bowl. Right? Which the bowl is in front of it. I live directly across from the park. Okay? And it is a wonderful park. I tell little kids there's no crying. It's second one to Disneyland. So come over there and have fun.

Anyway but putting in concrete where that bowl area is, I think is a mistake. I think DG would be a much better option. It could still take us walker or you could take a wheelchair or whatever to get over to it because the kids are playing that bowl. They play soccer, baseball, you name it. And they're moving like a lot. And I think if you put concrete in there, I think you're asking for somebody to hit their head, break an arm, something like that. I just think it's a better a better fit. Anyway, and I think that would still get a grandpa on the surface. The DG on the far side, I don't know. People have been walking over there.

I've been living across the street. It's like years and years and years. And the grass still grows. I don't know if you have to have that for ADA for some reason. If that's the case, then again, the DG, just not concrete. What else? The chimes. I like chimes. But living across here from the park, at night, kids go over there. Not little kids, not these guys.

Teenagers and such. And they start making noise that And I'll be sitting there, you know, watching the news or sports or something at 10:00 at night. And all of a sudden, you know, they're not just talking, da da da, they're gonna be making noise. I don't know. I like the chimes for the fact, you know, they learn something, but living straight across from the park, I don't know. I think it's it might be more noise than I wanna have to deal with. We've already got the airplanes, because people Beach fished about twenty years ago, and we got the planes turned in, and we're listening to that at night, all day long, whatever. So, less noise would be better. A question for you. The park still closes at dusk.

Correct? You already addressed the lighting issue, and I'm sure we can make that work. But the park still closes at dusk. Correct? Okay. Alright. Thank you very much. Appreciate your time.

Thank you, sir. Yes. Welcome. We're excited to hear what you have to

say. Do you want to say anything? Can can you say it?

I'm really looking forward to swings. I've been dreaming of them forever.

Thank you, ma'am. Yes, public comment on this side?

Hello. My name is Julia.

My family moved to Brentwood Park's Neighborhood 12 Years ago. I was a toddler, and my brother was not yet born. At the time, the park was well overdue to be improved. To be honest, I don't have many memories from the park because even though it was right next to our house, it wasn't a really fun place to play. My family heard rumors about a master plan. It looked so fun, and I would have loved to have that park right down the street. The years went by, and now I'm 15, so maybe my time to enjoy the playground has passed, but I would love other families and kids to have a safe place to play. So, thank you.

Thank you.

It's just a picture. It's an aerial view of the surrounding neighborhood around Brentwood, please. Amy? Yes, Amy. Thank you. Good evening, commissioners. My name

is

Amy. I'm a visual person and I think pictures are worth a thousand words. I just wanted to give you an aerial image of this area of Brentwood Park. I know that there's some preconceived notions of what East Side Costa Mesa is and it's really, you know, as residents I really loved hearing from Commissioner Garcia Arcos about your community around Shalomar and that we can be one inclusive community as Costa Mesa. And I know there's this perceived notion that we're all rich stay at home wives over stay at home moms in Eastside and that's definitely not the case.

But if you can notice on the map here, all these fishtails are little micro communities. This area of East Side Costa Mesa probably is the most densely area of Eastside Costa Mesa, which is probably why we had so many survey results and we had over like three fifty signatures because there's a lot of young families and it's of all races, all ages. You know, it's a very diverse melting pot, which makes it wonderful, but there's not a lot. Honestly, I think Liz and I have talked about it, it's under parked. There's just not a lot.

Brentwood Park is it. I know there's been residents and families trying to get the park updated for years since they were they're now graduating from high school and college, but this was never intended to be a personal private backyard. This was intended to be a community resource for all the families of, you know, my father-in-law is a service disabled veteran. My own father who passed away last year, he couldn't access the park. There was no place for them to sit. So we really appreciate you meeting the needs of the community, everybody in the community, by upgrading the park. So thank you.

Thank you. Yes, ma'am.

Hi, my name is Sun Ma. And, there were 11 other families that live near me that couldn't make it tonight. And they have kids ranging from, like mine, from 16 to eight. Some of them have much younger kids. And we would really love to have a park in our area that our kids could just easily walk to and be able to play and get off of their devices.

That would be great. And then, I would like to say I really like the sand. I'd like you guys to really consider that, because then we can get that track for the kids as well. And I'm gonna tell you the wood, I don't know who thinks it's a great idea, but they're splinters. And they get into the shoes, and it's no fun. So, I'm a huge proponent of getting the sand because it's so close to us. Right? We can do it. And then, secondly, in terms of the fence and the dogs. The dogs should be on leashes anyhow.

You know, that's that's one of the things. And then, if you have a child that is a runner, there is another park very close to us, the Perez Park, and that is enclosed. So, that is a safer place for little ones that are runners. So, we would like to keep the fences out of it right now because what we're really proposing is just just new equipment. I mean, since when was it? 1995? It's been a long time. That's all we're asking for. Thank you.

Thank you. Yes, sir.

Good afternoon. Well good evening everyone. My name is Neil. I live down the street on Monte Vista. I pretty much go to the Brentwood Park nearly every day with my three year old daughter.

I greatly appreciate everybody considering remodeling the park and updating everything is certainly needed the one thing I would like to point out is I feel like you know on the survey the second largest community that was there is 35 54 year old people And I just hope that there's some consideration of additional things to be added to the park. I do think that a bathroom would be helpful for children. But also a consideration of things that you know other people and older people could attend. It seems like it's you know mainly for children and young teenagers. But other things like a potential basketball court or like Tanager's Park over there either pickleball courts or a combination of pickleball court a basketball court.

I do think that the volleyball court I have seen used maybe one time in the three and a half plus years I've lived here. But I would like for you to consider you know the potential for other people in the community other than just children for using this park. Another thing was the potential for a walk around path in the park sort of like Tanager's Park. Right now, yeah, there is that path that just kind of cuts off. I think the proposal is fairly adequate.

But what if we put one on the other side as well that connected in a loop? Other things were the fencing. I don't think we need fencing. Yes, there's people with dogs, stuff like that. But I don't think the fencing is going to be an overall solution and will sort of act more of a prison than a open area. I also agree that the wood chips are not my favorite. I think that the rubberized equipment would be good. I do like the idea of the sand pit. However, I need to say the location in which it was proposed is under the biggest trees in that park. In the last year or two, there's been significant branches that have fallen down in that area.

And I just want you to be aware of the potential safety hazards that could cause injury or worse in that area. So if that is the proposal, then I think there should be consideration of having an arborist or someone that attends to those trees rather frequently because there have been significant branches that have fallen down over that time. And I think that's it. So I just would like to thank you all for consideration of these changes. And I hope you move forward this time with doing something to improve the park because a lot of people in our community use it very often and a lot of children get a lot of happiness out of that park and it could be even greatly improved for them. So, thank you all.

Thank you. Yes. Good evening.

Hello, everybody. I'm Nico, and I think that you didn't say anything about the trees. So thank you for preserving the trees. And

yeah.

Thank you. Yes, step on up.

No. Yeah. Everybody get in. Thank you for trying to make this park better.

Can we

get swing?

Hi. Thanks for having me. My name's Sean Crawford. First, I I appreciate the work that's gone into the park and and actually seeing young people involved in in government and city city government is is pretty inspiring. I like a couple of other folks here. My house backs up to the park or my my family's house. Our house backs up to the park. We're one of six houses there on that side. And, you know, I've been listening in and everybody's right like there have been some plans for this park for a long time. Various versions of the park and various plans. And I've I've actually stood up here before and talked to the to the city council about that park previously, lighting and some of the stuff we found in the park. Think and even they might have it back

in the old

files. Won't get into the graphic details of what we found there, but we're we're really happy with where the park is now and and the the work that the city's put into it, how it's been enforced, and we've a safe place back there for our families and for our kids. Totally agree that playground is pretty outdated. It's been a while. I think there's, you know, even vandalism in the past, they've replaced slides, and they've replaced pieces of it.

It's it's high time that that playground gets replaced. Even, you know, if there's some more stuff going in over in the in the volleyball area, all all fine. I I would say, like and it's it's come up, I think, a couple of times. This is so funny, but, like, around the around the dogs, like, it's it's it's a dog park for for most of most of you guys that don't know. Like, if you if you just go over there and park on on Monte Vista at any given time, folks rolling up, dogs jump out.

They've got, like, the special seat covers in the back. Like, it's a destination dog park for the most part. So I'm not sure what the plans are there to rectify that and force that, make sure that that's okay. But it is a there's a dog mural wall right there. You go on to Google Maps right now and you look at the photos of the park and the ratings of the park, they're taking photos of the dog wall. So just know that like the fencing part has come up and everything. Fine. But just know that it's it is a dog park with a play structure at the moment. All good. Or not.

That's for you guys to decide. The other part is the bathrooms, like, killer like, have the space, have the new playgrounds, and that's all good. The bathrooms are sketchy. Wilson Park's bathrooms were locked. I don't know for how long, maybe they're unlocked now, but at one point, those bathrooms were locked. Go back to what I presented previously, don't think we want more of that in the park, which the bathrooms attract. You can go to manners at any given time when the kids are playing baseball. You go in there to use the restroom. You're not alone. There's some other sketchy dudes, sketchy people in there.

So, yeah, that's what I have to say. I'm excited about city government. I'm excited for these kids to get involved with city government at a young age. I'm excited for what the park can be, but please please pay attention to the play structure and a dog park and the bathrooms. Thank you for your time.

Thank you, sir. Yes, ma'am.

Hello, my name is Savannah Patterson, and I just graduated from Kaiser School. Me and my family just moved into Monte Vista Avenue, and I knew that this park would be a good place to play football with my dad. As soon as we got there, we saw that there was a ton of space, and then I realized, why don't we just put in some more room for bathrooms, more trees, and some other improvements. Thank you for my time.

Thank you.

Yes, welcome.

This might be the last one. We'll see. On behalf of the friends of Brentwood Park, I would like to say thank you to director Gooner, the commissioners at PACS, director Seth Aramin, and Rob Ryan with the Department of Public Works for the countless hours you and city staff have spent and invested in Brentwood Park, which included securing the funding, listening to neighbors, and shaping a thoughtful playground design. Your commitment shines through, our community is truly grateful. The playground you see today was installed in 1995, nearly thirty years ago.

Time and Ocean Era have faded the colors, worn the paint, and left it old and rusty, one of the oldest playgrounds still standing in Costa Mesa. It is long due for a safe modern replacement. A little quick food for thought. It is definitely ready. This started five years ago when a group of parents pushed strollers door to door and gathered three fifty signatures from local residents within easy walking distance at the park.

That petition reignited the effort you see before you and tonight. Many of these same kids, now we're all a little taller, are sitting here wearing green shirts united for Brentwood Park. Since then, neighbors, especially our kids, have filled out surveys, attended pop up events, and spoken at meeting after meeting. Their ideas have helped shape tonight's proposed playground design, which is separate age appropriate play zones for toddlers and the big kids, swings, shade structures, new benches, and accessible walking paths that welcome every child and caregiver. At its heart, this decision is not just about the kids.

Parks are meant for laughter and learning. They make life better for all. Brentwood Park is our shared front porch, our community park, the place where new friendships start after school, neighbors gather to decompress after work, and community bonds are woven. This is truly a neighborhood park for everyone. Let's keep the momentum going.

Approving tonight's design will unlock a matching grant offered by California Parks and Recreation Society that will cover up to 50% of the equipment cost, which could be more than a 150,000 in savings. Delaying means paying more later or watching another city claim those grant dollars. On behalf of the 350 petitioners and especially the young voices who stayed up past their bedtime to be heard and every future family who will gather under those new shade sails. I respectfully urge you please vote yes on the new Bruntmar Park playground design, and that is it. Thank you so much for your time.

Thank you.

Yes, ma'am.

Hi, Medell Gibney. I've been going to that park since I was young, but I've always thought it's been overdue since I was well, maybe in my young teens. I've always noticed the rust on the bars definitely made it difficult to grip when you were trying to play on there and often made your hands dirty and kinda smell weird. And, also, I feel like there's always been a need for more clear paths because especially on the far side to to get to the park, have to walk all the way on the grass, which can sometimes be kinda bumpy and is often kinda tiring, especially if you're a child who's been playing for a couple hours there. So, I thought I'd just make that clear.

Thank you. Are there any other public comments in the chambers before I turn it over to online? Okay. Miss Fetua, is there anyone online?

Yes. And if there are any others who wish to speak, please make sure to raise your hand. The first speaker is Joshua Bauer. You may now speak.

Thank you very much. I am I'm a resident. I live right around the corner from the park on Orange Avenue, and I walk and then I walk by and walk through the park every day. I wanna go ahead and say that I'm I'm also a lead green associate, and I'm a sustainability consultant. And I'm speaking on behalf of a lot of my neighbors who, have kids but also use the park.

You know, if you actually go by the park, the majority of the people there are actually young adults, many walking their dogs and enjoying the green space. And I thought that, aerial view was very, impactful as it shows the one green space surrounded by a concrete jungle, surrounded by a lot of gray. And so my comment is that it's crucial. I I agree. I think, you know, that kids should definitely have safe, updated, enjoyable playground equipment.

I think that that's that's that's great for sure. And, but I I'm really, I urge you to maintain the beauty and the charm of the park and what it brings to the neighborhood, which is a green space, with trees and grass. I think, you know, putting in pathways and walkways and paving over things, I think it's a it's an excuse for ADA compliance. As a as a lead green associate, I know that that's not not the case. And as a as a city that prides themselves as being LEED certified, you should know that as well.

There's you know, to to put to pave grass and pave walkways, first of all, it's unnecessary. The grass is small enough where a wheelchair could easily go through, and there's already walkways in place. And if if a walkway must be established, then I please urge you to consider not concrete, not pavement, something that blends in with the natural surrounding, and that's less, invasive and and obtrusive. So, you know, I again, I agree to, you know, to update the playground equipment. I think anything like pickleballs or or basketball courts would be an obstruction, and you would receive, major pushback from the community as most people enjoy it for the solitude, for the green space, and and, and trees.

So, again, I I and I think, the playground, you know, to to build and develop beyond you know, you know, much beyond what's already there, I think, also is a mistake as the majority of the people in the neighborhood, and and people who come in to walk their dogs really enjoy it for for its solitude, its green space, and its charm. So, that that's what I have to say, and, I thank you all. I appreciate, you allowing for my time. Thank you.

Thank you for the comment.

Next speaker is Bob Terribio. You may now speak. Mr. Turabillo, you are on no longer on mute.

Oh, thank you. Thank you. Sorry about that. Thanks for the time. And I am a neighbor of Brentwood Park like some of other people that spoke this evening, and I am a 100% advocate for updating the play structure.

However, when you guys talk about neighborhood, you kinda left out the fact that there are several families, 30 to 40 kids between the ages of 15 to newborns that live in that fairway Brentwood Norse part of the community there. And if you add structures, add facilities, you're going to add traffic, you're going to add more people to the neighborhood. I'm all for updating the park structure. We can all agree upon that. But as for taking things out and putting in additional play structures, bathrooms, a drinking fountain, you spoke of an ebike gravel path right there that's gonna become a circus.

I'm against anything that's gonna add more traffic to the park. Again, all for updating the structure, but please don't take out the volleyball park and adding the new structure. We have Perez Park right down the street, two to five year olds have the time of your life. There's a gate around it. But for Brentwood Park, let's keep it what it is right now. Thanks again.

Thank you.

Chair, there are no other speakers.

Okay. I'm gonna close public comment. Back to us. Commissioner comments, commissioner questions? Vice chair Wright, do have a you wanna start us off?

Was gonna say something really quick before more people leave. If any of you are interested in being on the PACS commission one day, please find me on Instagram. My name is Cheyenne Wright and send me a message we're always looking for more people to apply it's an appointed position by city council it's not scary at all and I love it so just wanted to say that really quick before anybody else leaves

Commissioner comments, questions? Commissioner Doran Parker.

Yeah. Just, first of all, want to thank everybody for coming in, those online, and everybody who's been very involved. So I have a couple just clarifying questions. First of all, it's not me who have been asking to add pickleball courts. As everyone knows, one of my things is dogs off lees and pickleball courts. So and I love the new pickleball courts at the tennis center. So yay team and what you're doing, Belair. So I just want to clarify that. I also want to confirm, is is it standard now to have moult versus sand? I've heard the same thing.

I'm looking at a lens now. My kids are I'm gonna go through at the end and and have a comment. From my three and a half year old grandson, who's also he's autistic, so it's really important for me to see certain parts that you've included. But I do know the parks they live in Santa Fe, New Mexico. And the parks that have mulch, it's a nightmare. The parks that have sand, it's a different kind of nightmare for maintenance. So explain, is that an easy swap? Is that a financial swap that's similar? You know, so explain that a little bit.

So thank you, Commissioner Doran Parker. So the least expensive option is just to leave the sand in place. However, sand is the least accessible. It's not accessible at all. Right. So that's that's a concern. And the the impact protection is not as great in sand for falls. The other concern sometimes with sand is that it it does work its way into the pores of the rubberized surf for surfacing and fills in those small pores that make it less spongy as it fills in with sand over time so it is a little bit of a maintenance issue.

Yeah because I know one of our parks that's really old and old products is Harper which has sand next to the rubberized and it's a nightmare and the sand was redoing it. So is mulch the alternative?

Mulch is the alternative and it is it is not as accessible as as rubberized surfacing, but it's still considered accessible. That is the alternative that we're proposing.

Okay. So can we yeah, wait, I'm sorry. So that's that's what you're looking for. So I don't know. I'm not an expert. I'm just a grandma who shows up and has to try to figure out how to get wood out of sock. So but

I I also think know that's probably where the the it's not really splinters, but there's there's pieces that get stuck in the socks and I think that's that's some of the concerns there, not really especially splinters and that's of wood fiber.

Wood fiber.

Specifically made for playgrounds.

Okay. So as far as all that goes. The other question I have is because I do know a big issue with climate change is making sure there's enough people have enough drink water fountains. Is that something that is included in this plan and in the upgrade is to have a fountain for water?

Yes. It's you're not gonna see it in the design layout, but it is something that is is included.

Included in the price as far as we call.

It's yeah. It's not in the in the cost that I think I I have. The cost that I presented in the report was only for the playground So that will be an outside cost. It'll be part of the the rest of the project. Because I Much like the lighting and

The lighting and then I also know that there's some cause I know there's some issues with I can't remember what the technical term is. But when rain and I know there's culvert and things like this that I know that has to be upgraded, is separate than the playground. Correct? It's like a whole separate public works.

We're talking about drainage? Yes. Yes, absolutely.

Like the culvert where it is. I'll have most of my comments there. And then the only other question I had, because we have an art commission now, has there been any consideration it went beyond this round of including some public art? Yes, because this is a perfect park. It's a long meandering. You hear how adults use it to exercise their dogs, walk at night. So it would be really nice, since we're known as the arts and we have an art commission, to see if we can do some installation of outdoor art.

Yes, I'm aware that Director Gruner had some conversations with the art chair. I can turn over to him if he has any additional comments, but yes.

Yeah, I did have the opportunity to walk with the arts chair, and we kind of walked throughout the park a little bit and kind of looked at different areas where we could potentially put some art components into that park. We looked at that mural along the wall with the dogs.

Doctor. The dog mural.

So the thought was, well, maybe can do something that either an extension of that or maybe something that we can incorporate with, since there's so many kids involved, some type of component on the wall. So we'll definitely explore that a little bit further.

Okay. Yeah. Because it's known for its art. Right now, it's known for its dog art. It started a long time ago. So I'll save the rest of my comments for the very end. Thank you.

Other commissioner questions or comments? Yes. Commissioner Ledger.

For the dogs off leashes complaint, because this is such an ongoing complaint with most parks. I had just a thought. Is it expensive? You said you created a QR code that you put out the park for the survey. Is that expensive or time consuming for the staff to do? Because what if we could set up something that would track the time? People could scan it. If there's a dog off the leash, it gets logged. And so now the police know when they could go there and issue citations. That brings money into the city and solves the issue.

Or I know the three eleven I don't want to say That's such a common complaint throughout the city. I mean, it it started with COVID. We have a lot of families who adopted dogs, and it has grown dynamically. So if there's a way we I and know we're updating the three one and it really needs to be under parks to take dogs off leash, and it's not gonna get the people there. And I know when I'm there with my name tag, do say, hey, you know that you need to have a dog on leash.

And many are not receptive, shall I say. But they would in in talking to the park rangers on the ride along, they just said they can't sort of like e bikes when you when the e bikes because I was there a couple times just recently just seeing how people were using it. And they you know, they're junior high kids or elementary school kids that are basically on motorbikes that happen to be electric, and they're ripping up the park. And it's not just Brentwood. But I know what they said is log it in, call it in, app it in, because it they tend to come in cycles, and then that way they can be there and be responsive. Responsive. So it would be really important to put that on the app, dogs off leash.

So the issue is not all the residents know about three eleven, though. So can we get that word out at the parks?

Yes. And and commissioner Ledger, just to expand on that, Commissioner Parker is correct. I just overhearing conversations and receiving information from other residents, the park rangers and PD has encouraged individuals to call the non the non emergency PD line to help develop patterns where they can come out and educate dog owners and make sure that they're aware of that their dogs must be on leashes. So that is definitely an option. As far as a QR code, the cost, would defer to recreation staff as far as that goes.

I have a couple of questions maybe before we turn it over to comments. Are there any other questions? Maybe I'll go and then we can take some more. Can you walk me through the paths again? Sensitive to, I revisited the park the other day with my daughter, who's a volleyball player, and she saw the volleyball court. Like, no wonder nobody uses the volleyball court, right? Like, everything is wrong about the volleyball to play there. But it's such a beautiful park with the open green space. And so can you just walk us through again what the pathways look like? I just want to make sure I understand.

Can you see the map today? Kind of an overview of the park?

Yeah. Yes. Yes.

So the so there's one path on this kinda south side where the cursor is now. There's already some concrete there. There are the beginning of a path from the playground, a little landing area, then a path towards Brentwood Street. So we're just proposing to extend that small concrete path. The rest of the way, kind of along that line there.

I think in the overlay, it might look a little bit bigger and more intrusive than what it really is. But it's just a small concrete path that provides some enhanced accessibility from that particular area. Because we already have an ADA ramp that's There's already some concrete there. So it's just connecting those. The other path we're proposing is we call it a kind of user defined path, where people are already walking. There's benches. There's lighting. And that would be on this side. You can see there's where the sign is here, there's a little concrete path around it. We'd be using DG, decomposed granite, which is kind of a natural looking material.

There's a stabilizer component in it that compacts it. And we're proposing to kinda meander that, keeping a natural feel, avoiding the large grassy play areas, and just kinda moving along the area where people are already walking and using it. There's some lighting there that's existing. And it would just kinda meander down this direction. Again, the major play areas and coming along and connecting over in this area.

There's another, I think it was a service or a maintenance access under these trees here. And we probably connect there. But again, the large green area that's in this here, the kind of bowl area that was referenced, that's all gonna stay green. And the larger area here, there's no pathways proposed. It's all gonna see green open space for play.

Decomposed granite. Talk me through why why that.

It's it's a solid material when it's formed, so you can compact it. It makes you know, riding bikes, pushing strollers, pushing wheelchairs. It makes it a lot easier. It's a smoother surface rather than the rough and bumpy. Also, you're not dealing with I know we heard some responses from a survey that were concerned about going through the grass, getting everyone wet, and all that, and the issues there. So that's one of the reasons. And it's a more natural feel. It's less expensive than concrete. It's not as intrusive as concrete. It doesn't get as hot as concrete. So there's a lot of positives to that.

And a second question. The new playground structures, they won't take up any more footprint than what's already there. Will the footprint increase in any ways in terms of encroachment on other space that isn't already used by the volleyball court? And if so, do you have a sense of by how much?

If it does, it'll be minimal just to get some because of that slope, it might require a little bit of a small retaining wall or retaining curb. But the idea was to keep it in the existing footprint of the playground and the existing footprint of the sand volleyball court. So we don't anticipate any encroachment. The one exception is is a small pathway connecting the two playgrounds together that you would see in that design, and that was it.

Okay. Thank you. Other questions? Commissioner Garcia Arcos.

Yeah. Just to follow-up on the DG. I noticed that it's going through an already compacted area, but it's also going through very mature trees. Can you walk us through what's the process to install the DG? Is there drainage for gravel? How thick is the DG? What kind of compaction? What disturbance are you creating around the root system around that area?

So as I mentioned before, we're going to meander that path out outside of that the drip line of the trees that you see, or the edges of the canopy. So it'll be outside of that crucial area of the root zone. Probably require removing about four inches of soil, more or less, and then overlaying with the DG. The DG does allow some water to go through, so it's not a 100% just a solid surface. So it does allow some water to penetrate.

The rest of the water will run over into the into the the grass area on either side. There is some compaction with a with a hand vibratory plates. We won't be bringing steam rollers in or anything like that. There'll be a compacting a hand compacting machine. Did that answer all the questions?

Yeah. That that does answer that question. I wanted to kinda follow-up with that. In in in order for them to keep away from the drip line, is there a way we can budget for some caution tape stakes before the construction comes, maybe a few $100 at most for labor and then for installation just to make sure that staff is aware that that zone is out of should be preserved?

Yeah. We could we could definitely look into doing that. I have a feeling that that some of this construction, they'll want some type of separation from the public as this is ongoing. So that that would probably already be built in, but we can certainly make sure that happens.

Okay. Perfect. I did wanna also mention something, another comment about a branch falling close by. I noticed that the drip line does hang over the structures and the swings. Is there a way we can go check that out, maybe make end weight reduction just to make it a little bit safer, look at the base, see if there's any raw from too much water at the base? Is there a way to budget for that? And just clarify, there hasn't been any their studies have done for the past twelve years. There hasn't been any fatalities from branches. There has been from epicormic shoot, which is when you top a tree and stress branches come out, those do fall. But these are looking healthy trees.

They haven't been tampered with. So just it would be nice to have a certified arborist to go inspect that just to make it a little bit safer.

Yeah. Yes, absolutely. Over this last year, think you heard a couple of comments about some tree failures and branch failures. It's been kind of highlighted, especially this last couple years with the wind events. So we have had certified arbors out there several times to review these, and we will certainly be doing that again pre construction and post construction and after.

Perfect. Thank you.

Vice Chair Wright.

Thank you. I'm very excited. It's beautiful. Congratulations. We're going to do this.

I love the walkway. I've definitely tried to push a stroller across this park, and it was basically impossible. I also got very muddy. Love the two separate playgrounds. I definitely think that's needed in this area, a space for the younger kids. The swings are amazing. I mean, it's just so exciting. The water fountain, the shaded struck the shading. Just definitely seeing almost all the top requests in this design. It's amazing that you guys fit it all in.

So congratulations. I am genuinely torn on the sand or the cycle track, specifically because Lindbergh has sand in the sidewalk that goes around the playground. And kids do scooter there. And so I'm curious if rubberizing the entire thing is an option, rather than mulch versus sand.

Rubberized surfacing is the most expensive element as far as that goes, as far as surfacing. So, it wouldn't be cost prohibitive, but we'd probably have to reduce other items to put rubberized surfacing over the entire area.

Like getting rid of the cycle track?

That would be an option.

Because if the whole thing is rubberized, then kids could ride throughout the whole thing.

So the rubberized cycle track right now is not actually a part of it. So that was if we were able to do other elements, keep sand, then that would stay in place.

Yeah.

Do you want to say something, too?

One option is we can wait to see what the pricing comes out to be, and then if there is funding available, we can look at adding the cycle track, but at this point it's not in the scope.

Totally. I'm thinking I'm leaning rubberized the whole thing. If we don't have the cycle track, that's okay. Because we have that at the park right next to it. And the rubber material is the entire park at Lions Park, and you can totally ride a scooter or whatever on that. There's also a sand pit at Lions Park, which I do like. So a mini corner sand pit, if I had to pick sand, I'd go that route. But yeah, I think that's what I'm leaning as far as the variables that are still up in the air.

So rubberizing the entire thing definitely adds couple $100,000 to the project.

So,

it's not it's not as as mentioned, it's that's the most expensive part you know, of the project sometimes. It's like if you make it especially the whole thing.

And and we're suggesting wood mulch right now. Is it compressed? It's just free Correct.

Yeah. It's it's specialized for playgrounds. City of Anaheim uses that exclusively. They don't use any rubberized surfacing. They're all wood fiber just because of its accessibility, and it's a cost savings. So they put it puts additional funding towards the play equipment, which is a huge element.

Yeah, I'm torn. At least that's different than Lindbergh. It seems like wood mulch is also more weather resistant, because sand when it's rainy, like We wouldn't assume that maybe.

It can be. It can be a little bit because there's little bit better drainage, I suppose.

Okay. That's fair. My next comment is about the survey results. So I analyzed the comments and all of the top keywords, because sometimes when you do survey questions, they're kind of leading questions, right? You're only letting people choose from 10 variables, so of course those 10 are going be the most popular.

So I was really curious about when people were given like an open ended field, what did they actually submit? And some things we were right on the nose on, like swings, shade, water fountain, benches, seating those were top anywhere mentioned around 30 to 40 times. Grass was mentioned 86 times, but the top mentioned word was bathrooms, with 91 mentions. And 80% of those were positive. So I know that bathrooms are this very controversial thing, but I really want it to be noted that this is one of our most successful surveys of all time, and it might not, it probably won't apply to this park, but I really want it to be noted, maybe when we're doing our park assessment matrix, when we are building out future CIPs, bathrooms are critical to parks, especially for kids.

So I read every single survey response, and we got kids peeing on trees. We're ending playtime early to go pee somewhere else. It's a public necessity. So I definitely want to embrace pushing for bathrooms in future park projects. Maybe there's some formula we can create to optimize where it's most needed. But I really want that to be noted. 91 mentions of bathroom or restrooms, it was the top requested thing in the open ended comments.

Yes.

A quick comment to that. In looking at question number nine, which was kind of the final, we did a little tally on that with regards to restrooms, and it was actually evenly split for yeses and noes. We had 21 out of two thirty three that said yes bathrooms. 19 out of two thirty three specifically said no bathroom.

Yeah, I had 17 people out of 91 said no to bathrooms, too. And we don't have to get into why they said no. Oh, and my final thing, I think we should put benches along the DG path. I think that would be a great place for people that are not going for their kids, or people who don't have kids. Like people that are going not for the playground, right?

They're going to watch to play in the green space. Their dogs, they're just taking a nice stroll. I think putting seating there would be a great idea. It's also a beautiful view, so why not? So yeah, my recommendations, I guess, are not to rubberize the whole thing because that's too expensive, that we should prioritize adding bathrooms in other parks into the CIP process or in the park assessment matrix plan thing that we're working on, and then benches along the DG Path.

Thanks. Thank you, Vice Chair. Commissioner Ledger.

Sorry, So working at a school, I could tell you that the wood, when it rains, swells up and is actually softer for falls, whereas the sand gets more compact. So would we be able to do the wood around the big kid play structure and then the sand around the toddler play structure so they could still have that loop?

That's that's what we were proposing, to keep the wood fiber on that the bigger kid play structure and the sand in that middle middle area of the two to five.

Got it. Thank you.

Other commissioner comments? Yes. Commissioner Kamala.

So just wanna thank all the amazing parents who just brought their kids out here today and showing them firsthand how important it is to be involved in our community and to make their voices heard. I'm a father of two young boys, three and four, and so it hits home for me. It's just a reminder how just community matters and why we need to have these conversations. I wanna thank city staff for all the work that's gone into this project to get it where it is today. Clearly, when you look at the designs, just a lot of a lot of intention went into this.

Right? A lot of what I heard when I was out at Brentwood was keeping the green space the green space and just the design alone blends into it. Also the accessibility piece, that was huge. Just the thought behind it, just thank you to everyone. But I think if you guys are concerned about DG or want to know what it's like to have that sand playground, if you go to Tanager, DG's great.

You go straight from the sidewalk on the DG path straight to straight to the playground and there's sand there. So I don't, you know, I don't have an opinion one way or the other. Sand, wood chips, all the things get into my kids shoes and into my truck. So but I will tell you that they love playing with sand. So I think I was just saying earlier, if you gave them a box of dirt, they'd be pretty pumped, and that's basically it. So just thank you to everybody. And and if you guys wanna check it out, Tangier Park, it's laid out just like that sand, DG. DG's great. I barely keep up with my kids running down that DG path, so it's accessible for sure.

Thank you, commissioner. No. This is the time for comments. We're we're wrapping it up. So commissioner Dorne Parker, and then I'll go.

Okay. First of all, let me tell you what I found out about bathrooms. I was just talking to, director Gruner. The city of Long Beach started an experiment two years ago where they have a, temporary bathrooms that come into parks, and they and they have a lot of issues with homeless, with people who are using bathrooms. I asked I'm gonna go bring a report back. I've asked them. They have these incredible bathrooms that get used and moved, and they have ten minute limits. They have lighting and security cameras outside of it. And in the beginning, people didn't believe it. And literally, in ten minutes, it pops open, and they're able and and law enforcement is there in case there's something going on in there.

It's an amazing opportunity that that community has dug into and has been extremely successful. It's not permanent. It's temporary. They're able to move when they have large events at different parks who need it, then then they have things going. But that's so there's other opportunities because we do keep hearing about bathrooms and having young kids bathrooms and and having old grandmas.

Bathrooms are really important, let me tell you. Well, I I need to say a couple comments. First, I really wanna thank the current and immediate past leadership of our city that worked on getting the promised Brentwood Parks improvements done now. It has been a long seventeen years, originally filled with active uses that turned to deep disappointment once the private school was purchased, torn down, and the city did nothing to move forward. As many of you here tonight and commissioners know, how much commitments to our residents must be fulfilled as best as possible.

The time is now for Brentwood Park. As we dive into the create as we dive in and understand and develop values, priorities, and processes to move forward for the entire city surrounding parks and community services, personally, I fully support the concept of 15. It's a new concept that I heard about two years ago. Fifteen minutes to gain access to green space from wherever anyone lives in the city as part of my values I want to imprint on all of our parks and PACS work. The value is what Brentwood Park is connected with within one mile radius that really impacts that fifteen minute goal.

I need to tell you, I'm an old lady here. I've lived in the East Side since 1983, where young Mary didn't have kids, and I have seen it transformed from a mostly county, country large lots with city borders in between. We were county until 2012. Most of us were. It moved from small homes on very large lots to redevelopment of eight, ten, and 16 homes and townhouses and apartments replacing these single residents.

Not only did these infilled developments change the neighborhood, and, yes, it increased tremendously the traffic, but it also added density. It added less personal space as apartments, condos, and houses with no real yards were built all around us. This created more stress on the city to what we say do something with Brentwood Park. This is a fifteen minutes for families, for residents, and for children that they can have access to open space and great play equipment. There are no schools in that zone that could be shared space.

This is it. I understand how this complete failure of many that went before us all created a false sense of a park now dedicated to quiet and really no use active play. The old playground equipment, the lack of ADA accommodations, the lack of sitting, gathering for family space, and lack of shade, consistent shade over structures happened because the promises made were never fulfilled. However, this was never the intention because the promises made were once the school shut down, the surrounding community begged the city to buy the property and not allow another school. An active school with 300 students was 300 car trips in the morning to drop off and in the afternoon to pick up.

That was on Brentwood Street. That was on Monte Vista. It was double parking. It was a complete nightmare. So the city agreed. What they did is they did buy the park. They tore it down. They created a wonderful master plan, couple times with activities, courts, updated playgrounds, and, yes, there were bathrooms included in those. But this never happened. But what is happening now is creating and innovating playground equipment, shade, benches, picnic spaces that meet the needs of the community's changes and growth of 2025 and beyond.

This is so amazing to everyone as we move forward in results with over 400 surveys that were returned to impact the final design and details of the replacement playgrounds. This truly is a huge step forward, fulfilling a promise made so many years ago. So I thank everybody. It's overdue. And now we have a wonderful opportunity to make good on a promise from seventeen years ago. Thank you. Thank you for that.

I just have a few comments. I just want to echo, Liz, what you said so eloquently. Really appreciate everyone who turned out in person and online and all of the staff commitment to this. So it's been a big effort over a long period of time. So thank you for that.

It's impressive to see. And of course, now I want to copy it for everything we do moving forward, right? Because now we see what public engagement and what public outreach can yield, and a variety of parks in our city would benefit from this. So I think at a future commission meeting, would like to do a postmortem about what we learned, about what went well, maybe what we could do differently, so that as a practice, we can think about how to implement this moving forward across the city of Costa Mesa. So it's a way of saying kudos, and now we get to follow-up with more hard work.

But I think it's yielding a good outcome, so worth it. I do think it's really so for me, the art element is really important. I just want to echo Commissioner Ochoa's comments about how this is an opportunity for us to get some art in the park. And one thing that we could I guess we won't be having sidewalks, so we can't do the sidewalk poetry that's stamped in there. But I think we can consider a variety of different art expressions for the park.

That's something that's important to me, so that we begin to move forward in a small way. It's also a way of adding value that goes beyond, you know, the immediate use. So I think it can add inspiration. So that's just important for me. I want to also stress that I think that one or two of the comments talked about, you know, the ways in which a large number of participants of the survey were middle age and thinking about how we can meet their needs. And again, we're at the point where definitely not interested in slowing this down, definitely interested in moving it forward. But I think that that middle age, those needs are ones that we should take seriously. And I think that they're bathroom related too. I mean, I'm just going to say that, right? So I just want us to think about this.

And this for me is a lead into the principles and values conversation that we're going to have, right, as we're thinking about how we meet the needs of various residents and how they change over time. The last thing I'm going to say, just to be a little controversial, and I think it, for me, bathrooms is an equity issue. I'm not advocating bathrooms for this park right now. This process needs to move forward. I was concerned by some of the language that I heard around preserving this as a neighborhood park in the desire, how I read it, to keep certain folks out or to keep folks out if you don't belong in the neighborhood.

And as I read that, I thought, that's interesting because that's actually me. That's actually keeping me, the chair of the Parks Commission, out of your neighborhood park. I'll acknowledge where I live, I don't have a neighborhood park. I raised my daughter. She's now almost 14 without a neighborhood park. Our closest park I mean, I say this ad nauseam, I'm so sorry is a twenty minute walk to Lyons where we have intersections. You know what? I'll pass. We're going to drive somewhere. I'm going to get in my gas guzzler and drive.

But I just want to make a point, like, if I could go to a park, and I visit parks up in Northern California, we'd visit them where my parents lived. Wonderful parks that all had restrooms. If I could go to a lovely park like this where there was a bathroom, it would mean that I could stay and enjoy that rather than when Nora had to go to the bathroom, packing her up and going home. Right? It's like I don't have the energy to then go back out.

So I just want us to think about that maybe bathrooms is an equity issue too for those who don't have neighborhood parks or who have other circumstances that would require it. And just a reminder, this is a public park, right, with public dollars. And I think we should take seriously what that public means. So hugely in support of all of the work that's gone into Brentwood Park, ready to open this up for a motion of some kind. But just putting a pin in that issue of bathrooms and thinking about it as more than just a physical need, but an equity issue for the entire city. I hear I'm

going make the motion to pass as submitted.

I will second.

Can can there be something in there about the arts? Do I need to add something in there about the arts that there would be attention to the arts? Director Griner,

wait, Liz. I take a friendly amendment to include the arts and also to look at the sand and the little track for around there and understand how that would work within the budget. That I think those are the two main comments we had, from the commissioner. Would you second the friendly amendment?

I will second.

And the

arts, yes. One second, Mr. Ryan. Because I actually was raising the arts thing as a question for staff.

It wasn't about the arts thing, but just to clarify the motion with that sand component. That was one of the things that we're looking for feedback. It's something that we are proposing.

Correct.

But it's not

In there. So I'm gonna I am gonna most respectfully disagree with commissioner Wright. Having a three year old that I've been playing with is we need and hearing all the sand comments in there is to put sand so that the cost aligns to be able to do that little that little track around there. Recognizing that sand, when it gets wet, is more compacted, but also recognizing how many kids throw sand toys down and play in sand, especially at the two to five year old.

Real quick, before you make that motion Yes. So you're making a motion to approve the original design they showed us?

To I'm gonna interrupt for a minute. Yeah. So Liz, do you want to make a motion?

No. I'm I'm adding to my Yes.

I think you need start over for us.

Okay. Let me

start over.

And then

we can take if there's So a let me

clarify my motion. Let's clarify my motion. I want I clarify the motion to add in an art component, not in this particular stage, but look at it, how we can do that less expensive. I know in some I just was at a park where they actually put up weatherproof whiteboards where kids drew on boards because it was in a very dense area. So there's a lot of ways I leave it up to our commission. The other thing is I'm going to suggest that we go with the suggestion of this and change the design of the toddler instead of worrying about a sand pit in a corner. Include the rubber with the sand so that we could have the cost included of the little track around it.

Commissioner Ledger, yes.

So are you saying around the big play structure?

No, no, no, no. I'm talking about toddler.

So the toddler structure, the sand that was proposed, wood chips for the big structure. Correct.

Okay.

Yes. I want to make sure I know what I'm both Thank you. No, thank you for clarifying that. Yes.

As proposed.

Okay. And will you second that motion? Okay. With that clarification.

Are you with us? Is this Okay. Okay, cool.

We have the playground up just to clarify the location.

That's actually useful.

So if you look at the square playground, where the sand looking structures, having a corner for sand, they would change the material from wood chip on the toddler lot to sand, understanding that would also give I'd love to get more bang for my buck, and that would give the option to be able to put the little track around for trikes, bikes, balance bikes.

And there's a second, Commissioner Kamala.

I still second.

Okay. You

good? Is there an alternative, is there a substitute motion, or are we ready to vote on this?

We have to vote when there's a motion and a second.

Okay.

We can

You may vote on the dice.

I don't have a yes option. Just not everything is lit up. It's working now.

Recommendation to include our components and sand in the tot lot area to incorporate the It's little track. Little track.

Hang on for ten more minutes. Thank you all.

Thank everybody for coming and staying as long. Thank you so much.

But you don't have to go home because we are going to now talk about the donation of a memorial tree and plaque at Tanager. So stick around. Mr. Ryan, is that you?

It is. Thank you. Good. Okay. Thank you.

Yes. The next item before you is a request to receive a donation of a memorial tree and plaque to be installed at Tanager Park. The city received a letter from miss Natalie Hill requesting permission from this commission to donate a memorial tree and plaque in memory of her mother, Claudine Rosine Hastings, who passed away earlier this year. The tree and plaque would be installed at Tanager Park. You see an attachment, one, the letter that was the requesting letter.

According to Ms. Hill, her mother and her father were residents of Costa Mesa for over fifty eight years. They had three children that all attended Estancia High School and Orange Coast College. Claudine was an educator teaching French at Golden West College for over twenty five years. She was passionate about the French language, even teaching other classes at the Orange County Linguinal Institute.

She had many passions. She led many French activities through various groups. She loved to garden, frequenting Home Depot and Armstrong Gardens to pick plants to enhance her beautiful garden, that I'm sure was probably the envy of at least a few neighbors. And she had a pasture for the outdoors, and she and her family would walk regularly at Tanager Park. Her daughter Natalie mentioned fond memories of spending Easters there with family and their weekly park walks.

After reviewing options, the family and staff agreed the most suitable location for the tree would be on the east side of the park, not too far from that meandering walking DG trail that I'm sure they frequented. You see it's indicated with the green dot on the right side of that map. Here's a few additional photos of the location. One looking out towards the playground and pickleball courts. And then the one I'm kinda looking back at that DG trail.

Staff and family agreed on a magnolia tree, a Samuel Summer. Like other magnolia trees, this is a medium sized vase shaped tree. Has beautiful fragrant white summertime blooms. And then there's a thick green, evergreen shade that works well in that park. There's a sample picture of a flower. It's a rather large box tree, but that's what the tree would look like and how it typically would grow. And of course, sample of the memory plaque to be installed in the ground near the base of the tree. So staff has reviewed the suggested location, determined it's suitable for tree and plaque. The installation would have minimal fiscal impact on the city. The donor will incur the cost of donated items.

Staff would supply the labor to plant the tree and install the plaque. The submitted request does meet the requirements set forth by the city council. Therefore it's recommended the commission approve the request from Ms. Natalie Hill for the donation of the tree and plaque in memory of her mother Claudine and Rosine Hastings. That concludes my presentation. I'd be happy to answer any questions.

Thank you. Are there commissioner questions? Okay. Is there anyone in the chambers who would like to make public comment on this item? Ms. Futua, is there anyone on Zoom?

Chair, I see no hands raised.

Okay. Closing public comment. Commissioner comments? Okay, no public or no commissioner comments. Does someone want to make a motion?

Commissioner Ledger?

It's on there.

Do I

need to say So I hit made a motion. Do I need to say anything about it? You? Well,

are you approving the staff recommendation?

Yes. I'm making a motion to approve the staff recommendation for the location of the tree. I second that.

You may vote on your dice. Motion carries six-zero.

Thank you all. Last but not least. Okay, we're going back to old business. This is the Park Capital Improvements Principle and Values Workshop. And here's what I propose for this. I know it's late, it's 08:30, But I do want to take a little bit of time with this. It's important. There was first public comment submitted around this item. So when we get to public comment, I will acknowledge that again. However, there were three commissioner submissions.

What I would like to start with is, Director Gruner, I will hand this over to you. But then I propose that those commissioners who submitted something in writing, if they would like to talk to their document, they may speak to their document, at which point we'll open it up to commissioner questions. Though I believe Commissioner Garcia Arcos would like to submit a verbal, perhaps, a verbal suggestion at that point, you can decide to weigh in or not. And then we can open it up to comment, if that sounds good. So Director Greener, over to you.

Thank you, Madam Chair. So in the previous years, the PACS received updates on CIP projects in a quasi preapproved format with very limited opportunity to contribute to the development of the Parks and Community Services Commission's CIP initiatives. And at the April 10 meeting, there was expressed desire to change that, and we kind of kicked things off with defining some core principles and values that would guide the process in developing those recommendations for future CIP projects in a philosophical framework. And during the May, we discussed various approaches and what that would look like, that framework, whether it's charts, pyramids like a Rubik's cube, descriptive narratives and other formats. And I think at that point in time, the commission decided to go ahead and provide the opportunity to the commissioners to provide input to staff at their one time frame with proposed core principles and values that were basically sent in that we could share at today's meeting.

And that's essentially what we did. So this wasn't a required assignment. This was something if commissioners wanted to do, to provide their own thoughts of what this would look like. And then in addition to that, the understanding would be to potentially formulate an ad hoc committee and that, you know, that they can take that opportunity during the month of July, when we're not in session, to kind of brainstorm and kind of put all those informational pieces from all the different commissioners together and kind of create something, you know, around that that could be presented at the August meeting. Then have a further discussion at the August meeting.

Hopefully by September, can finalize what this framework is going to look like that we can then incorporate with the upcoming CIP review process in NovemberDecember time frame. So at this point in time, I will leave it up to the chair to go ahead and facilitate the presentation of those who submitted their own philosophical framework in addition to those who maybe did not have a chance to submit it, but they brought it today. And then they can go ahead and present it today to the commission, and we can have those discussions and see what the commission wants to do regarding the Ad Hoc Committee.

Thank you. I think one thing to acknowledge is these submissions. One of the reasons that I find it so important is so it's not just those of us on the dice have access to it, but so that folks in the community who want to follow along can follow along. So these written outcomes of what our priorities are as individuals can then go to inform whatever kind of public engagement we want to do around that. So I just want to acknowledge that that was one important piece of this, my interest in opening up the process.

If there is continued interest in the subcommittee, speaking for myself, I think it's the most expedient way to do this, but also in a substantive way. A few notes about the subcommittee. There is a maximum of three people, three of us, who will be allowed to be a part of the subcommittee. Being a part of a subcommittee does not mean that you get the final word, right? You are working on this over the course of the next month, month and a half, and maybe two to four meetings, with the idea that we'll come back with some preliminary work in August that everyone will review and that everyone will be able to get feedback on, including those who are not part of PACS, but that are public and want to engage.

And then the subcommittee will take that the next step to hopefully have something much more formal to bring back to PACS in September. So I just want to be very clear that everyone up here, and including our colleague who is not here tonight, will be a part of the process, just not in an immediate meeting two to four meetings. So before we get into if folks want to talk about their submissions, if you're thinking about whether you would like to join the subcommittee, I think that you need to be prepared to commit to two to four meetings over the course of the next six weeks, six to eight weeks of anywhere from maybe one to three hours in addition to talking about it offline as well, whatever we want to do in terms of document preparation. And we can decide about the best way to do that. I think that's important.

I think that when we do get to comments, it would be helpful for me to know if folks are interested and what that might look like, because we'll need to make some decisions. Commissioner Ledger, you have a question? What time would these meetings be? We will have to determine that based upon the subcommittee. Yep. So it'll be flexible. Yep. But just so you know what you're getting into, two to four Everyone, however, will have the opportunity to weigh in at the August meeting and then again at the September meeting. We're going go ahead. I'd like to do the presentations first if people would like to present.

And so if there's a way to build it in, build it in, and then we'll come back to comments. You don't have to speak to your document. It's in writing. But if there's any kind of key takeaway that you would like us to know about, this is an opportunity to do it. I don't think you need to walk through all of the comments. I've certainly had a chance to read them. But if there's something you want to highlight or something that's particularly important to you, this would be an opportunity to do that. Commissioner Doran Parker, do you want to start?

Sure. You can see what as I was not here in the last meeting and under the weather, I did look online to hear how everybody was discussing this. So I just added how it was organized. You can all read it where I thought some things should be added or included or thought about. And then also, I guess I also had a couple comments of how we're going to take this and put it into implementation on kind of a rubric is what I was thinking.

Everything would be evaluated based on what we decide as key criteria. So it's not so, you know, so it's more consistent as we evaluate and it becomes a system and a process versus a, well, how do we do this? So unless anybody has my questions about my comments or if they were not clear, I'm happy to answer the question.

Great. What we're gonna I'm gonna have everyone do is do their presentation, and then we'll open it up to questions. Okay. Commissioner Garcia Arcos, I'm not interested in putting you on the spot, but I'd heard from someone that you might have a contribution that you wanted to make that you weren't able to email. Is that correct?

I just wanted to see if maybe we can put that up. Maybe not right now for the next few days to just have access to it.

I'll work with the city clerk to see what options I have. Potentially in the motion with whatever's being done today, I can then include that.

What's the that? I'm sorry. Are we talking about?

His submissions? Oh, Okay.

Verbally, you could speak to it if you wanted to.

Yeah, it's just it's going to go on for a little while. Because I haven't had a lot of feedback on each item.

Is there a key takeaway that you would like us to think about?

Yeah, yeah. I just kind of like made what's more yeah, the key criteria and basically sustainability as number one. Number two is community centered planning. And then three, equity and access. And so number one was basically update our plant list, ensure our staff is trained frequently with current systematized certifications so that they are aware which plants are sustainable for climate change and which ones are not.

And I think a lot of the choices that we've made and the reason why I emphasize this is the plant selection that we're currently applying to let me give you an example. Quercus agrifolia, also known as the coast live oak, is planted right smack in the middle of of a of a grass area. And study has shown that it's moved up north, and with global warming, it also gets summer rot from too much water. Those are drought tolerant plants. And so that that I noticed that by Fairview, Fairview Park, there was four to six new trees planted recently in the past few months.

So it's like, okay. If we if we are, building this long term sustainable, yeah, just selection of things that we want long term, we really have to educate each other on this. It's really important. I think I'll just leave it at that and then I'll make this information just available if possible later on even if it's in a few weeks.

And we will get it in time for the subcommittee

for sure.

Okay. Thank you, Commissioner. Vice Chair Wright.

Hey. So I think the most important takeaway from my submission is the last section, how does this show up in real life? And a little bit bigger picture to our process and how we got here is kind of what the director was saying. We would get presented kind of a finalized list, and then it was kind of just up to us as individuals who was willing to speak up or speak against it. But I felt that there was no established group culture of how we're going to share our suggestions to city council, and then also how do we make sure all of our opinions are weighed equally.

So I really think the scoring method, it does feel like we've agreed on a certain set of values, and now it's about translating it into a practical way that we can apply to a range of different projects and issues. And the problem with being on PACs or city council is it's not always black and white. And it's also, if you asked a normal person, they're not going to use fancy values words. They're just going to be like, I have dog. I want to walk my dog off leash.

And then you're going to have other people that are like, I hate dog off leash. And I don't know how to establish who's right and who's wrong if you have the equal community support behind both of those. So another example that I shared here is the model airplane flying and the summer concerts that we have at Fairview Park. Those are extremely popular community uses of Fairview Park, yet they also inherently are counterproductive to our environmental efforts. So how do we fall on these things?

And then I also came up with a third scenario at the end where, say, you had equal support for something like revamping a park in an underserved neighborhood, replacing unsafe equipment in a different park, or fixing up a revenue generating sports complex. Those are all three scenarios I've seen that council has had to choose from in the past. So how do we weigh these is just a tension that I think I want and how do we weigh these very practical, real life scenarios that are happening in our city right now? It's not always going to be as black and white as like, save the birds or not. Yeah, that is my contribution and my perspective.

Thank you.

Thank you. Just a word or two about my contribution. I think it's really important that whatever we create has a balance between the philosophical and the use value, so like the praxis of it. It's really important to me that people have something that they can utilize. And by people, I mean the city council.

But I also think that one of the reasons that I'm here is that I bring a particular viewpoint or lens or set of experiences that does have some ramification for how I think about what it is that I recommend that goes beyond particular case studies. I'm trying to look into the future, into twenty years into the future, practically what those particular case studies are going to be. But I can think about the values that guide me now. So for me, it's really important that we create something that unites both of them. That's not an easy task.