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HomeMy WebLinkAboutMin - PR - 2011.11.17MEETING MINUTES Regular Meeting of the Burlingame Parks & Recreation Commission Thursday, November 17, 2011 The regular meeting of the Burlingame Parks & Recreation Commission was called to order by Chair Eaton at 7:00 pm at Burlingame City Hall, 501 Primrose Road, Burlingame. ROLL CALL Commissioners Present: Eaton, Hesselgren, Baum, Griffith, Castner-Paine, Lau Commissioners Absent: Bulotti Staff Present: Director Skeels; Administrative Secretary Helley, Supervisor Hager Others Present: Ian Milne, Kevin & Elizabeth Raffaelli, Nancy Torres, Kerry Bitner, Laurel Taschetta Chair Eaton requests that the order of the agenda be changed to accommodate those present for New Business Item B. Burlingame Girls Softball — Use of Ray Park Request. He requests the order allow New Business Item B. Burlingame Girls Softball — Use of Ray Park Request to be placed after Public Comments. Request approved, Baum not present. Staff Presentation — Supervisor Hager has been with the City of Burlingame for 12 years. She currently supervises two coordinators PUBLIC COMMENTS There were no public comments MINUTES Commission moved approval of minutes to the October meeting. Motion carried; Bulotti not present. Chair Eaton requested the order New Business items " and 6B to the top of the agenda to accommodate the attendees for New Business Item 6B. Commission so moved. Chairperson Eaton requested the order of the agenda be changed to accommodate the persons present for Item C. Commission agreed to the change in order. NEW BUSINESS A. Rotation of Chair — Chair Eaton passed the gavel to incoming Chair Hesselgren, who will run the remainder of the meeting. B. Public Art Mural ProuosalNillage Park — Nancy Torres, owner of Art Attack, a local art instruction school, is working with Laurel on her eighth grade project to do a mural in the city. This is a yearlong project based on a passion. Laurel chose mural art and decided Village Park as a location for the project as it needs inspiration is a great size for the project and the area to be painted is in great condition. Laurel has chosen an appropriate design for young children. (Picture attached) The cost of maintenance will be covered by the Laurel's family. Laurel's 1 mother stated the family has a trust from which a donation of $1,000 to the effort of ongoing maintenance can be arranged. Laurel is looking at a March timeline for completion. Supervisor Hager, who oversees the Village Park site, noted the wall Laurel has chosen faces the playground and she feels it is a good use of the area. Commissioner Lau noted that on the application form it says the mural will incorporate the artist name, date and the name of Art Attack. She inquired if the city is endorsing a commercial establishment by having the Art Attack name included on the mural. Would the artist name and date be sufficient? Does the current policy state it is ok to endorse a commercial establishment? Hager stated she would do research on the issue and will be providing a staff report stating this concern and the commission's finding when this goes before the city council. Commissioner Eaton was concerned about the maintenance, but fully supports the project. Motion by Eaton: (move to by amend Lau; seconded by Baum): "Commission recommends Council consider approval of the Public Art Application to install a mural on the south side of the Village Park Preschool building without the commercial establishments name incorporated." Motion passed unanimously, 5-1-1. (Bulotti absent;Castner-Paine opposed) OLD BUSINESS A. Burlingame Girls Softball —Use of Ray Park Request — Elizabeth Raffaelli attended the Commission meeting the last time girl's softball made a request to the commission. She stated that games and practices make the Public park unusable and the park is overwhelmed. This overwhelming amount of activities limits entering and leaving the neighborhood, the result is huge traffic problems that occur with games and practices and parking is a limited as it is. As neighbors, Raffaelli stated, we have to avoid having visitors on Saturdays. We are subjected to loud noise such as music; team chants and cheering all fall and spring. The only time we have peace and can use the park is on Sundays. We are not anti -sports, we would just like one day of peace in the fall and spring. Bob of 1510 Drake Ave stated he lives next to the park and his family finds it pleasant. The park seems to be made for sports. Eric of 1512 Cabrillo Ave stated he moved into the neighborhood about four years ago. He recalls a huge meeting on the same issue with lots of passion from the neighbors and is surprised there were not more people present tonight. He recalls games on Sunday were loud and is surprised there was not notice of that decision. He felt this was a stealth decision on the commission's part and encouraged commission to inform neighbors of any changes regarding the park usage. Commissioner Hesselgren noted Sundays was for practice only and the decision was arrived at by taking into consideration the San Mateo Union High School District's now charging for their field space. Ian Milne, President of Burlingame Girls Softball, stated he was happy to see there were fewer people attending the meeting as he hope it speaks to the fact that BGS is being better neighbors than in the years past. BGS board members and volunteers, do try to impress upon our people about noise level and parking, etc. Regarding playground use, it seems to be dominated by the siblings of the players. The question was asked earlier of how many makeup games do we anticipate per year? In a "no rain" year, the number of makeup games would be low. Makeup games are not due to bad scheduling, they are due to rain outs with no more than two makeup games per field in spring. 2 Sundays are quieter. The new request is for no more than two makeup games per two fields on Sundays. Currently we play makeup games only on Sundays. Commissioner Baum voiced a concern with BGS expanding their program. He is also concerned about out of season sports as well as children being over scheduled. Commissioner Eaton posed to the Commission that due to limited field space, the Commission take a position on the programs staying close to their roots and limit their expansion. Additionally, he suggested the commission look a maximizing the use of field allocations by revisiting the Field Use Policy. Hesselgren stated her concern that the new request limits the amount of pure recreational use of the park. Commissioner Lau suggested that the Commission table the item until after the Commission has reviewed the Field Use Policy. It was a consensus of the Commission that this item be held over to a future meeting. B. Cuernavaca Dog Off Leash Survey — Commissioner Hesselgren reported the Youth Advisory Committee will be helping to distribute the surveys on December 17th. Once the surveys have been returned/collected, she will tally the results and report back to commission. REPORTS/HANDOUTS Staff Reports 1. Monthly Report — Distributed 2. Bayside Sign Update — Skeels reported the sign has been installed at the site. 3. Director Position — Skeels announced his retirement at the end of 2011. 4. Correspondence — There was no correspondence. Commissioner Reports Commissioner Griffith reported the Foundation has started drafting it's by laws and articles of incorporation. He invites any interested party to be a charter member. The entire process of obtaining a 501©3 non-profit organization status takes about one year. Commissioner Baum suggested the use of a temporary field fence on the bayside field with the closest proximity to the gas station side of the park to maximize field space for the younger kids sports. Next Meeting The next meeting of the Parks & Recreation Commission is scheduled to be held on Thursday, January 19, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. at Burlingame Recreation Center. There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 9:20 pm. Respectfully submitted, Joleen Helley Recording Secretary 3