Parks and Recreation Commission - Regular Meeting

Alrighty.

The January 12 meeting for the City of Fullerton Parks and Recreation Commission will now begin, now come to order at 06:30PM. Would the secretary please call roll?

Yes. Yes. I will. Commissioner Freeman?

Here.

Commissioner Talavera?

Here.

And chair Maldonado?

Here.

Thank you.

Alright. I'll lead us in the pledge of allegiance. Do you mind standing? Alright. Are there any department updates from staff this evening?

Yeah. Good evening, chair and commissioners. It's nice to see you. I know we've haven't seen haven't had a meeting in a couple of months. So, in our department update that we have prepared for you today, it will recap events from October, November, and December. And we'll also we've also included stats for the commission.

To turn the screens on for these ones?

We can Oh, I see. Yeah.

Gotcha. Okay. Yeah. Like, we can turn it on.

Okay. As we kinda work through that, I'll get started, and it should pop up on your screens. So, again, sharing with you our department update for kind of wrapping up November, December for the department. We did have a and and I'll kinda segue for Edgar, but we did have our ribbon cutting for Union Pacific Trail. I'll let Edgar kinda give some information on that.

Alright. Yeah. That was a long time coming. So we did open on December 13. The highlights were there's a 176 trees out there. It's point five miles. There's a bike and pedestrian trail. There's also solar lighting. Been out there a few times, and, you know, it's been well used by the community, and I think everybody's pretty happy. Next slide. The Union Pacific Park is actually part of Union Pacific Trail. So this trail you can see there on the slide on the right is a continuation of the Union Pacific Trail. So once we open the park, hopefully, towards the end of this month we had a meeting out there today. I'm not sure if you guys have driven by this park, but if you have, it's such an amazing transformation. They put the turf in.

The pickleball courts that you can see on the left are now complete and up and ready. New backboards have been installed. The trail has been renewed. The playground, we completed a while back. So we're we're pretty much ready. I think the final phase that's gonna happen for us is the community garden. At this point, we are waiting. We got notice from our building department that we will need, ADA accessibility so that the community garden is gonna be delayed a little bit, but every other amenity in the park should be open by the end of the month. And then we'll obviously send you guys an invite once we get that date set. Awesome.

Quick question for that.

Go for

We on budget?

Yeah. Yeah. Good. We got some CDBG funding, so we were able to stay on budget. And Perfect. Same thing with the trail. So this is a quick 2005 status update. Emory Park, we did a playground replacement a while back. Union Pacific Trail, we just opened. Union Pacific Park, we hope to open later this month, and then the Union Pacific Trail will officially connect the transportation center, go through Union Pacific Park, and then end at Independence Park.

And we also have Independence Park Gym is is another project that we're currently working on. Lions Field, the artificial turf replacement is pretty much complete now. I think we're gonna have a grand opening later this month.

Good evening, commissioners. I'll be talking about our parks, trails, and sports fields. Just to give you guys an update, on December 17, we held our sports field user group meeting. We meet, semiannual with our group one users and the school district. A majority of the field conflicts were resolved, and there were no major updates to provide.

Alright. So referencing Lyons Field, this is an aerial that was probably taken about early December. The project is now complete. It's a returfing of four softball fields and a football field. Every single softball field has all the pitching dimensions for softball there.

It's at thirty, thirty five, forty, and forty three. It has all the regulations, foul lines. Something unique that you can notice is that it's a overlay for a soccer football field to maximize the space. Prior to the renovation, it was only a football field. So we added soccer in lieu of our local high schools and universities eager to find an additional space in the morning.

So we're maximizing the use there. And as Edgar shared earlier, this project, we actually completed a final walk through this morning. There's a few little details to finish, and we we're looking at, I believe, the last Saturday in January for a ribbon cutting, and we'll make sure that that information is well distributed. So we're looking forward to this. It's a it's a really nice project.

And just to recap, for the year of 2025, over at the tennis center, we had over 10,000 reservations. We had over 900 class participations or over 4,000 of of private lessons. And then for sports fields, we had over 6,000 reservations for the year of 2025.

Good evening. I'm gonna do a quick recap on all the 2025 events that were pending the last time that we met. So the in October, we had Oktobufest that took place on Thursday, October 30, which included a kids parade. We we actually took it outside of the market area, and we got to visit a lot of local businesses. And they did a lot of trick or treating with the local businesses, which was really cool because they felt very involved in it. We're really excited to be a part of the event. We did some community competitions. We had live entertainment. We brought back the pop up market. So a lot of the food vendors, farmer vendors, and some live entertainment.

And then on November 11, we got to the city got to lead their first, Veterans Day parade and ceremony. So we were able to kick it off with the parade with a lot of our, JROTC groups, school band. Troy's band was amazing, kickoff the parade, and a few of our all star groups, sports groups. And then, of course, our veterans were that participated in a parade. And then followed up by, the ceremony.

So we had a special keynote speaker, and some very, very, big, big attendance for the ceremony portion of the Veterans Day parade and ceremony. Then we followed up by our tree lighting ceremony on Friday, December 5, where we had, our first time ever at the city hall, but, tree lighting ceremony that was led on by the city. So we had a lot of food and, craft vendors, live entertainment by a lot of community groups. We had a card show, photos with Santa, and then we had a actual tree lighting ceremony with, Santa's arrival, supported by the fire department. This year, we also did kick off our first time ever holiday home decorating, contest around the community.

So we were able to open that up on November 18, and then the community was able to submit their, submissions by December 4. And then we were able to market that on our social media and website with the winners. So these are the winners of the home, the holiday home decorating, winners and then the neighborhood winners. And then just recapping the twenty twenty five events, we did have, nine total stand alone events. We had twenty six weeks of the Farmers Markets.

We had five movies in the park. We had five concerts in the park, and then we had four community yard sales. And then just a a really quick of what's coming up in 2026. We do plan on bringing back our community yard sales series. We do plan on bringing a brand new Fullerton Coffee Fest, followed by our our annual extravaganza in March, and then hopefully kicking off the Farmers Market in April.

And then the upcoming event, which is more of, like, a family community event that's gonna be at Fullerton Community Center. It's a family sweetheart dance. That's gonna have a DJ, craft stations, photo ops, refreshments, and food. So this is more of a family event. I know that we're used to having, like, the father daughter dance, mommy and me dances.

So this is just feedback from the community that they wanna do something more family oriented and inclusive. So this is where we're kicking off the family sweetheart dance this year. And then just moving on to recreational programs. We do have camp kill registrations for Camp Hillcrest are now open. So we're gonna be offering, Camp Hillcrest, and then we're also gonna be offering the spring break art camp at Hunt with adventure play play day coming back as well for the year.

And then we do have the Bioneers, which is a contracted class at Fullerton, Community Center. And then just recapping the year for youth programs in 2025, we were able to offer, the father and daughter dance that we mentioned. We had a total of 33 families, which we now wanna convert into more of a family inclusive. And then the Mommy and Me Tea Party had a total of 40 participants registered for the past year. The Peanuts particular that brought in, over 200 participants, then we were able to offer over a thousand contracted classes.

Over 500 of them actually were filled and, were able to, continue on. And then we were able to offer, excursions, which includes Spring Break, Camp Hillcrest. And then we were able to offer over a dozen participants that includes in the camp, which includes the excursions that that's part of the Richmond grant, with the adventure play days with which we had six in twenty twenty five included over 50 participants. And then upcoming, that's open right now for registration on top of the Hillcrest Camp. We have the sports and fitness classes, which is a lot of our contracted classes that are now open for registration, as well as our SoCal Arts dance, a lot of the pickleball for kids, and then yoga for kids at all levels.

So we're just, you know, putting it out there for what's coming up for 2026 and hoping to continue on some more classes. Thank you.

Alrighty. Good evening, commissioners. I'll be going over our older adults. So for the month of January, we're gonna be going through a lot of educational lectures, wellness and social engagement, as well as creative activities. So our educational lectures, they include the programs such as the Grow It Now spring veggies.

Remember this every morning to everyday morning memory tips, travel AFC show presentations. Our wellness and social engagement will include, the laughter yoga, senior drum, circle, and lotaria. And then our creative activities will include the, vision board workshop along with the blooming into the new year floral arrangement as well as our senior crafternoons. Next slide, please. So taking a look over the attendance over the past two months of November and December, we had really, really good attendance.

So for November, we had about 1,200 participants in our ongoing programs as well as a 146 for our educational lectures. Our NOC LEAP had around 850. Our grocery distribution did really well with 1,144. And then finally, senior taxi, did really, really well with, 1,260. Moving to December, a little slightly of a decrease partially because of the holidays, but still really, really successful.

Our ongoing programs had 870 attendance. Educational lectures had a 126. NOC LEAP had 1,078. Grocery distribution did had 1,130 along with our senior taxi program with, 1,249. And then just to recap our older adults, so we had 22 ongoing pro ongoing programs, that just happened continuously. We had a 170 oh, a 107 educational workshops, 13 senior celebrations, one health and wellness fair, 32 grocery distributions along with, two senior socials.

Alright. And now, we actually have a dedicated kind of coordinator out of the hunt in the last couple of months. That's Amy. And if you know Amy, she's very crafty, very artsy, so she's been focusing on the programs at hunt, along with the Roaming Glory coffee cart that's there and the library program. So we actually this was a Saturday morning program, my little and me craft time.

We've moved it over to the Hunt. It's Monday, Wednesdays, Fridays, and they do various activities throughout the week, and there's always a different lesson each week. In addition to that, we do have our try it Fridays. These are led by Amy, if not all of them, most of them. And those are selected Friday evenings.

There's a registration process. They've done candle making, bead making, and the next one is on February 13 for a Valentine's pin tip. And if you haven't attended the hunt, there is a small gallery there. Amy has partnered with the Fullerton Museum and few of their curators and then, interns, I believe. So they're they had an opening, a once upon a sketch.

It is on display through February 19, and they'll also have a Lunar New Year story time on February 17. So, that gallery in partnership with the Library Foundation, Friends of the Library, in our department, Amy leads the the curating, and it's the support system for all that for the gallery there, and she's been working with different organizations. Couple of updates on our arts and cultural division. We have 22 crafternoons for seniors, and those are very popular at the community center mostly. Serves about twenty twenty plus.

We're looking at additional dates. We have we had four special try Fridays at Hunt, and these are the what I share, the fun, do it yourself, and creativity workshops. Amy does lead a discover Fullerton on foot walking tours, and she hosted 11. We had 38 Tuesday morning trail hikes, 25 kits in the crafty and kids camp. So the crafty and kids camp, just to highlight this, it's a, additional, last week in the summer.

We do more of a crafty kids camp versus a normal ten week summer camp. So we added that on, and we're also looking to add that towards, like, your nontraditional spring break camps or off days. And then we have 25 kits in the melodies and magic makers camp. We have four Saturday community drum circles, and those are very, very popular. All the arts foundation in partnership with the city, And, we do have 46 hands on music workshop for seniors, and that's the ukulele classes that are led by our department.

And a couple just oh, yeah.

Go ahead.

Go ahead. So just wanted to highlight a little bit of our Fullerton Community Center and Hunt Library private rentals. Our our rental side does a very, very good job. So just wanna give a shout out to them. In the months of November, December, they did a a great job having many private events, both at at the Fullerton Community Center and at Hunt.

So for attendees, they had about 3,000 for November with about 34 rentals in total with, various weddings, birthdays, baby showers, community events, and then holiday parties as well. The community center actually just got their their lights re redone. So, hopefully, that can attract a lot more, individuals that are looking to rent with with us. So, hopefully, you know, that that's well received. December as well, we had a little bit of decline credited to the holidays, but we still were very successful with about 2,500 attendees, 29, rentals in total with the various weddings, birthdays, and baby showers, as well as community events and a lot of holiday parties as you could see.

So now moving on to our fuller our park pavilion and building rentals. So this was actually very, very, well attended in November. Little bit of a decline in December as you could tell, but, about 1,500, attendees for the pavilions and buildings, as well as 30 rentals in, in November with 11 rentals in December. And then just to recap our rentals for 2025, our Fullerton Community Center had 380 rentals in the year, which had a revenue of 501,000 with $181. Hunt Library had 71 rentals with a revenue of 77,000, and our Downtown Plaza had 53 rentals with a total of nearly 72,000.

And that's everything. Thank

you. Alright.

Do commissioners have any questions for staff?

I'll start with

my left.

Couple questions. One, how was it working with Kaya for the Lions Field renovation? And do you remember what it what what the warranty was on the fields?

Yeah. So, having Kaya as our contractor has been very, very smooth. Granted the project itself is just a full turf replacement. There's no additional, like, buildings, etcetera, but just the communication with their project team, the on-site communication has just been great, with their foreman. In regards to the warranty, we just received the paperwork today. There's a workmanship warranty and a turf warranty, and I can get back to you on those. I don't have the exact numbers off the top of my head.

Okay. Yeah. I just figured I'd ask that how it was working with them because then we had a tight schedule with them.

So Yeah. They they could have actually been done, or January. They could have been done the week of Christmas, but with the rain and then the facility closure, that pushed it back a little bit. The good part is that when it did rain, everything was already, pretty much installed, and the the I think the first, the rubber pellets were installed. So it actually helped to see how well it drained, and it drained really well. So there was no issues there.

That's good. And then one other question for the kids craft camps. What are the hours of of those? And then are you and you're trying to expand it as well?

They're they're half days. So, yeah, so at the Hunt Library, we're really focusing on the art camp, the cultural component. So the camps themselves run kind of in tandem with summer camp. It's Hillcrest camp. The summer ones are a little bit more STEM craft based, and then the crafty the crafty camp is just pure arts and crafts, but it is a half day. Great

job. I'm I'm exhausted just from listening to all the

work you did. So good job, guys. How about you? Do you have any

Nothing on my end.

Do we have a status update on the pickleball conversion for the tennis center? I don't know if that was completed.

Yeah. It it has not been completed. We actually I think there was a lot of projects on between public works and our department, but we actually are looking at the late spring. We we ran into some scheduling challenges with the local high schools and the universities and just being accommodate everybody on kind of the short turnaround. So since spring is a the season for high school tennis,

Mhmm.

We're gonna we've allowed them to finish the season and then work on the conversion, which shouldn't be, you know, more than two weeks at at most. Oh. And we're actually commission, would like to see the nursery to be part of that, the walkway on the nursery.

Mhmm.

So we wanted to make sure that those two, align and schedule. And then the secondary phase would be, I think, there was a suggestion of doing the pickleball noise curtains. Yeah. And we have all the information for that. I think the dollar amount for those, it's by square footage, linear square footage. So it's rather expensive. So we're gonna build the courts, build the nursery, and bring in the the noise blankets as the final step.

That's a follow-up. What what's the the nursery element? Is that the the lighting part?

Or Yeah. So we so it is a walkway connecting ultimately the tennis center into the nursery parking lot as we're using that as an, additional parking for tennis center participants and so forth. Just expecting the boom of pickleball. Yep. So we're what that project will entail, and we actually had a final walk through this morning, but it'll have additional lighting in the parking lot, probably one or two solar lights, and then a walkway that connects from that parking lot. Because right now, it's just, like, brush and plants. It's gonna connect from that parking lot to the already established walkway at the Hope Center, and then that leads into the tennis center.

Perfect.

Yeah. And the lights are already installed.

Oh, great. Yeah. That's great to hear.

And then for the Union well, first off, fantastic work for the Union Pacific Trail. Well attended. Everyone loved it. It was really great walking through and seeing all the hard work. For the Union Pacific Park opening, for the garden, do you know how long the delay might be for, like

We're asking about six to eight weeks just because we need the lead time for the actual fence, and then we also need to create a ADA path of travel

Okay.

From the walkway, from the pedestrian trail to the community garden. So they're working on the design of how that ADA access is gonna go.

Was it where where the community garden is gonna be, is that near the pickleball, or is that gonna be where it was being built, like, actually on the day?

It's gonna be in that same section where it was being built, I would say, the northwest part of the park. So Yeah. Like, maybe right behind where, like, the playground is. And it'll be a significant. I think it's probably, like, a 150 feet wide or so.

Gotcha. Thank you.

Alright. Well, if there are no more questions, then we're gonna move this to, public comment. We will now move to the public comment portion of of the meeting. This time is for members of the public to address the commission for any item of interest to the public that is within the subject matter jurisdiction of the Parks and Recreation Commission other than the items listed on the agenda. If there's anyone here who would like to speak, come forward and state your name and address for the record. Alright. Yeah. Of course.

Hi. My name is Christina Garner, and I'm at 512 West Valley View. I'm also, volunteer for the parks and rec department. I I just wanted to say thanks to these guys. Every one of these events is turning out so great. It's amazing to watch them just being imagined on a piece of paper and then to become these real, memorable things that is just wonderful quality of life for all the families around here. And I there's three things I was thinking about. Number one, I I was at the Veterans Day. I was really glad to see it come back. It had just, like, completely gone, and now it was back.

However, when I was on the parade route, and there was almost nobody sitting on the street for that parade. They had so few people to wave to till they got to the park. So most of my neighbors in Golden Hill didn't know about it, and I'm just hoping that I don't really know how it was being advertised, but, you know, you wanna have everybody sitting there and yay and wave. So I hope that there's more people that can turn out next time. And the tree light thank you for allowing our performing group to we we sang, performed at the tree lighting ceremony.

I appreciate that. We were a little we were, like, totally surprised at where the tree was. We didn't realize which tree was gonna get lit up, and we wanted to suggest maybe the stage be closer to that. We didn't really know. But, again, delightful and and a wonderful opportunity. And the last thing I just wanted to say is, this is my ID for the parks and rec. It expired in September 2024 is what it says here. I tried to get replaced in 2025. The machine that does this wasn't working. I just came in again today and tried to get it done.

The machine still isn't working. So if it's important for us to have current IDs, I just wanna suggest, you know, getting getting that fixed. And that's all from Lake Wobbegong. Thank you very much. I appreciate it.

Thank you.

Alright. There's no one else in the chamber. Is there anyone online?

I have no one online. Okay.

In that case, we're gonna bring it back. We're, I'm gonna close public comments, and then we'll bring it back. Does anybody have anything left that you would like to bring up? If no, then, is there anything we'll now move approve move to approve the consent calendar for the meeting of 10/13/2025. Are there any commissioners that wish to pull an item from the consent calendar? There's no motion. So in that case

A motion to approve? Yeah. Motion to approve.

I'll second that.

Can we motion to approve both? Just all of them? Yeah. I believe that. Done the vote multiple times? Yeah.

It's the whole consent.

Right.

The whole consent calendar. Yep. Yeah. One through nine.

Madam secretary, would you call the roll?

Yes. Commissioner Freeman?

Yes.

Commissioner Talavera?

Yes.

And chair Motonato? Yes.

Alright. Let's see. We'll now move to the regular business portion of the meeting. Is there a staff report for this?

Hi, Jerry. Yes. So for the next item, we actually have a presentation, before our supervisor kinda dives into the special event, the proposed special event calendar for the current, 2026 year. Just wanna say thank you for your support. Last year, this is now the second time we're bringing a kinda calendar of special events for your review and recommendation of council.

A couple of the items that I do wanna highlight, from last year, we did, reduce the number of events. We kinda we, in a sense, combine a couple events to create one larger event because what we found out kinda going through this process is that having an event every single weekend became very, you know, burdensome for staff, especially when we have 26 market dates, and that's or that's half the year. So from April to September, so a couple of just highlights, and and Chewy will go into detail The market we're looking to not necessarily, end it in August. We're looking to do that Labor Day week, the final week, that kinda, instead of going through the September, We just, based on feedback, just being out there, attendance numbers dropped drastically in September. Everybody goes back to school.

And the feedback from the vendors, you know, we go from 40 vendors at the August to 20 vendors in September. So it's it's not feasible. And I think there's other organizations within that area that host their own events. So, a couple items like that in addition, our larger scale events, July 4, first night, they're fully burdened staff cost included in there. So that's something that, I just wanted to share.

And we did adjust for slight inflation on a couple other items, just contractor and vendors that they've already kind of forewarned us that they've given us a good rate for a couple of years. Next year is gonna be a little bit different. And then lastly, just highlighting that the fourth of July event, we're looking to do a larger scale event due to our cancellation of first night because of weather. So I'll let Chuy go through the presentation, and she'll give more details.

Thank you, Krishna. So kicking it off with the first slide is bringing it back our community yard sale. Last year was our first year bringing it on. It was like a one day suggestion. We did not think we were gonna get a lot of people very much, like, attended and interested in in vending and participating, so we did extend it.

Last year, we added three more. So this year, we would like to propose to bring it back and then be more consistent with the dates set from the start so that we can market it better, have banners out. That way for both the vendors and attendees to be well aware and plan it out accordingly to both attend and support our vendors and then, give the opportunities for many members of the community to attend at least one or two or all of the community yard sales for this year. And for this one, it will be remain the same, $25 per space and then $35 for nonresidents. And the proposed budget that we would wanna receive for this is 3,000 so that we can market it really well.

The brand new event that we would like to host this year is a Fullerton Coffee Fest. We are a very big coffee community here in Fullerton and down to Fullerton. There's a lot of amazing coffee shops. Coffee is in. A lot of it really gravitates to a lot of people's attention, and I think it's a really good thing to bring in people to the hunt hunt branch library where we do have Roman glory selling coffee where we do have a big, beautiful facility, and I think it's really gonna gravitate for people to come to a coffee tasting event.

The plans is to have different vendors, coffee coffee barista artists, live art, live music, and really try something new for the community to come out and explore and do something a little bit different from the norm that we normally do. So try to change it up a little bit for this year. And for this, we are proposing an event budget of 5,000. Next up, we are bringing back extravaganza. Last year, we did have a really high attendance.

This is because we did partner up with, Anaheim Feed who hosted our dog village, and that brought in way more crowd on top of the, participants that came for the egg hunts that we were able to offer. We offered the egg hunt inclusive hour as well, so people were really, really, appreciative of that. So we do plan on bringing that back and then incorporating a little bit of the wedding show quinceanera expo to it. So we're gonna call it the expo in addition to it and utilize the inside of the hunt and do a lot of our rental vendors an opportunity to, promote their their services at a really, really high attended event. So this is, proposed for March 28, back at the Hunt Library in the proposed budget of 10,000.

Next, just like Christian was mentioning, no major changes, but the big changes that we do wanna propose is bringing back the Thursday night farmers market. It's been an ongoing, excellent market that's been here for years with live entertainment, farmers, food, crafts, commercial vendors, face painting, a kid's corner area. So the major change would be is eliminating the one week on July 2, which is the week of, fourth of July weekend, and extending it all the way till September 3, just like Christian mentioned. Last year, we did extend it all the way to the September, and we did get a lot of lot of low attend the numbers of attendees did lower. A lot of the the vendors did, I did do a survey.

So a lot of vendors did respond to that how it really didn't benefit their businesses, and they were just there because they did commit to us, and which is amazing just to hear that from our vendors seeing that they were still there to, you know, finish off the season with us. But we did wanna, really, really hear them out and know that the numbers did go down, and we want we would wanna end it with, like, the NFL kickoff again, bringing in the entertainment trailer, and that'd be kinda like the end of the market, celebration. So that's one that we would like to propose. We also are looking into possibly hosting, FIFA World Cup watch parties within the the, market season. So that's something that we don't have numbers for quite yet, but it's something that staff is looking into, to just, you know, gravitate more attendance while the number while we do offer the market from April 2 to September 3.

And the proposed budget, we are requesting one zero five, which is the same as, every other year. This is a postponed event that was supposed to take place on November 22. And due to a rain, that really did, cause a lot of risk factors at the trail, we were able to postpone it to June 6. So this is just a a a new date for the Fullerton, our first ever five k and health and wellness fair. So this is our five k with our the the trail along the Fullerton Sports Complex.

And then we are gonna have, like, additional vendors, DJ, free classes, so incorporating a lot of our contracted classes, instructors to come and do free demos for warm ups and as well as cool downs. And then we are gonna be offering a lot of other a lot of our sponsors that had already submitted partnership with us. So we are really excited to bring him on on a much hopeful sunnier day in June 6. So we are very confident that this will take place on June 6. So we're hoping a better day will really, really turn out to be a really great first time ever five k here in Fullerton.

And this is to take place at the Fullerton Sports Complex. Registrations are still open. We are receiving registrations. We received some starting twenty twenty six last week, so we are excited to hear that we are still receiving registrations and with the budget of 35 k for this event. And just like Christian mentioned earlier, due to our first night cancellation, due to rain, and safety precaution of, cancellation of that event, we do have extra funding to, bring in, and celebrate the holiday the fourth of July celebration, we wanna turn it into a three day festival where we are able to celebrate starting from Friday all the way through Sunday with just much going on.

Instead of doing it all in one day, we're gonna be scattering throughout the weekend. So kicking it off on Friday with our our usual annual car show on Friday. And then Saturday, continue on with our ride attractions, live entertainment, and then our fireworks show on Saturday night. And then continue on on Friday as well. I mean, I'm sorry.

I apologize. On Sunday, ending it with the usual entertainment that we have and our attractions and everything else. But we also do wanna bring on a drone show for Sunday for closing out the three day celebration. And then we also do wanna look into possibly doing a viewing of the FIFA World Cup at this event as well if able to. And for this, we do have the event budget at $3.25 k, for all three days.

Bringing back our Friday night live concert series, so that's gonna be back in August. So it's gonna be all Fridays of the month of August. Again, it's just this one's the very, very popular just because it is a very it sounds very simple, but it's actually really cool that we bring on different bands each week with food trucks. People just really love it. I thought it was an amazing, turnout last year just to see people come in early, find their spots, and and spend a whole day whole evening with their families was just really great to be a part of.

So it's, another one that we would like to return and bring a lot of great bands, and it's, event budget, request of 35 k for this. And then Puptoberfest, last year, we did change it up a little bit more as well, and I hope that we can continue just growing it and growing it. I think that the pet friendly events, are very, very, well accepted here in Fullerton. So we did incorporate, like, a dog, runaway show as long as well as our dog races. So they were very popular along with vendors, live entertainment.

We had a live band, and then we had a lot a kids corner, a lot of food trucks, and kids activities. We wanna try and we did have a beer garden this year, so we wanna try and just, like, expand the number of attendees for this year. So, hopefully, the as we promote our classes and we bring on more to these events, I feel like the attendees will increase hopefully for this year with the event budget at 10 k for this one, and it will take place at the Hunt Branch Library. Spooky Street at PD's Trunk or Treat. So this is a new, but not really.

It's our Oktuberfest. So we normally do Oktuberfest at the Farmers Market, on the October. So we wanted to just come together with the PD since we already are offering a trunk or treat. And the tree lighting ceremony was such a success here at City Hall. We figured it'll be a great way to combine this event along with the PD's trunk or treat so that we can offer the amazing things that we're able to bring on last year to all those people that are, like, usually here early for the trunk or treat and waiting for the PD, so they can participate not just at the trunk or treat, but enjoy the live entertainment, the food, and everything else along.

And so that's our plan for this one. And with it happening on Friday, October 23, so along with the PD's trunk or treat, it's still gonna be a PD led event. So that's why we do wanna make sure that we do market it that it's gonna be with at PD's trunk or treat with their 10 k event budget request. And then bringing back Veterans Day parade and ceremony. So just following up on that one, we we do market.

We did market online, social media, banners. Of course, every time that we plan an event, just like Christian mentioned, it was very challenging for us to go back to back events, trying to, like, finish one up and go on to the next. So I feel that once we have this set to stone, we can really, really raise up our marketing plan for this year and have banners up in advance, have have it laid out on social media, up on our website, all over Fullerton so people are well aware of the events that we are offering. That way, we're not really competing with our own events, and people have time to plan it out and attend. So we really hope that last year's, just like feedback and attendings, by word-of-mouth, people will be aware of what we were able to offer and get a higher amount of, attendance for our parade this year, followed by a ceremony.

So this will also take place at the Hillcrest, Great Lawn, with the event budget of 20 k. And then bringing back the tree lighting ceremony. So we plan to bring it back again. We thought it was very successful this year, and we'd like to continue that and and grow it even more if possible. I think that the number of attendees was really big, and I think that once we get a fill out of the layout and how what worked, what didn't work, we can definitely turn that around and make it even safer or, like, bigger for attendees to enjoy, but it's gonna be pretty much the same.

Not the same layout, but the same idea of having live entertainment, community performers. I thought that was a big important aspect that we included this year was we had a lot of our community performers perform for the community. And we had food vendors, food trucks, our car show. So now we know how we know how during the holiday season, the lighting is very important because we wanna our our holiday lights to pop up, but at the same time, we wanna make it safe. So we we definitely wanna include more lighting for next year.

So we're really excited for this year. I apologize. So this is to take place again on the December, which lands on December 4 with our proposed budget of 25 k. And then ending it with our first night celebration, hoping that this year turn ends with a good weather outcome. So it's proposed for Thursday, December 31 with the same concept of what we have planned this year.

We're very ex this past year, we're very excited because we did switch up the layout a little bit and hoping that we are able to demonstrate that to the community and vendors and everyone who's seen it for so many years and seeing it change up a little bit with our our kids' attractions layout closer to our entertainment stages so parents can enjoy, the live entertainment, food vendors, and food trucks at the same time feel close to the kids' area where they can watch their children and enjoy the event themselves. So we're really excited to bring that layout back for this year. So this one's to take place on Thursday, December 31, at the Downtown Plaza with the 275 k proposed, budget for this one. And that is it.

Wow. Okay. Alright. So we're gonna bring this back to commissioners for any questions you may have. Starting with my left. Do you have do you have any questions?

Oh, go ahead. For the

the new event, the Coffee Fest, What's the and it's fine if you don't fully have it all worked out, but the, like, the coffee and all that stuff, is it is it, like, samples? Do people come and buy coffee? Like, what's what's the plan for that?

So a little bit of everything. So we're gonna have a lot of vendors that sell just, like, their roasted coffee already and wanna market their, you know, bags of coffee. We're gonna have actual coffee vendors selling their coffee. We're still looking into the details of it, but we do wanna work with a lot of the vendors to incorporate a coffee tasting card where they're getting a good deal of tasting all these different vendors in one day, and then we're getting it's coming a lot of the contributions are gonna come back to the city, hopefully. So it's a lot of the tasting opportunity for people to try out and and also to introduce all these, like, local businesses that you might have never been aware of that are here.

I mean, me trying to work through this already, I found, like, three coffee shops that had no idea existed here in Fullerton. So I think that's a really good concept of seeing it, bringing it all to the Hunt library. But mainly, it's different, like, a merch, coffee lover merch, coffee roasted coffee, actual coffee vendors for ice and hot lattes. Yeah. And then just bringing the the vibe mainly for people that really love that type of environment, bringing it to our hump branch library, which is, like, a place where people can come and enjoy coffee and read, do their homework, and all that. I think it's really gonna bring a bring a little bit of everything to our community.

Alright. Are are we helping the the companies, like, subsidize? Are we paying them to come out and give samples, or are they just donating that to different coffee shops?

I'm sorry. Can you

repeat?

Are are the different coffee are we, as the city, like, subsidizing the, like, the free samples or whatever, or are they just donating it?

It's gonna be a little that's that's the part of it that might be a donation back to the city instead of subsidizing since it is a new time event. Mhmm. And we do need the budget for rentals, electricity, electricity, everything else. So it's gonna be hard for us to try to do that. Exactly. So a little bit in meet in the middle, not asking for too much, but at least it's an opportunity for us to offer that chance for vendors to participate in that good deal for the community to also come out and be able to afford this event and not feel like it's like, oh, wait. It's too much for us.

Yeah. No. It sounds sounds like a cool event. One thing I would just add just to consider is and this may be counterintuitive, but a non coffee option

Yeah.

For kids, you know, or, like, you know, families bring their kids out.

Yeah. We already thought about matcha lovers and tea. So yes.

Yeah. Something that Definitely.

Kid friendly as well. Absolutely. But I think it's really good. And then the other question I had was the fourth of July festival part of it. I know we have extra funds from this year, but it is this just a supposed to be a one time thing?

Yes. It's our a 100 and correct me if I'm wrong. I don't know if it's a 100 '20 or 100 and 50 year America's

February?

February. I apologize. February. So many numbers. So many numbers. February and our anniversary. So that's also part of why we're making it in a three day festival to celebrate the two fifty along with utilizing those funds that we have. So it just kinda worked out perfectly to extend it just for a one time.

Okay. Yeah. I was just gonna say, like, that would be a a good thing to make sure we market that so people realize it's a one time thing. Because when you do something great, they want it back every year.

So That's Yep. Good point.

You guys do a lot of good work, so, you know, make make sure it's clear. This is a bicentennial celebration kinda thing. I think that I think that the festival sounds really fun,

and it's cool, especially being the the two hundred and fifty year or

But great job on everything else. That's all the questions I had.

Thank you.

Let me start from the top. Some of my allergies have been acting up with these wins. Wanna commend you all for, the community yard sale. So, again, it was a train of thought with one day, and then now you guys have, four scheduled. So super amazing.

Potentially, opportunities to spread it out throughout the city. Just maybe ideas or, you know, getting feedback from those participating and then, you know, those around, you know, the whole city in a sense. And that might be a theme in what I'm gonna be kind of sharing a little bit right now. But seeing if we can, you know, spread it out a little bit, you know, potentially, I don't know, on the on the East Side or even up north on the North Side Of Fullerton that potentially could, you know, host something similar like this. Staff time, not very in in involved.

Or So for the I just wanna be cautious with that too with

with Yeah. No. For the for the community yard sale, to your point, when we when we identify an event and it's the location is the first kind of rule of order, and it number one for the yard sale is spacing and then parking, additional parking. So and we this last year, we were really working on activating Independence Park, and it ultimately worked that we had the Throne Restroom and then the additional, space there, the parking lot. But in regards to staff time, it's already included within, like, their allocated funding for the budgeted hours, for those events, and it's minimal staff, I think, if it's not the supervisor or coordinator and, like, two part timers.

Okay.

Because ultimately, it's coordinating the traffic in and out. And after once the event starts, there's there's no staff involvement per se. Yeah. Yeah. Perfect. Checking checking in.

No. Awesome. Great to hear that we learned a little bit from, Thursday night or the, yeah, the Thursday night farmers market, with the the football truck. Sports brings people out, I think. Right?

And and it's really sometimes it kind of gets to me maybe more large large cities, you know, that kind of can rally the community to come out and support local teams or, you know, national teams, whatever is kinda happening. So I like the FIFA World Cup. Again, potential for it to be kind of included in something like this. I have been in communication with other communities in South Fullerton as well too that potentially wanted to host something like this. So, again, maybe thinking about other areas and other places to potentially host something that brings people out.

I think it's just a a great a great opportunity for that. So nothing specifically about the farmers market, and I but I think but the FIFA component to that. So kinda really thinking about I mean, I love piggybacking on on on something that's already happening, but if we could just be intentional to kind of, like, share a little bit of that building community and and cohesiveness in other parts of the city as well too because I think sometimes it's a little bit challenging for people to, you know, even just get physically to the the plaza, but I know it's right kind of that that central hub. So amazing on that. Looking forward to the five k.

I think my wife and and kids had signed up for that. I was trying to skip out on it, but so amazing to see. I mean, I'm I'm I'm really excited to kinda see that day kinda come I was looking forward to it in November as well too. Friday night, concerts at the park. Again, I love the idea. I know was it the first year that we had it kind of also in different places? Again, it's a theme of of my just my suggestions. Right? And hoping to kinda see, I know we had a Independence Park. We had it at Hunt.

Yeah. Yeah. And Chapman. Right? So maybe, like, just seeing that opportunity just to bring people out. I know it's a little bit more walkable than it is, over at the sports complex. I know people would have to drive and, yeah, it has sufficient parking. But I think, you know, when you go into some of those neighborhoods, you don't expect, you know, for people to be driving there. But, again, just the turnouts on that. So maybe kind of think about potentially utilizing other areas and other places of of the city when it comes to to that.

Because I know I think it was the first year that it was really successful that you guys all did that. Again, Pup Puptoberkfest brings the trust me. Dog lovers won't do anything to come show off their dogs, so I love I love this element also. And I guess and it fits perfectly right that the hunt's right there and the and the dog park is also there. So, yeah, I think for me, it's just more kind of seeing where other where we can activate some other areas of of the city when kind of thinking about, I think, primarily those those three.

And then, again, talking with some maybe some of our other community partners and organizations that are, you know, doing some, you know, community building or they're trying to bring the community to come out as well too to activate some spaces is utilizing and leveraging kind of what we're already doing, right, if it's already kinda allocated, where we can do some of those that activation in other parts of of the city. You know? I think, like, Valencia Park, Woodcrest, and then even over at Chapman Park as well too. So kind of, you know, again, it might not have to be so large scale, but, I think I think it's just great to kind of provide that opportunity so people don't have to you know, even from the East Side to drive up to the sports complex, you know, it's it's gonna take some time and effort, right, some planning. But if they can just walk and, you know, come out their door and walk a few blocks to Chapman Park, you know, that'd be great as well too.

So, yeah, just keeping that in mind. Thank you, guys.

Alright. For the Flourishing Coffee Fest, well, I I did wanna say I noticed a lot of, pop ups happening at the hunt, like coffee pop ups. Have has there has do you guys know if they had a good attendance as well, the the individual pop ups that have been happening?

So we've consistent now it's been probably about four months, the roaming glory coffee cart

Mhmm.

After the market, number one to activate the hunt. And I believe they started a little bit slow, but now that they've been there consistent Tuesday through Thursday, I think ten to one. They've got some good foot traffic definitely from our department. They like they stopped by. So what they're definitely having to sell every day. But, ultimately, I've if I'm not mistaken, I think last week, they had some good feedback and some good foot traffic there.

Okay. Yeah. I mean, I I think it's a fantastic idea. I do agree. Agree. Fullerton is very much of a coffee city. We have so many different options of whether if you want matcha or tea or coffee or whatever. We it's pretty insane here. So I think it's a fantastic idea. I do wanna reiterate, though, FIFA World Cup importance.

I a few community members did approach me to make sure that I reiterate that if we can do something to kind of get the community together to at least have one big screen and we can all have, like, some type of shared community event around I really don't know anything about soccer, so I'm gonna say the match, the games. I don't know. Whatever whoever dies or anyways. So that's cool. I I would I would really recommend that. And then some other questions I had. It was it's like a whole seven month wait for the whole five k. Was there a reason for the for such a large gap in the seven months?

Yeah. It was a lot of, one, seeing the availability of our contractor, which is our, timing company. So based on their availability for them to work with us with the same contract and offerings and then the date, meaning finding a date that would within the that's gonna be pretty sunny and reliable. Yes. Correct.

Okay. I would say just because June is gonna be so hot, as long as we have, like, water on every session, that would be fantastic. Okay. So that one, that one. And then for the lighting, the tree lighting, it was a fantastic event. I loved it when I came this year. My dog even enjoyed it. I thought she hated it, but she didn't wanna leave, so that was surprising to me. What I did notice is that people were flocking to the Grinch more than Santa. So just more, I guess, more Grinch related, opportunities to take photos with him, I would say. That's some of the comments that I got from children, which is that

We did not expect that.

I know. It's so wild, but they loved it.

I think

they thought it was Jim Carrey or whatever. It was really cool. Okay. Well, if there's no comments and oh, yep.

Sorry. I'm just gonna piggyback on the FIFA stuff, the the the watch parties. What's the idea for that to bring in, like, a large LED screen? Because it's not always gonna be night. You can't, like, just necessarily project it.

Yeah. So we're we've actually started having conversations with our economic development team, there's there's a lot of hurdles to become an official. So Yeah. Ultimately, you can become an official FIFA watch party event per se, but you need licensing. And that license, to my understanding, just based on the feedback and the, like, just preliminary conversations, it's either raffle or there's a high price tag on that.

So we're exploring all of our options. I believe our economic development team has had several conversations with different folks just to see what's best approach because if there's a price tag and then we're helping on the logistics side and exploring what locations. Ideally, what makes most sense, and I know it's more central, but it's like the plaza because it's already a built in stage, already built in, space that we can activate, bring in a screen, and then ultimately kind of seating. And if there are cells of refreshments, alcohol, etcetera, we can contain it there. Moving it around to different locations may minimize the space that we have.

But first and foremost, we're exploring what that licensing looks like, that fee, because you can have an official one or you can have, like, hey. The TV's on. The game's on. Come watch it. Right? So

It was my next question. Was, like, if if you're if the license is unaffordable, like, is you can't we wouldn't rent a large screen and have it just be on in the background because that would

Well, if you theory. And and so, yeah, FIFA would like for you to have the licensing. Are there gonna be other events that may not be an official watch party? There's a lot of rules to it, the terminologies, etcetera. Is there gonna be a FIFA official on-site? You know, I've never attended one, so I I don't know. But I know a lot of our local bars and the restaurants in the area do host, like, watch events. So our goal was to try to activate the space so then they can kinda spill it into those restaurants after the game matches and so forth. But we're we're still in, like, the literally, the preliminary stages. We're having those conversations.

If we can incorporate it to one of our events, that'd be awesome. I think, in talking with our economic development manager, there's actually a benefit because all of our games will be in the evenings during the week where because it's local, it's evening games, 6PM, 8PM games versus it being, like, on European soil where now you're watching a 10AM match or 8AM match. So there are some benefits that we can kind of explore and piggyback off. And if there's a if there's a way where we can rotate it to different sites and partner with different groups, absolutely. It's just that licensing to make it an official watch party. It's gonna be kind of the challenge.

It's expensive, for sure.

Yeah. We we don't know the price tag, but I've been told it's expensive. Yeah.

Yeah. All those licensing things are ridiculously expensive. Like, thousands and thousands of dollars, typically, depending on how many

people you're gonna have come up. Potentially, hundreds. Yeah. Alright. If there is nothing else, then we're gonna invite the public that wishes to address commission on this item. Yeah. If you wanna come up. I don't wanna force you, but if you want to. On the calendar.

Okay. I just have two thoughts. First off, I just wanted to piggyback on commissioner Talavera's request to have things staged at different parts of town, like the the concerts that we had. And a specific observation I had from those was that I saw a lot more families that have a disabled family member come to those events that were in the in the neighborhoods than I usually see at events around town. I I I thought at on on if they had an older person, an older family member, or a disabled family member, I was much more likely to see them out as a family outside enjoying those events.

So it's I really would like to see that happen. That's a great idea. And, recent travels in, Scandinavia, for example, have seen how the World Cup is always big screens outside, everybody there. You may not know that they Sweden has very generous paternity leave for men, and they tend to take it during the World Cup. They call them because they all have a a coffee, and they're all out there with the screen, and the baby watching it.

So it's a it's a lifestyle, and we could we could piggyback on that. But but, yeah, money. So if you could but I'm sure that a lot of people would really appreciate the chance to do that. And so much creativity and good ideas, and I I appreciate it. Thank you.

Thank you. Alright. Is there anybody online?

I have no one.

Nope. Okay. In that case, I don't believe there's any action needed for this, so we're just gonna move on to the next item, which is the Independence Park, update.

Chair, sorry. There is a recommendation.

Yes.

To recommend it to

Okay. Yeah. Is there a motion to recommend it to council?

Yeah. I'll motion to motion to recommend that special event calendar has stated to council.

Okay. I'll second.

Madam secretary, would you call roll?

I will. Commissioner Freeman? Yes. Commissioners Dada Vera?

Yes.

And chair Maldonado? Yes. Motion has proof passed.

Alrighty. Alright. Now we're gonna go to, the Independence Park update. Is there a staff report for that one?

Yeah. We actually have also have a presentation. Edgar is gonna start us off, as you know, Independence Park with now the trail opening and UP Park. It is kind of that final piece to our puzzle to connecting all three areas of South Fullerton. Independence Park, which you'll see in the report, has made significant progress, and we're looking to share that information with the commission and also share, some additional information for some recommendations as we move into what we call we'll say there's a three phased approach, phase one being the gymnasium, phase two being the park site, and phase three being, what we're potentially proposing in the as the pickleball area in the north side of the park.

So I'll let, Edgar kinda get us started, and we're we'll answer any questions at the end.

Alright, Susie. Next slide, please. Alright. So Independence Park is a 10 acre community park that we're really hoping to activate this year. It currently has FAST, which is the aquatic which runs the aquatic facility there, the skate park, the hand wall courts, the outdoor exercise equipment, and open space.

The gymnasium has been closed since COVID, and the playground was deemed unsafe. So it was actually demoed a while back. So we're hoping to bring both of those amenities back in the near future. Our original design had a street element for the skate park, so renovating it, a large and small dog area, shade structures, picnic pavilion, a playground that's accessible to all, and then obviously open green space. Currently, we do not have funding to complete that project, but that is, as Christian mentioned, we that is our long term goal is to is to get all these amenities going and really program this park.

So as a result, since we have limited funding, we're scaling back the project. So this is an overview. In 2023, we applied for a $7,000,000 earmark, and then we were very excited at this point because $2,700,000 earmark was recommended for approval, so we were looking pretty good. 2024, all earmarks were placed on hold and then subsequently reduced all the way to $250,000. So those funds are still in progress.

We're waiting federal approval for those. And now we'll go on to what we actually do have. We city council allocated $2,000,000 from park dwelling funds for this CIP project at Independence Park, pending completion of the hub project, which has been subsequently completed. In 2024, we got two grants, one from the state for a million dollars specifically for Independence Gym and another for a $100,000 from the county, towards, any improvements that we wanted. We're using it for the throw in restrooms.

The restrooms at that park are currently not serviceable. So in the meantime, we we rented one of those throw in restrooms, and it's been a hit out there. It's been very well received. In 2025, the hub was completed, so now we do have those $2,000,000. So we're really trying to stretch it.

Basically, what we have is the $2,000,000 from Park Dwelling and the million dollars from the state. So we have $3,000,000, and we're hoping to do the Indy gym rehab and also add a playground at the park with those funds. The first phase is the Independence Gym rehab. That's looking like it's gonna cost somewhere in the neighborhood of $2,000,000, and we'll have updates for that in the in the coming months for you guys. But that project is moving forward. It's in the design phase right now, and we're finalizing the design and getting all the bid documents ready. So that project should be going out to bid in the next couple months. And then once that project is going well, obviously, I have updates for you guys.

So we'll kinda go through the what's currently happening inside the gym. As Edgar shared, their the projects have started. We've met with our public works team. And overall, we're in the design phase, but there was abatement and demolition. At your top, the top picture there is what used to be the kitchen area.

There used to be, like, a two entry door and a kitchen. The only thing standing is a three compartment sink that allows us to host events. And with the farmer's market on Wednesday mornings, this can be a kitchen. And in addition to that, that room is large enough that we're contemplating adding some restrooms, an ADA restroom there. And the scope of the work, like I shared, there's gonna be new basketball courts and floors throughout the entire building, a renovated front desk area, and a multipurpose room, the renovated restrooms, and new ADA compliant restroom.

The renovated restrooms right now, there's two sets of restrooms. The building is very important for us to be able to program the park because one set of the restrooms facing the park will, give us that flexibility to then open them for park users. And then that would no. We will no longer utilize the Throne restroom. So that's kind of our priority, then leading to kind of the park phase.

So this is a proposed project. There's two slides. The first one shows you their gym renovations, of course, then we're looking at doing kind of our first all inclusive universal universally accessible play area in the city. And in the Back North parking lot there is a potential for pickleball courts. I believe kinda measuring out there's about five or six that can fit there.

And again, the ADA playground, that's kind of the the option one. Option two is kind of the same, but doing a kind of a long, I guess, horizontal play area, that'll still make it universal and leaving more open grass area. This this is some examples of a kinda universally accessible playgrounds. It's, locally, Fountain Valley recently opened one, and there's some some other cities kind of in Northern California. But, ultimately, it's everybody with all.

It's inclusive. Anybody can play. And then some alternative options. As Edgar mentioned, there is limited funding. We have $3,000,000.

We need to stretch that, and all the federal money, will come with, additional requirements. We have been approached by public private partnership requests where, you know, they utilize our space for a private entity, but it's also open to the public, and they, they have they pay all the upfront cost, in addition to that, and the city would benefit with additional revenue and access to that space. But we are looking, for feedback from the commission on the recommendation for Independence Park as we move forward through these phases. And we're we can answer any questions.

You wanna start? Okay.

Where do I start? Funding. I think I think let's start there. I mean, it was kind of in the beginning of the slides. You shared the $7,000,000 earmarked and then the 2.7. Yeah. So we Earmarked?

We requested 7,000,000, and then they approved 2.75.

Okay. So they approved Tentatively. The But then Tentatively. Yeah.

But then we we changed presidents, and then everything was put on hold. And now it's currently 250,000 still pending federal approval.

Okay. So the $2.07 the 2.75 went away. Yeah. And then so they said you're gonna get 250. 250 from there. Okay. Alright.

Unfortunately, not not significant as it once looked.

Yeah.

So we we foresee that the playground's gonna take a lot of those funds. So we're kinda budgeting in all the money we have for this project about $3,000,000.

Okay.

So that's what we have that we're even projecting for this park. Mhmm. Though that's where the feedback on the commission of allocating those 3,000,000 with the projects that we have kind of in place or, you know, being open to the conversations of some public private partnerships that we'll be able to allocate additional resources and funding to that park.

Yeah. No. Definitely. So I think my next question is we started going into some proposed options for the park. So what happened to all the feedback and information that we got from the community prior to? So I I I just

Yeah. So the initial Yeah. Yeah. The initial kind of Independence Park master plan, I believe that you're referring to in the a lot of the items on that, and then it was shared on the first slide. Those wish list items, we just don't have the funding to accommodate all those.

But some of the feedback that we got out of that is a playground and kind of like a picnic shelter and restrooms. Like, that was if if I'm not mistaken, those were kind of the priorities of space where people can come. So in whichever kind of route that we decide to go on is those are the elements that we are you know, that we will include in whichever however this project ends. It would be a playground and space for families to gather in restrooms. Like, that will be included.

Okay.

So and that's why we're including and there was also the element of adult activities. Right? More for adults than kids. That's why in this case, we're we're proposing the pickleball courts. And then with the gymnasium being active, then that also Opened request. For Yeah.

Yeah. So I think my hesitation on kind of moving forward in a sense. And I think, like you mentioned, the restrooms already getting done. I think that's that's one of the key elements. Right?

Like, for just for anything in the future. Right? So I think that's fine, but I think my, like, my hesitation in moving forward with with anything even, like, ADA, like, the playground or anything like that is is, like, the perception that that this project's gonna have based on the conversations that we had with the community in the past with that master plan. Right? So, like, even if you tell them, hey.

We have no money for this, they're gonna be like, well, you came and you asked us, and then we gave you our information. And then and then this is happening. So just a perception, I guess, in the sense. And I think that's that's why I I'm I'm a little hesitant to kind of even continue moving forward to potentially see if we can find other other ways to to have funds, right, or to other funds that we can try to get. Right? Whether it's, I mean, grants, you know, public private partnerships, you know, which sometimes could work really, really well. But I think for me, it's more the perception that it's gonna have on the community. It's like, hey. We shared that we wanted this. Right?

And then, you know, because they had, you know, to choose some of the elements. And then you're like, no. We're scrapping that because we have no money in it, but we we're gonna move forward with with something like this. So I I think that's that's where I'm, like, a little hesitant. You know, even though, like, we know the playground would happen and things like that. But I think, again, you know, we're trying to build trust with the community, and I think, you know, letting them know, you know, because, you know

I I think that's where it's on us to make sure we're communicating well Yeah. And make sure that we're letting the community know that although we can't do everything, we can do some of the stuff that

Yeah. Some of it. And I and I think it's just going back to them and and letting them know, like, hey. This is this is what the potential is. So I think now moving to the alternative options, right, of, you know, generating funds, then I think that's then I think that that's what we can continue having a discussion with the with the community on, hey. This is you know, we're kinda having to hit the reset button. Right? Now let's talk about what potentially we we can have. Even though here, we're them some options already, which, you know, we're not sure, like, is this what you guys want? Making sense a little bit.

Yeah. No. I we're definitely working on communicating. What we don't I think something to be considerate and I I share with the commission is that we do have plans to move forward on the project. There's allocated funding at this moment for the project, and we have some good momentum within the gymnasium, the ribbon cutting, or the or sorry, the trail, and then the park.

Like, we we wouldn't wanna stop that. Long term project, we do have the master plan citywide that we, are working on actively working on to release that, and then that will give us a better overview to, as I shared at the last, I think, the October meeting when we brought that forward to gain those grants. And but it's for the commission to provide the feedback. And, you know, we can include that to our reported council and as they decide, kinda based on the feedback and the information that you're sharing.

Yeah. I'm good. I

just on the the feedback part of it, I just it's a simple multi phased approach. Right? You know, you have your master plan. You have all these things. These are what we can do now in the future. We're gonna be doing these extra phases. I think in my experience, that's the best way to kinda communicate it. People understand it. You know, when you're doing home renovations, you can't do your whole house at once, typically. You gotta do it in kinda multi phases, and and that's where we're at. We had some money, and now we don't. You know, it went from it would have been, like, roughly five with our funds and then the the federal government funds, and now it's just what we have aside from 250,000, which is half of that playground maybe.

And we still don't have that eve even so we're still waiting on the $2.50.

So Yeah. You've just been promised that you don't have it yet. Right?

And and as Christian mentioned, that $2.50 comes with a lot of strings.

Yeah. Federal federal grants are a lot of extra work, and, like, you you almost have to hire an extra consultant just to make sure you're in compliance with federal grants.

And there's also an sorry, commissioner Freeman. So when we do the we've had conversations with Public Works, and this park is so old. It's not up to date with, like, our ADA standards or just our building codes. So something that I wanted to share if do the pickleball courts kind of in the north end or anything there, there has to be a fire access lane that would lead into the racquetball courts because the racquetball courts are still part of the park. But now we're upgrading the park, so there does have to be a fire a fire access. So that's also another element that that's why we're trying to keep it as phase three and not, you know, as that's an additional that will come with if we do the pickleball courts in the back.

Pickleball courts is something I was actually gonna bring up. Just the noise mitigation. I was just looking it up on Google Maps. It is 100 feet from the people's backyards. I've I've heard of a handful of cities getting sued for being that close because of the noise.

It's it's something I would I wouldn't recommend putting pickleball courts there on the park or maybe further away on the other side. I know that's that's a lot, but, like, I mean, six to eight pickleball courts is gonna cost you a million to a million 2 right now in today's market. And so that might be that's phase five maybe. But I I wouldn't well, personally, I would recommend not putting pickleball courts in that corner simply because of the residents that they're literally on the picture, you can't see it, but on the edge of that, that's the backyard of a house. And as a resident, would hate to hear that all the time, especially with how popular it is.

You know? And cities are getting sued because they jumped on it too quick, and they're they're the neighborhoods are suing their cities because it's ruining their quality of life because that that dink sound is is loud. You know? But I think the the ADA player is awesome. I think every city needs to have one marquee park like that at least to really be very all inclusive. So if if that could be achieved in addition to the gym renovation, all that stuff, I'm I would fully support that aspect of it. And that's it. That's all I had was was just the pickleball courts. I think everything else look looks great in my opinion.

Yeah. I'm I'm I'm kind of in in the same boat. Like, I think the the 80 playground, I think, is is a huge benefit. I think I was just a little weary with the the pickleball courts as well too just because it wasn't part of, like, anything of what was kinda shared at the community meetings prior to, you know, like, two years ago, probably almost three. Oh my god.

They all bunch up. So but yeah. I I think that that's that's the only reason why I was just, like like, that's kind of, like, slow down if it's not part of the element just to, you know, kinda hear the community out. But inevitable, like, the the playground, I think, can move forward, but I think just the other elements of the park, let's kinda wait and see. Is there is there has there been discussions with the public private partnerships?

Nothing concrete.

I think

we've been approached by the idea, but it's we haven't fully considered them until we brought it up to commission. And if that's something that the commission would like us to pursue and share with council, we're more than open to it and see kind of where that falls.

Yeah. I'm I'm I'm I'm open to public private partnerships because I think there's an element there's an element of of kind of working in collaboration. And I think there's a lot of lot of opportunities that kind of benefits the con the community as well too, because they typically get to know the community. And then usually, right, having those partnerships, they're kind of embedded into the community as well too. So they're they're also they're also in it for, for other reasons as well too.

But at at the same time, like, it's not like a program that's gonna be we're piloting for six months and, you know, it disappears. And, you know, it's like, oh, there's no grant funding for that or, you know, that that revenue stream is not coming in anymore. So I guess it would just depend on kinda what it is, but making sure, you know, it's the right, partnership that we're creating with someone that's gonna be invested in the community as well too. So definitely open to that, you know, just making sure kinda what elements, and what that looks like, but definitely, you know, bringing that up to to council. I mean, I think, again, finding the funding is typically the hard part.

And but if there is that opportunity, then, yeah, let's let's let's just swirl all all aspects, you know, but still other, you know, federal, state, whatever, dollars that we can bring into to independence now that, you know, we're kinda hitting the reset button. Yeah.

I would I would say, I I agree mostly. It's just, like, the person that reduced the funding from 2,000,000 to 250,000 is is still gonna be here for the next few years. So it's not like the funding is gonna appear next year or the year before or the year after. So I am in I am interested in the public private partnership, but as long as, like, what you said about the perception of what people have asked for is still honored. It depends on what the private whoever's interested in providing that private kind of funding, what is the ask?

Like, if it's like a whole field all just for soccer, you know, I don't know if that accomplishes everything that's no. I know we're not gonna get everything, but I don't know if that accomplishes what people in in those community meetings are specifically asking for. And we would just be say we would be forsaking funding just to get something built even though the public wouldn't primarily want what's being built. So I just I'd be interested into it, into hearing more about it or, I guess, into that avenue, but just what is being actively discussed, I guess, if that makes sense.

Sure, Maldonado, if I may, I can give you an example. Clark Park has a private public, partnership. There's a contract, and within that contract, there's some revenue sharing, if I'm not mistaken, but also community guidelines to allow the the youth the youth sports groups, or any community type of clinics for free or low cost. In our experience and what we've kind of just ideas that have been shared with us, and and like I said, nothing no official proposals or anything like that, but there's there's, like, those soccer complexes where, they build six to eight little small six sided, five sided courts. And there's that revenue, where they pay they they build them, for x number of years, and they kinda have a a hold on that space.

And us as the landowners, you know, agree to that, there's some revenue splitting and plus, access for the community. So we can definitely explore that, see what options there are, and, and if that's part of kind of the recommendation, we'll before we bring this forward to council, we'll include those.

When was your kind of timeline to go to council? Did you have one in kind of in mind yet or no?

I think we were gonna gather the feedback, I believe, kinda closer to the second week in Feb second second or the first week in Mar. February or second meeting in February.

Yeah. First meeting.

Early March. Yeah. Yeah. To kinda because we are working we're actively working on, like, the gymnasium side of the plans, because that's important for us, again, for the restrooms. And I think the park side will coincide with if the gym is activated, I think we'll see what that flow looks like too with Yeah. The public.

I think kinda what they've all mentioned already is if we have feedback from the community taking that data that you already have is going to, you know, hit a little bit better with with council. So you're taking that and use using that to your advantage to to get the things that we can afford now and, you know, getting the things in that that the residents have asked for. And then, you know, the extra things can come in in the second phases and some of that because, like we said, you're not gonna be able to do it all with the funds. So

yeah, we'll explore the details. Like I said, like, the soccer complex. There's also, like, public private partnerships to utilize the gymnasium for sports. I know that's those are private, but for example, there's, like, the gymnasiums that do volleyball, basketball, and now there's indoor pickleball, which are all kind of ideas that have been, you know, like I shared all those ideas presented. So we'll explore those specifically and, share those with council if that's the recommendation.

And and and I think I think it it would probably be more geared towards the gymnasium. Wouldn't it be, like, the partnership?

There there can be the gymnasium. It can be the field space. We have an open field space, or, like, those like I said, those soccer soccer five a side type of fields.

Okay.

There's of course, for as a private investor, there has to be a return of investment. So those are all part of the conversations to what actually fits in that park. But what I can tell you is that we have the parking for any of the endeavors we pursue. So, we're looking yeah. We'll we'll include all the details as we presented council if that's as

The gymnasium is part of what phase?

That's first phase. Yeah. Still first phase? Yeah. So we're we're looking to activate the gymnasium and definitely the restrooms. Oh, here

it is. Yeah.

Okay. Sorry. I would just add when eyes were Yeah. I know you may already mentioned this, for the the small soccer fields, but to make sure that whatever if we do go into any private partnerships, that we make sure that that there's language included to serve the community, like like, you know, making sure the pricing doesn't get too high. There's open open time, you know, because we don't wanna build this really nice facility, and then none of the community can use it unless you're paying to be part of this program or league or whatever it is.

We wanna make sure that there's some control for you guys to be able to utilize that space and the community, especially the surrounding neighborhood to be able to utilize this to make sure that's in any private public partnership to make sure we have that kind of language built in to safeguard ourselves. So, I mean, businesses are in for an investment. Right? So they're gonna use every inch and dollar they can out of it. So we have to kinda protect it a little bit in that respect for those partnerships.

Yeah. We'll include that.

Accessibility for the community to even, like, participate in what's in what's happening there. So yeah. Yeah. I guess I I didn't see the the different phases on the slides. I thought I I thought I did, but I guess that's why I was just trying to make sure.

Yeah. No. I believe I shared it verbally, but the gymnasium's phase one, The playground would be, like, the grass area playground be phase two. And then what we proposed as phase three was the back The back parking lot.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Okay. Yeah. I think gymnasium and and restroom for sure. You know? And then I think ultimately, the the playground, I think still with the the green space, I think I still wouldn't feel comfortable yet just because we wouldn't know, like, what other additional funds we can bring in.

And I guess that would be part of the discussion of even a private public partnership to see what what would that generate and then what what would that look like in order to move forward to design something, whether it's in that field space or even up top by by, like, the North Side, you know, skate park area. Because I know they were still looking for, like, a kid friendly skate park also, you know, and then, you know, the dog park, you know, was potentially gonna be there as well too. So kind of some of that element to making sure that that's still kinda still stays to what the community was sharing.

Yeah. We'll we'll explore all long term potentials, find funding as well. I know there's, prop four grants

Yeah.

That we can explore. And I think just having the, master plan will it was kind of a a head start on that. So we're working towards all those.

And and I think even with you you kinda mentioned something long term. The word saying long term, even with the public private partnership, having something more long term so that they're just not in it to make a quick buck and then, you know, leave, making sure that they really wanna, you know, be there for a while. So and we're not left with whatever they may be leaving behind that you know, just we're like, what do we do with this now? Yeah. Appreciate it, though. Thank you.

Alrighty. Do we have to make a motion on this one, or is this just a recommendation? Or

It it's a receiving file. We've made notes on the recommend the recommended feedback that you've given us. So we'll incorporate that, and, we'll forward it to city council to seek formal direction on the next kind of phase of design and construction.

Okay. Well, I do wanna give a chance for any public comments, if there is one out there. Is there anyone online or no? Okay. Then yeah. Okay. Then we'll just receive and file that one. In that case, we're bringing it to the final section. Are there any matters from Commissioners are limited to no more than five minutes.

Just kinda briefly first off, great job, everybody. You guys have done a fabulous job in 2025, and I'm tired already from 2026. You got a lot of work to do, especially Chewy. Got it all approved now, so get to work. But, no, I think it's gonna be great. You guys have a lot of events coming up. I think the the the improvements you guys are doing on the parks, you're trying to be very conscious about with the community and make good conscious moves and utilizing what funds you do have and and using the facilities that can kinda give you the most bang for your buck. And I I see that. I recognize that. And so, like, you know, you gotta do what you

can do with with the

with what you've been given. I think you guys are doing a great job with it. The only thing I wanted to kinda bring up here, and I don't know and hopefully, this is the appropriate time was potentially moving the time of the meeting. I know we kinda briefly talked about it, was to just bring it earlier by thirty minutes if that's feasible for for you guys. It gets them home a little bit earlier, gets us home a little earlier. I mean, council meets at 05:30. I think that's too early for us. I couldn't get here in that time. But 06:00, I think, would be if we're allowed to do that based off kind of our conversations earlier to move it to six, I'd I'd like to motion for that.

I'd though, I'd have to double check. I'm looking at our secretary, but I can provide and see if it's there's a formal we're still early on in the year. If there's a formal motion that we need to do, we can bring it forward. Yeah. But I will double check, and we'll get you that answer.

Okay. Would it be appropriate to have, like, a contingent motion now to say we motion it? And if you find out that's fine, it worked?

I we can do that.

Okay. I'm I'm being told we can do that.

Yeah. I'm I'm I'm okay with moving it up to six.

Okay. Yeah.

So if that's a second, then Yeah. You call wrong.

Okay.

For future potential future like, if we need to add it to the agenda, like, we're just

Yeah. I right now we're gonna do the actual motion.

Right? Yeah. We're gonna do the motion contingent on it being allowed.

So if Shneur Freeman made the motion Yeah.

Yeah. I'll second your second. Second

his motion. Find out that we need to actually have it agendized, then we'll bring it back again.

Perfect.

Hold on. Second.

Yep.

Hold on. Let me see. Okay. So, yeah, we're we can't vote because it wasn't, agenda sized. So

We'll bring we'll bring it back.

It back.

We'll bring it back in February, and then Yeah. And we can add it to March.

As a Yeah. As a an agenda item. Yes. We can add it to the agenda. I guess that's the request. Yeah. Will do.

Alright. Sounds good.

Did you

have anything?

Anything? No.

Pretty good. I just have three things. One is if we can get an update, I am assuming it's almost close, but of the park's master plan. I know you said that it's being built or that it's in the process of it. If we can have, like, an end date or a kinda just a summary of what's going on.

Another one is the urban forest master plan. I know that was, like, in conversation a few years ago. I don't know if there's ever been an update or an actual building of the urban foreign urban forest master plan. But if we can just have, like, a kind of an update on that one as well for the next commission meeting. And then, also, I was wondering about the conversation of putting, like, bike not bike locks.

Right. Bike racks. Thank you. Bike racks on at the entrances of some of our popular trails. I've talked to some bike bikers, I guess, And, some of them have said that, like, they park their bikes at the or a lot of the times when they're, like, let's say before their meeting, they'll lock their bikes at the front of the trail.

I thought it was just an idea of kind of getting a cost analysis of what that would be to put any kind of a bike rack at, like, Juanita Cook Trail or any others on any of our more popular ones. Yeah. If it's just those three, then let's see. I will put this close this out in one second. Let me just find my notes. Okay. If there are no more items, this meeting is adjourned at 08:12.

Thank you.