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FINAL MINUTES
PARK, RECREATION AND OPEN SPACE ADVISORY COMMITTEE
Full Committee
Tuesday, July 6, 2004
6:30 p.m. - 9:30 p.m.
Golden Gate Park Senior Center
6101 Fulton Street at 37th Avenue
1. ROLL CALL at 6:38 PM:
Members Present:
Nancy Barber, Laura Bowlby, Robin Buckley, William Carlin, Michael Casazza, Arthur Chang, James Collins, Sharon Eberhardt, Jill Fox, Erika Gabrielsen, Patrick Hannan, Alfredo Pedroza, Catherine Rauschuber, Gregory Rocca, Rebecca Silverberg, Isabel Wade, and Nancy Wuerfel.
Members Absent:
David Miller and Nino Parker.
Members Excused:
Jeanne Darrah, Joan Roughgarden, Bradford Willmore, and William Wilson.
Staff Present:
Dan Mauer and Svetlana Karasyova.
Guest Speakers:
Bevan Dufty, Supervisor of District 8; Dana Lanza and Jenn Sramek, Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ).
2. REVIEW OF THE MINUTES: Discussion and Possible Action to Approve the Minutes of the June 1, 2004 Meeting (Svetlana Karaysova).
Correction: Ms. Jill Fox abstained from Committee vote regarding capital criteria and public outreach for 19 capital projects on hold.
Committee Vote:Motion made by Ms. Sharon Eberhardt and seconded by Ms. Nancy Barber to approve the Minutes of the June 1, 2004 Meeting, as amended by Ms. Jill Fox, unanimously approved by the Committee.
3. PUBLIC COMMENT on the items not listed on this Agenda.
Ms. Jean Bogiages has submitted a written community proposal on improving Fallen Bridge Park at Utah & 18th Street dated June 24th, 2004. Chair Isabel Wade recommends that the park advocates for Fallen Bridge Park should initiate a jurisdictional transfer of this Caltrans property to Recreation and Parks.
4. REPORTS: Discussion and Possible Action Items:
1) Staff Report Regarding Golf Fund (Dan McKenna) - Item continued to next meeting.
2) Chair and Vice Chair Reports (Isabel Wade and Arthur Chang). - Item continued to next meeting.
5. ACQUISITIONS: Discussion and Possible Action Items:
1) Report by Acquisitions Working Group (Jill Fox).
2) Review proposed changes to Edgehill Property Acquisition (Isabel Wade).
Supervisor Bevan Dufty of District 8 has presented the Amended and Restated Property Exchange Agreement for the Edgehill Property. According to the amended and restated agreement, Spiers Construction Company will buy a DPW site located at Gough/Grove Streets for $3.5 million. The Recreation and Park Department will pay Spiers $1 million in option consideration from the Open Space Fund (acquisition account) at the closing of the Gough/Grove St. property exchange. The Department will exercise the three year payment term by paying Spiers $1.3 million in year two (13-24 months) and $1.3 million in year three (25-36 months) using the Open Space Fund (acquisition account).
Supervisor Dufty has emphasized that the amended and restated agreement does not only resolve the long-term dispute over the acquisition of Edgehill's hilltop, but it also allows for a possible transfer-in of the newly founded Portola Park to the jurisdiction of the Recreation and Park Commission.
PROSAC has supported the property transaction in general terms but objected to full payment out of the Open Space Fund. Per the Open Space Fund, a minimum of 5% of the total Fund is mandated for property acquisitions. This generates about $1 million annually, meaning that the Edgehill transaction alone could dry up the Open Space Fund in the next three years, without considering the cost for the ongoing 701 Lombard acquisition. Given how broke the property acquisition fund is, PROSAC has urged Supervisor Dufty to make a strong commitment to seeking private funding opportunities to help offset expenses incurred above the initial $1 million option consideration payment.
Public Comment: The following speakers 18 testify in support of the amended and restated property exchange agreement for Edgehill Property, emphasizing a win-win solution to the long-term dispute, as well as Portola neighborhood's dedication to maintaining the newly established park: Liam Spiers, B. J. Patnude, Kori Dagum, Craig Joyner, Pat Hendrick, Sheralyn Weber, Joe Story, Joseph Acosta, Bruce A. Brown, Lee Ann Prifty, Griffin de Luce, Marcy de Luce, Sakol Mongkolkasetarin, Pinky Kushner, Stan Kaufman, James Keith, Bevan Dufty, and Louise Sy.
There is no public comment in opposition.
Committee Vote:Motion made by Mr. Patrick Hannan and seconded by Mr. Michael Casazza, as amended by Ms. Nancy Wuerfel and seconded by Ms. Sharon Eberhardt, to the effect that PROSAC approves of the amended and restated property exchange agreement for Edgehill Property under the conditions that: 1) an operations plan be developed for newly acquired properties, including a Memorandum of Understanding between the Recreation and Park Department and community volunteers willing to maintain proposed parks; that 2) the Recreation and Park Commission encourages an increase in minimum budget allocations for land acquisitions from the Open Space Fund, meaning allocations of more than the current 5 percent; and that 3) the Board of Supervisors under Supervisor Bevan Dufty's leadership make their best effort to secure non-city funds to close the proposed transaction within the first year, including using only $1 million dollars from the Open Space Fund and $2.2 million dollars from non-city sources, so that the Open Space Fund will not have finance the entire $3.6 million dollars over the next three years as is currently written in the amended and restated property exchange agreement. The motion passed an affirmative vote with 13 Ayes: Robin Buckley, William Carlin, Michael Casazza, Arthur Chang, James Collins, Sharon Eberhardt, Jill Fox, Erika Gabrielsen, Patrick Hannan, Catherine Rauschuber, Gregory Rocca, Rebecca Silverberg, and Nancy Wuerfel. 0 Nays. 1 Abstained: Nancy Barber. 2 Recused: Alfredo Pedroza and Isabel Wade.Laura Bowlby left the meeting.
6. CAPITAL PROGRAM: Discussion and Possible Action Items:
1) Monthly Capital Program Update (Dan Mauer).
a) LEJ Living Classroom Project at McLaren Park (Nancy Wuerfel).
Ms. Dana Lanza and Ms. Jenn Sramek of Literacy for Environmental Justice (LEJ) have introduced the Living Classroom Project to be proposed in the southeast corner of McLaren Park at Wilde Overlook. The project entails a LEED certified ecological building of 1,450 square feet to be erected for educational purposes and a landscaped area of 1,500 square feet. The proposed site at McLaren Park will connect the Living Classroom with 4 schools within 1.5 miles, and it will be near significant natural areas. The LEJ representatives have presented the results of 200 public input surveys which supported overwhelmingly the project location at McLaren Park. They also talked about the public process which included 5 community meetings, 4 community design workshops, and 10 youth design workshops.
Ms. Nancy Wuerfel has provided strong criticism of the LEJ's proposal to construct a building on pristine, undeveloped park land with glorious views. Ms. Wuerfel has made citations both from the San Francisco General Plan and the McLaren Park Master Plan, documenting how this siting proposal violates many master planning policies. Ms. Wuerfel is concerned about the precedent of using open space and a natural area for development, and that other nonprofit organizations may want access to Parklands if they have funding for construction projects. This precedent also defeats PROSAC's aim to develop meaningful land acquisitions policies for the Department. In addition, the Bayview community should be consulted whether they want to see the project go across the highway and not serve their immediate constituents, as intended originally in both the Department of the Environment and Coastal Conservancy grant proposals.
The Committee has deliberated the LEJ proposal and has taken extensive public comment on the matter. The Committee consents that the project is noble in purpose and is important to the community. However, PROSAC does not believe that the LEJ has conducted appropriate public outreach to define site selection criteria and to do exhaustive site search. (LEJ claims to have reviewed 34 sites.) There could be many other sites identified within the community, to locate the Living Classroom, and LEJ is encouraged to solicit ideas from the Bayview leaders. Or, as Rebecca Silverberg asserts, there are under-used school sites contiguous to McLaren Park. The Committee thanks the LEJ for the introductory presentation and wishes to continue this dialogue in the future with broader community participation.
Public Comment: The following 30 speakers comprised of LEJ youth and adults testify in support of the LEJ Living Classroom project at the proposed McLaren Park's site: John Jack, Ernesto Pepito, John Solomon, Jenn Sramek, Sherlina Nageer, Leesha Langlois, Alexander, Eric Miao, Nick Lapis, Susan Boshoven, Anna Blake, Chris Norman, Hillary Amsberry, Marisha Farnsworth, Rob Ashmore, Anthony Dantzlev, Joshua Abraham, Tom Bressan, Teresia Gichache, LaConstance Shahid, Francisco Da Costa, Yvea Eaton, Christy Rocca, Tai-Sun Schvema, Jake Jelonek, Cece Carpro, Ben Francisco, Parin Shah, Recheal Genochio, and Milton Reynolds.
The following 6 speakers oppose to locating the Living Classroom at the proposed McLaren Park's site, stressing either environmental concerns for the undeveloped open space or the fact that the mitigation money funding this project should be spent in the Bayview district: Linda McKay, Franco Mancini of Friends of McLaren Park, Dwayne Jusino of Community Alliance of Portola and Silver Terrace, and Lisa Vittori. Deirdre Elmansoumi of Kids in Park and Pinky Kushner of Sierra Club.
Committee Vote:Discussion only. PROSAC is willing to continue the dialogue with LEJ on this issue.
RPD has not yet taken a position on this proposed project.
2) Report by Capital Projects Working Group regarding the draft criteria for evaluating capital improvement projects in response to the need to prioritize 19 projects on hold and future projects (Erika Gabrielsen).
Ms. Erika Gabrielsen has presented a document, Draft Criteria for Evaluating Capital Improvement Projects developed by a joint working group comprised of PROSAC and Rec & Park representatives. These draft criteria form Step 1 in evaluating capital projects, specifically the present 19 projects on hold, to determine their merit and priority in relation to other projects. The working group suggests six broader categories for evaluation: public safety or health; protection and conservation of natural and built resources; improve operating efficiency and/or generate new revenue sources; coordination with other capital projects; equitable provision of services or facilities; and provision of services not available now. Each evaluation category is explained by a number of specific questions which also prompt some potential measures. Funding criteria are considered separately in Step 2 as funding opportunities and strategies to determine the most efficient and effective use of resources as they become available. Funding is thus a second screen to evaluation of projects. Land acquisition projects are not evaluated by this matrix.
Ms. Gabrielsen welcomes PROSAC's input on the basic format of these draft criteria, which will be discussed at the July 7th and 8th public meetings. Next work phase will include scoring and ranking of projects.
The Committee has recommended to include the word "high need" in the language of the document, and to add "matching funds from community" as a bullet to funding criteria.
Committee Vote:Motion made by Ms. Sharon Eberhardt and seconded by Mr. Alfredo Pedroza to approve the basic format for "Draft Criteria for Evaluating Capital Improvements Projects," as developed by the PROSAC working group in collaboration with the Capital Improvement Division staff, unanimously approved by the Committee.
7. ANNOUNCEMENTS: None.
8. ADJOURNMENT:
Committee Vote:Motion made by Mr. Patrick Hannan and seconded by Mr. Michael Casazza to adjourn the meeting at 10:10 PM, unanimously approved by the Committee.
Note: These minutes set forth all actions taken by the Park, Recreation and Open Space Citizens Advisory Committee on matters stated, but not necessarily in the chronological order in which the matters were taken up.
Attendance note: On July 6, 2004, 17 PROSAC members and at least 57 community members.
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