Parks, Recreation & Open Space Commission - Regular Meeting

This is available on the, sorry.

It will be available, yes. Okay, we'll hand it over to Colin who's joining online.

Should we save all questions for the end or should we? Yeah. Okay, okay.

Hello, can everyone hear me? Yes. Hi, once again, my name is Colin and I am a second year going to the University of California, Santa Cruz. I study biotechnology and environmental studies. And today I'll be presenting my project on soil testing on the Albany Hill. So first for a little context, I'll be going over the characteristics or properties behind soils. Then I'll go over the testing sites that I found. the procedures that I conducted, and then finally the amendments that I'd recommend based off those results. Next slide. So going into soil properties, the first thing to know is acidity or pH. Soil acidity determines how much nutrients plants absorb along with how active microbes in the soil are. Typically, native plants thrive in a slightly acidic to neutral range, being a pH of six to seven. For organic matter, organic matter is decaying plant material, compost, and microbial biomass that binds soil particles into healthy aggregates. And the reason why this is important is because it drives water retention, nutrient release, and microbial activity, essentially the foundation that all other soil properties depend on. Aeration and drainage. These are the soil pore spaces that allow air and water to move throughout the soil, which roots need to breathe and function. And then finally, macro and micronutrients. On this project, I only focus on macronutrients being nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. They essentially drive or fuel plant growth, reproduction, and stress tolerance. But in this case, for nitrogen, they support protein synthesis, chlorophyll production, cell formation. Phosphorus supports protein synthesis, chlorophyll production, and also cell formation. And potassium, finally supporting water balance, enzyme activity, and disease resistance. Next slide. So this here is my site map. Initially, I had seven sites, but due to time and resource restrictions, I ultimately ended up focusing on three sites, which are site one, site six and seven. There is a asterisk right next to them. But on the map to the left, there are these green, red and white circles. The green circles are native species plot and the red circles are an invasive species plot with the white circles being mixed or native and invasive species plot. I labeled the number of the site on the map and in case you're wondering, the yellow lines are private lands, meaning I was unable to conduct tests in those areas and the white lines are trails. Next slide. So when it comes to tests, I conducted a total of five tests. The first test was called the VESS, the visual evaluation of soil structure assessment. Basically, it evaluated clumping behavior or soil clumps to assess the drainage capacity and root penetration via a scoring method. The second test was a single ring infiltrometer test. This basically measured the permeability of soils via their water infiltration rate. The third test is called a soil respiration test. This test measured the level of carbon dioxide emitted by soil microorganisms based on their microbial activity or their decaying organic matter. The fourth test was a soil pH test, which basically just determined whether a soil was acidic or alkaline via vinegar and baking soda. And finally, the fifth test was a soil slurry test, which measured the amount or availability of the macronutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium that were in the soil. Next slide. So when it comes to my results, the On the right, you'll see a page from my document. It's kind of hard to see, but this is from my single ring infiltrometer test. It carries and the calculations from that data along with its result. And it's from that data, I was able to create a art or sheet of the possible scores and what those scores indicate, as well as the amendment that I'd recommend for it. And above it, there is a color legend or an amendment guide sheet just for reference on the severity or level of each level inside the sheets. Next slide. Finally, when it comes to amendments, my manager and I spent some time reviewing the proper amendments we could implement on the Albany Hill due to factors of it being sustainable or just natural and organic, basically not chemically synthesized. And With that, I created a table of not only the amendment type, but the product names, the price and the retailer, and just the primary use or general information that just for the public or anyone to see. And yeah, that's all I have for that. Next slide.

So here, these are takeaways that the interns had from the summer. Olivia will start.

Yeah, so a big part of what we did all summer was learning the native and invasive plants on the hill. It was really a special experience to be able to walk around the hill and actually recognize a lot of the species that I was looking at and have context for how they got there, like why we want them there. And also from Margo, from the Urban Tilth crew, and from the group in El Cerrito, I was able to learn a lot about some of the different human uses for the plants that you wouldn't really think about. And then also learning about managing a natural area within a city, Albany Hill being this natural area that's surrounded by a residential area, and also parts of it being owned by different groups. It was really interesting to hear how all of those work together to inform how the hill is managed. And then long and short term effects of restoration efforts from just being there over the summer and working on different weeds being our focus on different days and in the creeks and seeing like how our efforts over the span of a day can make a difference. But it was also really interesting to hear from people who have been working on the hill for so long about things that are done years and years and years ago that we're still working on that take, like the eucalyptus for instance, that keep sprouting and you have to keep managing them. And over a really long period of time it makes a difference, but you have to be putting so much time and commitment into managing an area like this.

Okay, and then Colin's takeaways.

Yeah, so for my takeaways, I learned various vegetation and soil conservation practices. Some vegetation practices, mainly weed management techniques. There'd be hand pulling, weed whipping, and even sheet mulching. Some soil conservation practices, even I wasn't able to test them, was soil erosion cloth. As for seed collecting and propagation, I was able to learn like how and where to find seeds and native plants and eventually sort and process them. Then even in one of our excursions, we learned how to propagate them. Finally, I think one of the most important takeaways is community outreach, specifically volunteering at the UC Berkeley Jepson Herbarium or our friend Jim's work parties in El Cerrito. These experiences taught me the importance of understanding the different and unique perspectives of people's environmental knowledge and stewardship, something you wouldn't get just, yeah.

Next slide. And these are just a few photos, mostly taken by Colin, but I took a couple of them. So the pipevine swallowtail caterpillar in the upper left here. There's a pipevine that grows along Cerrito Creek at Friends of Five Creeks planted it years ago and it is just continually spreading. And every year we get lots of these caterpillars. So that's very, very good to see. The upper right is Colin and Olivia doing some weeding up on the crest of Albany Hill. And then I'll let Colin talk about the other three photographs here.

Yeah, so on the left, there is a picture of a coyote. I believe we saw this in the Oak Woodland Meadows when we were birdwatching. So we just happened to see that. I'd never actually seen a coyote before, so I wanted to take a photo of that. The dragonfly was, I think, in the same spot or the same area. It was... Hidden on a tree, as you can see, it is very blended in or camouflaged. And it was pretty big, too. It was about five inches. So I'm just glad it didn't fly towards me or anything like that. But yeah, and in the photo on the right, we were weeding in the same area, the meadows. And I just happened to see these flock of turkeys. And I thought that was cool. So I decided to take a picture of that. So yeah.

Next slide. And that's it for our presentation. We'll take questions now.

All right. Bring it back to, yeah.

Very good. Excellent. Excellent job. Thank you.

Bring it back to the commission for any questions of the interns or Margo or the program.

I have a question.

Okay. All right. Thank you for the presentation. And so glad, Margo, you wrote the grant a few years ago and It's great to see every year what people are doing and young people are doing and figuring out. I had one question, a couple questions. One is, you mentioned old photos. There's at least one in there that I recognize that's in the history of Albany book that's written that shows only the oaks on the northern slope and no other trees on the hill. I was wondering if there's other, you mentioned some other photos that seem to be... also vintage. And my question is, are those also available on the site, website, web page you created? Because I think those would be helpful with regards to educating the public about what the hill used to look like as the eucalyptus tree program begins to remove most of those trees.

Yeah, a lot of the photos that I used were from those history books, as well as Margo had found a collection that I believe are in the Bancroft Library. But yeah, I didn't include all of the photos on the web page because there were a lot, but that would be something good to probably put more on because They're all from slightly different angles, and you can see slightly different things. And it is really hard to make out individual species in those photos, but seeing the big picture of where the oaks are and the rest just being grassland was super interesting.

And then I think some of us were kind of pointing it out too as far as where some of those aerial photos came from. So if they're dated in the 1930s, Do you know what kind of technology was around then to get up above the land?

I really don't know. Okay. I found on Google Earth that I just went to the earliest year that they had, and it was like 1936 maybe or something like that. It was sometime in the 1930s. I couldn't really find anything else about how they were taken, but it was really interesting because there was like those photos from the 1930s and then kind of a big gap until the next...

satellite photos that they had so yeah that's very cool so that but that would almost certainly be uh from airplanes yeah the first satellites were like in the 50s or something okay and then um then was it my another question my last question was the map i thought was really interesting showing the the course of the change of the course of the creek In particular, for me, I thought that was interesting. I think you said the first one you had from a coastal vantage point was like 1880s or something.

Yeah, 1884.

And then the 1930s map showed that it was all straightened out. And the border between our city and El Cerrito is that current, you know, where the creek is now from early 1900s. So somewhere in there, basically the border was set by moving the creek or the creek or something. Right, yeah. So do you have any, do you know when that happened?

The only information I have, there's another U.S., I believe it's U.S. Coast Survey or USGS, which it was, I guess, renamed to, from 1915 that shows the creek before it was culverted. So I have the 1915 still not culverted. We know that. And then the imagery from the 1930s is the next information that I could find. So sometime between 1915 and the 1930s, I guess, is when... It was culverted. But that would be really interesting to find out what came first, like the border or the creek.

Right, okay. Yeah. All right, thanks. Yeah.

Okay.

Yeah, I was very interested in the historic map and how you developed that creek, because there's a lot of old maps and they conflict a little bit, so I settled on that one. But also, just recently I was trying to find out the original exit of Cotonousas Creek when it hits the Golden Gate and goes north, and I had a lot of difficulty. I've got conflicting maps, too. And your map kind of cut just short of that. And in my search of... In my search of trying to find that source, I went to several sources I used to go to, and it's no longer there. Like, Friends of Fire Creek used to have a big history of historic maps, but all the links are dead now. So then I had to go to other places, and I went to the eco-atlas on Simchinsk Estuary Institute, and that didn't work anymore. I was very frustrated. But I did find a couple things. So I'm glad you're putting your documents somewhere it can be...

Yeah, I also used the EcoAtlas.

And did you have luck with it? I couldn't find the toggles to turn the... Yeah, it was kind of confusing to use.

But I believe it's linked. I linked all my sources at the bottom of the web page. But yeah, that was... I mean, I mostly used that to find where the marshes were because that source showed it. But yeah, the old topographic maps were the most helpful, I think.

Yeah, really detailed, like the 1856 one or something.

Totally, yeah.

Cool. It has a question for Colin, or do we continue? Yeah, go ahead. Colin, so I didn't hear that, maybe you said it, but I didn't hear results of your report of the soil. So was it bad? I mean, was it depleted?

Oh, yeah. Sorry about that. For this presentation, I just mainly wanted to focus on the test because I didn't have time to implement these amendments. I basically just finished my tests, like, last week, but, um, yeah, I got some very interesting results. Surprisingly, I thought that the, that it was called site six. It was the invasive, um, odd species or base species plot. I, it was interesting for that area. I thought the abundant amount of the souls in that area would take a lot of the nutrients, just have more, um, filtration rates, but for that one, actually, I had relatively good results, um, surprisingly. The TAF TA natives, the Site 1, that, actually, I got one, like, more poor results. I think it has to do with the history of how the paths were made there, because I remember, um, Ms. Margo was saying how, uh, There was some construction being done and like a soil was compacted and. Like just gravel placement for the past, and I just also be the idea that there's just so many natives in that area ticket and that it's not. Not many amendments have been implemented, but I can't say at the top of my head, but in my document, yeah, I could probably trace back the result that I got and just compare it to the sheet and just determine from there what amendment I'd be implementing. But yeah, I wrote it in my doc. I just can't think of the top of my head.

That's interesting, but the follow-up question would be, if it came out that it was very poor soil, very low nutrients and potassium, would that be expected on a hill like that from sandstone in a native condition? Isn't that kind of our further course around here? The native soils, especially in Albany, on the hill are really poor. Or would we think they've been degraded somehow? Or is that like the native condition?

Um, yeah, it's actually interesting you say that because that is part of the reason why I also tested in the oak woodlands, because there's a lot more shade and just moisture in the soils. I do agree, like comparing the top of the hill or the crest to the oak woodlands, there is a significant difference in the types of soils and the amount of moisture and even exposure to the sun. So, yeah, I... I generally I wasn't too surprised in the end with the results that I got. And I was just curious or just want to confirm these results through these testings. And really, I think my project is more about figuring out the tests that like that people could conduct that is one, affordable, practical, and just like just easily accessible and just for general use. But yeah, the results weren't too surprising for me.

Thank you. Any other questions from the Commission just a moment?

I had one more if nobody else does. This might be directed more to Margo, but what work on the hill do you think will be influenced by the soil tests, amenities to apply, which I heard Colin mention, types of plants to plant on different parts of the hill or what?

Yeah, I think it'll definitely, we'll look at different kinds of amendments that we can put in different areas. Yeah, I mean, I think the plants, we've got the native plants, so I think that's fine. We'll just keep planting natives. But yeah, I could see different kinds of amendments and put them in different areas and see if we get some good results from that. And I'll mention also that we'll have both of these projects up on our Albany Hill website so that you and other people can look through them and learn more about them.

One more question.

Yeah.

You think there's just one coyote? Because I've seen that coyote, too, and I was wondering if there's just one lonely guy running around?

One kind of what?

One coyote. Only one lonely coyote on the hill?

Oh, no, no, there's more than one, because other people have been seeing them. Somebody said they saw two in one day. Oh. And we saw a sickly coyote. Yeah, we saw a sickly coyote about a month ago, and then two days ago I saw one, a nice-looking coyote.

but yeah so i don't know how many there are we'll have to put some wildlife cameras out there and yeah check it out very cool yeah please i was just wondering like based on the soil test is there anything like really concerning like that should be addressed like immediately before like the plans to replant are like going through or starting

I would say at the moment, no. Ms. Margo actually gave me this document or she sent me these similar sort of testing results from, I believe, 2022 and 2024. They were almost the same as the test I just conducted. They were in optimal range in terms of pH and the right levels for just the basic macronutrients, nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. I didn't see too many issues with the other micronutrients like magnesium and sink and such. But yeah, I wouldn't say there's too much of a concern for now. And if I had more time, I probably would have tested the the other sides that really are covered all down the hills and just those three sites. But just solely off those three sites. I don't think just too much of a problem at the moment.

Cool.

Thank you.

Any other questions? Seeing none, we're happy to open it for public comment. Please step to the podium and identify yourself and make your comment.

Thank you so much. I'm a new Albany resident as of last year, and I couldn't help but think, even though I study and work in environmental science, how little I know about my local community. So I have a question, maybe to Collin, but to all three of you about, since you mentioned community engagement, what ways can you educate the general public about what you have found out? Are there, like, guided walks or hikes or, like, ways for us to learn about local vegetation and the environment and issues ahead.

Thank you. Sure, yeah. Actually last year we did do a guided nature walk for the community and a lot of people showed up. That was something that I wanted to do this summer. It didn't quite fit in. We didn't quite have enough time to do it. But yeah, that is definitely something that would be good to do to Educate people more about the projects that have been going on on the hill We do put things in the e-news as well so that people can learn about them.

So yeah, thank you So how how would they find out about those things?

So for the nature walks we put it in the e-news we put signs up on the hill and get signups that way and it goes through the various social media outlets for the city and

And if you've been to the city website, if you knew, you may not. Maybe you do already know. But there's a long list of adventurous kind of news email lists. And so look there, and you'll get the e-news and Albany Hill. Yeah, great. Thanks.

And then the work that the interns have done is posted in one place or scattered around the city's website or what?

Yeah, it needs to be reorganized. It's a little bit scattered. Yeah, I want to get it all into one place. Get an intern for that. Yeah, on the Albany Hill website, yes.

Cool. All right, any other questions or comments from the public over there online or anything? All right, any final comments from the commission? I just have to say, I think both these projects were really worthwhile. I love the historical perspective. I've never thought about that before. And I think Margo pointed out how valuable the soil analysis is. I really appreciate the work you've put into this. And I think the results are excellent.

I wanted to reiterate what I said before about encouraging you, Margo, or the city to post more of the historic photos of the hill. Because I've really only seen the one that's prominently in the history books of the hill. So on your own web page, but also other departments that make sense like the eucalyptus project to show people it's not just the one photo some people probably still haven't seen that one photo but of um that that's that's how it was yeah yes thank you okay and that's it well thank you very much thanks for presentation thanks for your work thank you margot good seeing you all right happy to close that item moving on to 4-2 a park projects update

Good evening, commissioners. My name is Andre Sterling, Public Works Manager, here to give you an update on our parks projects for 2026, which include Prop 68 projects as well as some other CIP projects. So next slide, please. So first of all, as far as Prop 68 projects, Peggy Thompson Pier Street Park improvements, the access, landscape, and shade improvements. So phase one was completed last month. So that included the trail steps with handrail, landscape boulders with native trees, new asphalt path and bollards with one bollard. And phase two we'll speak about shortly. Next slide, please. So we have some construction photos there of the trail steps there. I guess that's the north side of the park there. We have some trees planted as well, some landscape boulders. Next slide. And then down by the restroom area, the entrance there, more trail steps with DG for the treads as well as the landings and then more native trees. Next slide. And our asphalt path there with bollard, some landscape boulders, and trees as well. And as a side note, the plaques that were there in the existing tree for the Rotary Club were not impacted by the construction. So next slide, please. All right, so phase two, which is the shade structure phase of the project for Prop 68, there will be breaking ground in October. So we received the engineering plans already, as well as calculations. The permit has been issued. So the plans include dimensions for the columns there, for the six columns, the shade cells, other details, as well as details for the footings. The calculations have load analysis, mostly for stress load, as well as the wind load for the shade structure there. All right. Next slide, please. So that's included in that as well as seismic design and structural analysis. So this shows just a rendering of phase two. And basically that was based on what's gonna be most cost effective. I think the next slide shows some of that as well. The best coverage for shade coverage for the site based on a shade study. And again, based on engineering plans that were submitted. And the next slide, please. It shows the schedule. So for phase two, as I said, we should be breaking ground in October, and then completing construction maybe late fall, looking at December. All right, so that's it for Pierre Street Park. So the next slide for Jules Terrace Park. And this was based on recommendations from the PROS master plan, which include shade improvements as well as improvements to dog amenities. Next slide. So as we discussed at our previous PROS Commission meeting, we looked at the site as a whole, not just for Prop 68, but also for some other maintenance projects that need to be completed there. So we had a landscape architect draft up a landscaping plan that includes those other projects along with the Prop 68 projects. And next slide. So we can kind of zoom in there. And so as far as the Prop 68 improvements, so basically the shade improvements, that encompasses tree planting for shade. So it's going to be around the perimeter or the edge of the lawn area. And that will cover, will provide shade for the picnic area, as well as some plantings on the other side of the pathway for the tot lot. We also wanted to define the planting area a bit better around the trees, around the tree pit, so there's going to be edging there that separates the picnic area from the planting area with mulch in that area to better protect the trees. And as far as the trees species and the location that's going to be finalized with our arborists, we're going to consult with him on that. And then for the future projects, which will be a part of our annual parks rehab program and our CIP, So we're going to look at, and the final project as we see the ramp and the concrete pads meeting the picnic area, that's going to be finalized with those projects in the future, so not with the Prop 68 projects. So yeah, reconstruction of the ramp, the pathways will get resurfaced. There will be some additional, there's an option to provide more seating there in the 5 to 12 play area, like steps, wooden steps leading down into the area and removing the railing there, as well as looking at the retaining wall and replacing it with something a little more permanent and sturdy. And then also regarding the play structure, we're going to talk a little more about that. But in the future, looking at possibly replacing that with a newer play structure, the 5 to 12 play area. And next slide, please. So that's for the Prop 68 part of the presentation. So if you have any questions, we'll open it up for questions for that portion. We'll take these separately.

So Commission, any questions, clarifying questions?

I had one from the Pierce Street Park. The bollards, you showed photographs of those. Just riding a bike in the dark, I hit a bollard on a path once. Are these reflectorized?

You know, that's a good question. In the park area, they are not because usually there's no, that's the whole point of preventing vehicular traffic there. But I guess if there is a request for that, we could add that.

We can add some reflective tape on those. Definitely.

Makes sense.

Yeah, please.

I really like the shade idea and happy that it's moving forward, but has lighting been considered at nighttime? Now considering there's a new shade canopy over the whole park.

That's for Pier Street?

Yeah, Pier Street, yes.

As part of Prop 68, that was not a consideration. As far as future plans?

Yeah, so we do have a future plan where this is the one where I think we presented at PROSE where we're connecting the Pierce Street bike lane with Cleveland, and that project will include some sort of pathway lighting. wouldn't be implemented here, but that's on the horizon.

Okay. Thank you.

I have a, please go ahead. You mentioned seating in one of the parks. What sort of, what would that look like? Is that going to be picnic tables or?

Yeah, so the existing picnic tables will remain. No plans to add any additional seating in that area, but there's an option to add seating in the area by the entrance of the park and kind of provides access to that play area as well. So steps and seating, that's there, yep.

A couple questions about the shades. So I think this is the first rendering I've seen where I can see that there's kind of a saddle shape. Is that going to trap balls? I don't know. It seems like, right? Yeah, good question. Something to think about. I don't know. But the other thing is, I wonder, I'm sure you have, but pass this by Albany Police Department, because I know that they'd like to be able to see in. And it's such a weird location anyway for visibility.

You know what? I'm not sure we've connected with Albany PD, but we will to make sure that we're on the same page.

There's a lot more activity down there.

It's been presented conceptually in a number of ways, but your good point of we now have a design, let's make sure that everyone understands it.

Yeah, all right. All right, other questions? One more question.

I noticed the sails in the rendering looked like they were... positioned slightly south of the structures. Is that due to the shade analysis you said where the sun is generally towards the south and it'll shade towards the north, that kind of thing?

Yeah, that's exactly right. So especially, well, in the Bay Area, it's more, I guess, a southern exposure to the sun. So that's why they're positioned that way, to capture and to block the sun from that angle. for more parts of the day as well. And more parts of the year. Yeah, of the year, exactly.

If the sun's coming from the north, we've got bigger problems. Yeah. Yeah, exactly. All right, other questions? Seeing none, we'll open it for public comment real quick just on this quick presentation. Anything in there? All right. I don't think I have any observations, suggestions.

I just was wondering, in those pictures you showed the trees, I was just wondering how those trees are doing out there.

Oh, yeah, I know. Yeah. They're pretty recent pictures, right? Jules Terrace Park? Yeah, they look like they're... Yeah, so far, so good. No, no. I have to say, I happened upon that park. I had to be there for some reason. It looks really good, I think. I always liked Peachtree Park, but it looks even better now. So, yeah, good job, everybody. All right, moving on to the next item.

Yeah. So I might have misordered the slides as well. So the schedule for the Prop 68 portion of Terrace Park, I'm not sure if it's maybe a few slides down, But that should be, yep. Probably the next one, yeah, there you go. So we're looking to award the contract. It's a smaller portion of the project as a whole in October, and then start construction November, finish it up in November as well. We're gonna have to backtrack just a little bit. So back to the slide. I guess the first, yeah. So as you know, the slide at Terrace Park and the 5 to 12 play area is damaged. And we've been sourcing a direct replacement for the slide, but because of the age of the structure, it has been discontinued. Basically reaching out to the manufacturer, they provided a solution for an assembly of the deck steps and the slide that they can provide that will fit in that same space with the existing footings as well and just attach to the existing structure. So that's more of a short-term solution because that can be done in the next maybe four to six weeks or so. That's the lead time. But in that discussion, as I mentioned before, possibly replacing the entire structure, that's actually something we considered as a department. Next slide, please, actually. At some point in the future, obviously the This would be a higher cost solution. But again, based on the age of the play equipment, that's something that will be considered as a future project.

Unless there's any other... Can I ask you guys, folks, to go outside and if you have your conversation, if you like, just... It's hard to understand. Sorry about that. Sure.

I guess unless there's any other concern regarding just replacing it as that assembly of the... Just the slide assembly at this point. All right, next slide, please. All right, so one more slide. Yep, there you go. So a few months ago, city council authorized submission of a grant application to USTA for the reconstruction of the tennis courts at Terrace Park. So there are some, we did start that process. There are some requirements that we have to meet in order to qualify. For the grant that's a complete construction bid set because this is a reconstruction which include grading drainage plans Geotechnical report if necessary because over concern of the soil condition below the asphalt Another requirement is that it's solely used for tennis, and that's five years after reconstruction. We know quite a few members of the public utilize this court as well as St. Mary's High School. So at this point, for that area, that can't be used according to USTA requirements, grant requirements that cannot be used for a flex court. But however, based on the PRO's master plan, there's an option to use the basketball court area for a flex court. Space in the future. We know this would require more discussion Some more planning as well as community outreach before a decision is made regarding that area All right next slide please All right, so that's the schedule for the prop 68 Portion of it so we can go to the next slide I guess we can do questions at the end, or do you want to take it in sections? What do you think, folks?

I think probably at the end. These are smaller updates. Yep. Okay. Just make notes.

Yep. Sounds good. All right. So the next portion is for the Ohlone Greenway Fitness Equipment, CIP 41022. So next slide, please. Yep. So based on the recommendations from our mini-park subcommittee, there were recommendations given on the use of this site, which would involve equipment upgrades, installation of safety surface. So we started to develop a scope, and we're finalizing that project scope now. And we wanted to actually present two options for this area. So next slide, please. All right, so this shows the existing. So we know that there were four pieces of equipment that had to be removed, the cross trainer, bike, squat machine, chest press as well. So next slide. So we have two options. So one option would be to actually replace, directly replace those four pieces of equipment there. But still with this option, we would still obviously remove the existing footings, prepare the site, install new fitness equipment, four pieces, and then install a pour-and-place safety surface over the entire fitness equipment area. Next slide, please. And then option two could be a complete renovation That would be removing all the equipment that's there, including the footings, the existing equipment, site preparation, installing all new fitness equipment, and installing pour-in-place safety surface there throughout. So next slide. This is an example of what that would look like there. So that would be nine units that could fit the space, everywhere from a single setup bench to rowing machine, elliptical cross trainer, et cetera. And also in that area, I think we can go to the next slide. I don't have a slide of it, but this is the schedule. But in that area, we know we have a drinking fountain there that will remain. But we're looking to add a filling station as well in that nearby using the existing plumbing that's there. So that's an option as well. We could coordinate that with this work. It'll probably be a separate contract. So as far as this project, the fitness equipment, we're looking to award the contract by next month and then complete construction sometime in the late fall. I believe that is it. Do you have any questions? All right. Commissioned questions?

Yes. So you had option one and option two, but you're going out... You're going out to bid to get both, price on both of them? I'm not quite sure.

Yeah, that's a good question. So originally we presented, we had the RFP stating we're going to replace those four pieces of equipment. So we actually received one to replace everything, but we would just talk to the contractor to revise their proposal either direction, whatever direction we wanted to go in. So there was a difference in cost, obviously, for both those options from either contractor.

Then you'll decide later what option to go with?

Yeah, well, if we do decide to go with a complete renovation, we would still, based on the size of this contract, we would still need the three beds, and depending on how we want to structure the contract as well. So at that point, it would be an apple-to-apple comparison with either a complete renovation or just a direct replacement of the four pieces.

Could you flip back to this option two again? I was on the committee that looked at it. One of the issues was the moving parts exercise, ones that broke a lot. It took a while to get pieces. It looks like option one is replacing the ones that we had problems with. Am I getting that right, or is it?

Well, these manufacturers, I believe the original equipment was compound equipment. And they use pistons for resistance. For the landscape structures, it's a different system for resistance. They use like a flywheel, something like that. With greenfields, they actually use your body weight as resistance, so there's no adjustments that are made to the equipment. So there are actually less moving parts and no pistons, so basically less parts that can fail on the equipment.

Yeah, that's what I was looking at. Greenfield ones look simpler. I don't know. With intention, you could break anything, but, I mean, with wear...

I guess my question is what kind of warranty are these things carrying, and are they going to be supported for a long term?

That's a good question. We would have to do a little more research on that to get the warranty. I know for the safety service it's seven to ten years, but I know there's a manufacturer's warranty, and then obviously the contractor will offer their warranty as well.

The other thing, we recommend it as sort of instructions. Because some of these things, what do I do with it? How do I use it? Are you expected to go online and take a picture and figure it out? Or is there a possibility? We thought that the column of the art would be a great place to put a poster of sorts on.

That's actually included in the contract as well. Some information boards there on the use of the machines. I believe they do provide QR codes as well. You can kind of track your fitness, things like that.

Is there any consideration for lighting around these areas? Yes. for early morning or especially as we move into this season for when it gets dark early? I've passed by a couple times and I've seen folks out there in just shadows basically.

Yeah, that's a good question.

There are overhead lights on the BART facility so that's what we have right now. There is a project to look at the full greenway for pedestrian improvements, lighting, pathway lighting and so forth. But for right now I think it would just be the overhead BART lights. We can take a look if something's out. We'll get that replaced. But I think there should be one kind of fixed right over this. So it may not be perfect lighting but there is some lighting.

I had a Greenway question and a Jules Terrace Park questions. For the Greenway, back to the moving equipment and how the old equipment broke and wore out, is there, for the new equipment, Are there ways to guide choices like consumer reports for public works departments or something where these have been tested in the field and this is what they or are you able to reach out to if nothing else neighboring communities that what have they installed and does it work or are there conferences people go to and people share reports on these things because it sure would be nice to not just look in the catalog and buy something and have the same problems we did before.

We can ask for references and talk to...

From the vendor?

Yeah, references from the vendors, other places that they've been installed, and then talk to another city or park district or something and get a sense of how they perform.

Okay. Definitely. Yeah, that's something. And then for the two options that you showed, that's not on today's agenda to make any decisions. Would that come before this commission at a future date?

Yes. I mean, we'll have to come back. Maybe we could have worded it to make a decision.

My guess is the scale of this might be such that we need to formally go to council. So I'd likely make another stop.

If it's a choice, let's do the big one. I figure it's just a matter of cost, right? Is that the real defining? Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Seems like there's not much...

I like this one because it has none of the pistons and moving parts that drove us bonkers the last... And my question is, do we know how long those lasted, the old ones? Yeah, so they were installed in 2016. Oh, not that long. They weren't long at all. Four years or something. And the piston on the thing that did this was right out of the gate a problem.

Oh, interesting. Okay.

Yeah, so anything with a piston, I'm not for.

Okay. And then back to Jules Terrace Park, a couple questions there. How much money do you think, or have we already gotten the USTA grant? How much money is it? And part of the question, is it worth it to tie our hands for five years?

Good question. Actually, so we haven't received the grant yet. So we started the process Which includes as I said submitting construction bid a construction bid set They assigned us a project manager with USTA. So that's going to kind of consult us through the process as well And as far as the cost they do so for a kind of category 3 reconstruction It's 50% of the total cost but it is capped per Tennis court at $35,000 a court. So the maximum for this project would be $70,000.

Okay. And then I have a suggestion based on that for later. And then for the play equipment you mentioned, that's not really a Prop 68 thing, so that's not really on this agenda, but... For repair of play equipment, sounds great, but if you're actually going to replace the play equipment with, and there's all sorts of ideas, there's like infinite number of possibilities of what's out there with different vendors and things you can add on. Would that be part of a public process where the community would have input?

Yeah, I think that would be prudent to do that, to have some community outreach. At this point in the process, I don't know, we're not as far as getting the slide functioning again it would make sense to just replace it with that first assembly and then discuss a future plan and that would involve more planning.

So I think this is going to be part of in the last CIP we established the park program budget and it's specifically to address these types of things and I think we do need to have a discussion of the struggle we're having here at this Piece of equipment is something we're having in all our parks where things are breaking and they're not off-the-shelf pieces and so we're you know It's it's getting more and more difficult that means we need to start replacing them at some point and and there's a process of how we do that and getting community input on what it looks like and it's not just us flipping open a catalog and You know I'm picking something that's similar good because some commit some members of the public might be concerned that the city is just gonna pick something and

but might want to have some input. So it sounds like that would be part of a public process.

Yeah, I think we would do that. I'm not sure what that would look like. So that's, you know, that process will come and we'll think about how we can best do that and where do we want to start.

It'll come before this commission. Yes. Yes. And whether there's more beyond that would be decided.

My guess, we would discuss it at this commission, do some outreach at park users and, you know, I imagine if we narrow it down to a couple of options, kind of a QR code, which one do you like and, you know.

Okay.

One of the things we've had a lot of success at, the community project expos that we've done recently, that would be something where we could conceivably have different manufacturers come in and show their products and get input that way. So I think there's lots of things we can do.

I know the public love pistons, though. That's the problem. So I had a couple comments. Number one for questions, for the tennis courts, so they refinish it. How long is that supposed to last? I mean, if it's going to last 10 years, that makes a little different calculation than if it's going to last four years.

Yeah, with the reconstruction, it's at least 10 years or more, depending on the use of the space. If it's just a resurfacing, that could be a year. Oh, okay. And that's kind of what we experienced at Ocean View. Right. Because of the underlying cracks sometimes that creep up. Sure.

At Terrace Park, we have a very large crack on the upper court. Oh, yeah. I mean, there's two courts.

And I think that's the issue. And so it's going to be a more thorough process. Okay. All right. Oh, and then for the workout equipment, I know that we were very careful initially to have some pieces that would work for folks in wheelchairs. I just can't really tell. The other one I could see a piece. I can't really tell from this picture. I just want to be sure that's on the radar. Yes. Okay.

All right.

And any other questions? Please.

I might not have caught it, but is the plan to redo the surfaces both, like, plans? For both options? For the Ohlone, yeah. Yeah, for both options? Yeah.

Yeah, that would be included in both options, yeah. Thank you.

You know, one more question related to that. Maybe that surface, so that space gets a lot of shade and tends to be a little damp. Is that right? Is this...

to get slippery or moldy or something i don't have a lot of experience with you know safety surface is slip resistant at least the brand that we're going to install there okay so that would help with the yeah moisture sun would probably do more damage in the afternoon oh yeah in the afternoon sun yeah yeah yeah so i mean just one comment i do like this but i'm i'm just looking at some of those pipes they just look in don't they and maybe they're perfectly fine and strong but They just look thin.

One in the back is a big loop.

I'm starting to have suspicions about who broke the old equipment.

I've lost a few pounds since then. No, this could be fine. I don't know these. I've seen the vendor, but I don't really know them. It could be great.

And it's hard to tell from a picture like this. Open it for the public comment. Any other questions? We scared them away. Any other? Nobody online? Okay. All right. Comments now.

Please. Yeah. Great. Good job. Yeah.

I like the spelled posts in particular. Any other comments? Please.

I mean, I've been to Pure Street Park recently, and I think the new paths are much appreciated. A lot nicer not to have to go all the way to one end of the park just to exit.

Thank you.

Yeah, I wanted to echo that, because I remember when soon after it was built, I was noticing the desire paths and brought that up with the commission years and years ago, or right soon after it was built, so It's great to see the city actually acting on that and putting that in. I did have one comment about the Pierce Street Park tennis courts, which is to recognize that the public process to make change to a park can take years. So I would like to see multi-use play spaces at the tennis courts brought before this commission a year or two before grant period is up. Grant restrictions are up. Those courts aren't used for competitive matches like Memorial Park courts are. So Memorial Park courts were considered off limits for multi-use netting and for volleyball, badminton, and all that. With like a crank, you can move them up and down. But at Jules... Terrace Park, they're not used for competition is my understanding and so they don't have to be regulation and Could in principle be that kind of thing.

I suspect that they may now be used for Competition they have been in no condition for competition so they could well serve that purpose now.

Yeah, I don't know Okay Yeah, it's great to hear all the updates. That's fantastic All right

I had another thing, but I slipped my mind.

That's it? No other comments?

All right. Well, thank you very much. Very impressive. Looking forward to see what comes of it. And you don't need anything from us at this point, right? I mean, this is just an update. You're not looking for feedback. We gave you some anyway. All right. Thanks so much.

Okay.

Not seeing any other items. Announcements. I can go ahead and just mention there's this little thing called the Solano Avenue Stroll happening on Sunday. You may have heard of it. It's a street festival. This is the 50th one. We're very excited. And I was gonna try to get confirmation of something. Just a second. I may be able to announce something. Return of mechanical rides. We're going to have mechanical rides.

Oh, mechanical rides. Oh, wow. This is breaking news.

We just now got the confirmation. A rumor you're spreading? Carnival rides. Carnival rides.

I was telling someone that earlier.

Our executive director worked really, really hard and found somebody. It's very hard to get somebody to do one-day events. Coming back. Yeah, right. And if not, it's not our fault.

All right, other announcements? Yes, I have two announcements. First, Senior Center Programs and Services Open House. Our wonderful Albany Senior Center is celebrating Senior Center Month. with a special open house on Thursday, September 17th from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Come discover all that the Senior Center has to offer. Explore activities, resources, wellness programs, classes, and community connections designed to support, engage, and enrich the lives of older adults. Throughout the day you can enjoy fun activities, class demonstrations, entertainment, and A free lunch, can't pass that up. Stay for the whole day or simply drop by for the activity or class you've been wanting to try. Meet instructors, talk with the senior center staff, ask questions and learn more about the many programs and services available to you. come see what makes the albany senior center such a special place to connect participate learn and have fun we'd love to see you there once again that date is thursday september 17th from 10 a.m to 3 p.m and then there is the friends of albany parks cleanup join the friends of albany parks on saturday september 26th from 9 a.m to 11 a.m at the Memorial Park Edible Garden for a morning of community connection and outdoor stewardship. Through hands-on cleanup projects and neighborhood engagement, Friends of Albany Parks brings neighbors together to foster community pride, strengthen connections, and help keep Albany's parks and green spaces beautiful and welcoming for everyone. Gloves, tools, and all necessary equipment will be provided, so just bring yourself and your community spirit. Refreshments will also be served to keep everyone energized throughout the morning. Pre-register on the city website or simply show up that day. All are welcome and we hope to see you there. Once again, that date is Saturday, September 26th from 9 a.m. to 11 a.m. at the Memorial Park Garden.

And another announcement I just realized is Chair Abbott and I have been involved with a group that has been helping to get local news reporting in Albany. And since our last meeting, that's launched. And so not something we're doing directly, but another organization called Albany Scanner is doing that. And as far as the connection to parks, there's already been an article about what's happening at Golden Gate Fields, which hopefully will come before us if everything goes as planned. And there was something about...

I can potentially see a piece on this historic map. That might be really interesting.

Could be. And they also take tips, so you can alert them to something that's happening in the city, either with public spaces or not. Yeah, there was something else with the eucalyptus trees that was also written up. I believe. So that's something that people can get some updates beyond just the e-news for that Albany scanner.

Doing a bang-up job. It's very exciting. Yeah, it's been great so far.

I think it's called Albany Scanner?

AlbanyScanner.com, yeah.

Oh, it's standard.

Scanner, scanner. Berkeley Scanner.

Have you heard of the Berkeley Scanner?

It's Emily Ragusa.

It's like that, which is, that's 100% like public safety, and Albany Scanner is a broad news source.

Yeah.

That was a paid journalist. All right. Other announcements? Upcoming agenda items? Suggestions? Requests?

I did have an announcement. The last meeting, I think that was July meeting, we had the tree removal, the one in front of Duo Grill. We did receive an appeal, so we're trying to schedule that. It's either going to be the first or second meeting in October. It's kind of threading the needle between our staff being out, the person who submitted the appeal being away, and the posting requirements. So it's this... schedule thing putting it together and so it's one of those two meetings so keep an eye out so that would come before the city council not before us city council and then do they ever want input from us at those or just no um i mean you're what i guess you're welcome to come and speak at um uh public comment but what we do in our staff report is we talk about what happened here. We're probably going to put more information about the history of the trees and so forth, and we'll put a fairly detailed staff report describing our analysis plus what happened at this commission.

And you can always talk to the person who appointed you. All right. Nothing else? All right. I'm going to adjourn this meeting. Thanks, everybody. See you all in October? No, it's not October. Next time? Yeah. Really? How did that happen? Okay.