Chair and Vice Chair Elected, Minutes will be Timely by May, Hampton Park construction starts in June with completion by mid-October ‘16 or as late as mid-February ‘17

I sat in on the City of Piedmont Recreation Commission Agenda on April 20, 2016.  The Recreation Commission is a group that meets monthly to discuss the issues pertaining to the Recreation Department of the City of Piedmont.

In this particular meeting the issues addressed were: the election of Chair and Vice Chair, the approval of Recreation Commission Minutes, the Review of Recreation Commission Duties and Powers, an update on the Hampton Park Master Plan, an update about potential temporary changes to Beach Playfield use during Hampton construction, an update to the Aquatics Master Plan, a CIP update, and a consideration of Betty C. Howard Awards.

For the election of Chair, Betsy Andersen was nominated by herself and was supported by the rest of the Commission. As for the Vice Chair, Andersen nominated Brian Cain who was unanimously supported.

For the approval of Recreation Commission Minutes, the Commission seemed to be a month late in terms of having their minutes under control, but Director Sara Lillevand assured the Commission that they would be back on track by next month.

The next order of duty was to review the Recreation Commission Duties and Powers to remind all who are present about the function and role of this commission in our city. Director Lillevand explained that some of the roles were to: consider/recommend programs and facilities for the Recreation Department, and to take care of pertinent matters along with advising the Council on recreational matters.

The update on the Hampton Park Master Plan went as follows: the construction is planned to start in June and is completed in a single phase. Many of the decisions about the rehabilitation have come from the community and general public. Some huge private donations have made the project able to be completed in a single phase. The project is targeted to be completed by mid-October ‘16, but could go as late as mid-February ‘17. At this time, A student named David Monical asked a question about the upkeep of the tennis facilities at Hampton throughout the future to which Director Lillevand responded by saying there will be stricter upkeep of the courts in the future after the project.

The update on the Beach Playfield pertains to how the playfield will be used as overflow space while Hampton is under construction. The Commission was talking about having Beach field open to scheduling on Sundays to alleviate the demand for field space during the construction period. It was at this time that Calvin Polvorosa asked a question about how the construction at Hampton might increase the use of tennis courts around the City and how that was going to be addressed, to which Director Lillevand stated that the Commission had not looked into the issue, but will explore options about that issue in the future as the project progresses.

The Aquatic Master Plan update went over the recent changes to the plans for the pool area and how that was going to go. It was at this time that a student by the name of Liam Bonacum asked what the main issues were concerning the aquatic center right now, to which Lillevand responded by stating that pool space and time were the limiting factors for the present setup.

For the CIP Update, Director Lillevand listed some of the issues that were being addressed, including: an update to coaches playfield, Howard entrance to Beach field, sand volleyball setup below the bridge at Beach, an update, and addition of lights at Dracena Park, and an update to the Community Hall Master Plan.

The next order of business was the nomination of the Betty C. Howard awardS. This award is given to recognize the dedicated staff and volunteers who performed outstandingly over the previous year(s). This year’s employee nominee was Katrina Morris, a Schoolmates employee at Havens Elementary. The Commission unanimously agreed she should be honored based on the recommendation by Director Lillevand. John Morrison, former Piedmont Middle School Principal, was honored for his volunteer contributions.

After the meeting concluded, I spoke with Jeremy Flake from the audience to discuss his involvement with the issues at hand. He said that he was there to see if the update to Hampton would include the basketball courts. Since Director Lillevand stated that the courts will be replaced and/or refurbished, Flake had no need to address with the Commission.

By Calvin Polvorosa, Piedmont High School Senior

Editors’ Note:  Opinions expressed are those of the author.

The Piedmont Park Commission will meet on Wednesday, April 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, located in City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue.  New Commissioners Jim Horner and Brian Mahany will be introduced and new Chair and Vice Chair will be elected.

Agenda:

• Approval of March 2, 2016 minutes
• Presentation of Piedmont Garden Club donation
• New commissioners introduced
• Public Hearing on the removal of 4 London Plane trees at 93 Sea View Ave
• Update on completed planting design for Linda/Kingston Triangle
• Update on Hampton Park Master Plan
• Update on Arbor Day April 27
  
• Update on Climate Action Plan
• Update on Warfield Avenue Street Tree
  
• Monthly Maintenance report

The meeting will be broadcast live on cable Channel 27 and on the City’s website.

Recreation Commission to Discuss Temporary Changes to Beach Playfield Use Restrictions

The Piedmont Recreation Commission will consider a recommendation to the City Council to make temporary changes to use restrictions for Beach Playfield on

Wednesday, February 24, at 7:30 pm

in the City Council Chambers, 120 Vista Avenue, Piedmont. These temporary changes would accommodate sports and other programs displaced by construction at Hampton Field.

Hampton Field is likely to be closed for construction from June 2016 to February 2017.

Closure of Hampton Field will have significant impact on Recreation and youth sport club programming due to the limited available field space in Piedmont. Hampton Field is one of three City owned sports fields in Piedmont.

The current use restrictions for Beach Playfield are as follows:

 No scheduled use on Sundays.

 Saturday use for soccer is allowed between 9:00 am and 5:00 pm.

 Baseball and softball games are allowed to take place between 10:00 am and 4:00 pm.

 Field lighting can be operated until 9:00 pm on Mondays, Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays for no more than sixteen (16) weeks per year for soccer only.

You are invited to attend the Recreation Commission meeting and express your opinion. This meeting will be televised live on KCOM-TV, Channel 27, the City’s government TV station and will be available through streaming video on the City’s web site          

 www.ci.piedmont.ca.us.

You may write your opinion and address the response to the Recreation Commission c/o Piedmont Recreation Department, 358 Hillside Avenue, Piedmont CA 94611 or send an e-mail to slillevand@ci.piedmont.ca.us .

For further information, contact Recreation Director, Sara Lillevand, at (510) 420-3073.

The Piedmont Park Commission will meet on Wednesday, January 6 at 5:30 p.m. in the City Council Chambers, located in City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue.  The meeting is open to the public and will be broadcast live.

Agenda for the meeting:

• Public Forum
• Report on PG&E Tree Pruning
• Public hearing on the requested removal and replacement of 12 street trees in the 1100 block of Warfield Avenue by residents
• Street lighting options for Linda/Kingston Triangle
• Update on replacement of Tea House oak tree
• Update on Hampton Sports Field project
• Update on Arbor Day April 27, 2016
• Monthly Maintenance report

Read about removal of the  Tea House oak tree and Hampton Sports Field project in the October 7, 2015 Park Commission minutes.

Student Report on March 18th Recreation Commission by Kennedy Christensen

On March 18, 2015 at 7:35 p.m., Commissioner Nick Levinson called to order Piedmont’s Recreation Commission’s monthly meeting. The purpose of this commission and meeting is to discuss issues, plans, and news having to do with Piedmont’s Recreation Department. This meeting is held every second Wednesday of every month. However, their next meeting will be April 15th.

The meeting began with an allotted ten minutes to anybody who wanted to bring up any issues or ideas that could potentially help the commissioners better our Recreation Department. At this time three students were able to speak. Xavier Prospero first introduced the idea of a clock at Hampton field. Austin Willis wanted to have more easily accessible teen employment provided by the Rec. Department, and I spoke about better publicity for the pool and maybe having more free hours to advertise the pool.

After we had spoken and the commissioners had asked a few questions regarding our ideas, Commissioner Nick Levinson announced that the School District approved a substantial increase (about three to four times higher) of fees for the use of fields and facilities. This would mainly affect private organized groups and teams.

Recreation Director Sara Lillevand then gave a report on the project at Beach Elementary School. The project seemed to be extremely successful with everybody enjoying the new field turf. However, she said they did go a little bit over the budget due to drainage issues though they were still fairly on point. She then gave various updates on potential changes at Hampton field, the approved landscaping and arrival of new lockers for the Pool, the recently opened summer camps registration for nonresidents of Piedmont, and also the problem of parking and access to the Community Hall and potential need for new parking spaces somewhere.

There are two events coming up sponsored by the Recreation Department. On March 28th there will be an Easter Egg Hunt for children ages two to seven, and on May 16th there will be for the first time ever, a Family Triathlon! It is aimed toward children probably under twelve and will include a swim in the Piedmont Pool, and then a bike ride and a run through the neighborhood around there, followed by food at the pool.

The next item that was discussed was the Community Outreach Project that the Recreation Commission is in the middle of, and this was probably where the members spent the most time discussing. It was also led by Recreation Department Director Sara Lillevand. The project contains a few different parts to really try to involve the residents of the city of Piedmont with it’s Recreation Department.

In early March, they launched an Online Survey to get feedback and ideas from people. It does not take very long and so far they have been getting very good responses. However, they want more people to take it so that they can get a wider variety of opinions. It is apparently aimed at people who might not use the Recreation Department programs due to their kids being out of school or grown up.

They also talked about holding a Town Meeting on March 21st and March 25th to allow for people to have the opportunity to sit in tables with a group of people and discuss and come up with ideas for shaping this Department.

Competitive Analysis is the next part of this project and is focused around getting information and ideas from other cities. Different cities were assigned to commissioners who were going to probably meet with leaders from these cities and share ideas. All of the suggested cities were fairly close to Piedmont or at least around the Bay Area, and so Commissioner Terry London brought up the idea of casting the net wider and maybe going to Sacramento or San Diego for some of their ideas.

The final part of the Community Outreach Project was making a suggestion box. The Recreation Department already has a suggestion box online, but the Council liked the idea of a physical suggestion box that people could write ideas in.

Next was the Capital Improvement Program Update, which was that this year there is 400,000 dollars now available to possibly fund projects having to do with the Recreation Department. In past years there has not been money left over and so this year is exciting in that maybe there can be some new projects happen that have been needing to get done. Various ideas were introduced from a compiled list including actual Rec. Center renovations, Community Hall improvements, projects having to do with Hampton Field or the Piedmont Pool, and a volleyball court. They also discussed the idea of saving the money for bigger, long-term projects to be actually carried out in future years. In the end, a decision was never reached.

At the end of the meeting, it was announced by Commissioner Levinson, who is also the Chair, that there will be some changes happening on the Commission. This meeting was Commissioner London’s last meeting on the Commission and also the Commission will be getting a new Chair next month so there will be a change in leadership as well.

Present at the meeting was Teddy King, a member of the City Council. As a member of the City Council she is in a way, the overseer of the Recreation Commission, as I believe all the members of City Council are assigned a different Commission. She is also in charge of, and as of now, in the process of, working with any new people that join the Commission to make the transition easier. She will also be the one reporting back to City Council the topics discussed at this Recreation Commission.

by Kennedy Christensen, Piedmont High School student

Editors’ Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.

On Monday, July 14, the Capital Improvement Projects (CIP) Review Committee will gather at 9:00 a.m. in the Council Conference Room, City Hall, 120 Vista Avenue. The purpose of the meetings is to tour sites proposed for improvement using $575,000 of WW bond funds and the City’s Capital Improvement Projects Fund.  The CIP Review Committee has been tasked with making recommendations to the City Council.

The tour and meeting is open to the public.

– CIP Review Committee Agenda –

1. Tour of Sites to be Considered for Possible CIP Funding

a. Piedmont Park; Community Hall Plaza, Amphitheater, and Terraces

b. Veterans Hall

c. Piedmont Community Pool

d. Dracena Park (Entry Way at Park Way & Dracena Avenue)

e. Coaches Field / Blair Park

f. Linda Beach Playfield (Howard Avenue Entrance)

g. Linda/Kingston Triangle

h. Crocker Park

i. Hampton Field

The sites will be visited in the order listed above. Each site visit will take approximately 15 minutes.

2. Working Lunch at Piedmont Park Tea House (Open to the public)

 There will be no public broadcast of the tour or the later CIP Review Committee discussion held over lunch at Piedmont’s Main Park Tea House. To learn about the issues, individuals should plan to attend the meeting and tour. Transportation from site to site has not been announced.

To date, none of the CIP meetings have been publicly broadcast.

The Brown Act precludes the committee members from holding discussions amongst themselves prior to reconvening in a meeting at the Tea House when consideration of the various sites will take place.   This will allow all committee members and the public to hear the deliberations.  During the tour, inquiries made to staff for a better understanding of issues and plans are permissible.

Given the complicated hoops to be jumped through to receive WW funds, the Council is likely to pursue one project rather than several. Two primary projects recently discussed by the City Council are:

– Renovation of Hampton Field’s grass playfield and tennis courts –

The City has invested in Beach Playfield, Coaches’ Field, Havens Playground, Witter Field, Hampton Field and Dracena Park.  All of which provide space for youthful activities.  Hampton Field, however, has not held up well over the years.  During wet weather, drainage is very poor significantly restricting playfield usage and causing debris to flow to a street surface.  The ever problematic tennis courts at Hampton have for decades been vulnerable to cracking with drifting sand creating hazards for players.  The City has an approved environmental document on record for Hampton Field and has recently acted to obtain construction documents to make the necessary improvements.

– Council approved enhancements and clean up of Blair Park –

Blair Park built on fill land was for generations used as a dumping ground for leaves and chipped trees. Invasive plants have damage trees and left much of the park area unusable.  The City recently took an emergency action to remove some unhealthy trees and branches that presented hazards to vehicles and park users.  Many remaining trees need attention to maintain their overall viability.  A sidewalk inside and along the roadway has been suggested as a way to enhance the park and encourage use while maintaining its open space character.  The City Council has approved a plan for Blair Park.  The park is a major gateway to Piedmont passed daily by thousands of individuals.

There are many desired projects, however some would not meet the criteria and timing required for WW bond funding.

Updated 7/14/14

How much should Piedmont city taxpayers subsidize the cost of building and maintaining sports fields used primarily by private sports clubs?

By Ralph Catalano and Randolph Wedding, Piedmont residents.
(The following expresses the personal opinions of the authors.  All statements made therein are the opinion of the authors and not necessarily those of the Piedmont Civic Association.)

Americans value universal K-12 education so highly that we rarely impose fees on students or their families to recoup the cost of building and maintaining local schools. Most communities also encourage young people to exercise by providing public parks without charge for unscheduled play. More controversy arises, however, when communities decide how much to subsidize private, organized sports clubs, which generally take priority over non-organized use or casual impromptu activities. > Click to read more…

When I think about Piedmont, the iconic image that comes to mind is the center of town – the 4 schools, the tennis courts, Piedmont Park and City Hall.  And, in the middle – the pool. We live in a really beautiful place and the pool is a vital part.

This picture fades when you foresee the pool drained and the site pad-locked. Further, it is difficult to imagine it replaced by anything else. I can’t see, and don’t want, it “developed” for alternative (commercial) purposes. That’s not Piedmont. What belongs there is a pool. This is where our kids learn to swim. This is where my parents took me to learn to swim. Why would we take that away from our community and future residents? A cost/benefit analysis falls woefully short of responding to that question. Nobody applies that logic to the other amenities.

We rightfully take pride in our city. We should be a community that does not require a “fiscal” conclusion to support inherently valuable projects. We have parks, fields and courts for our citizens and students to pursue their athletic interests. Swimmers and water polo players deserve the same. Make no mistake, the pool augments the quintessential Piedmont “selling point” – the Schools.

Should UU fail, Piedmont High School and it’s swimming and water polo teams will be without a pool. Would some families opt for private schools that have pools? Seems likely. Replacing the pool is a great opportunity. The proposed plan ties the pool and the tennis courts together and creates a modern and attractive recreational facility. This is more than a replacement – it’s an improvement.

Think about recent projects. Does anyone regret remodeling Hampton Field? Do we wish we hadn’t spent the money to replace Havens? Of course not. All things have a lifespan whether we are talking about civic amenities or personal property. Well, the pool’s life has ended and it is our responsibility to get it replaced.

Those that oppose Measure UU because they ‘don’t use the pool’ or ‘don’t like how it will be funded’ should consider the risks of shuttering the pool. How does creating a blight improve our city? Whatever the objection, in the long-run this project enhances Piedmont, which benefits us all. Because Piedmont’s a community and not just an address, we owe it to the past and future to get this done.

Please vote ‘YES’ on UU.

Chris Hart, Current President Piedmont High School Boosters, Prior President Piedmont Baseball Softball Foundation

Editors Note: Opinions expressed are those of the author.