HomeMy WebLinkAboutApril 24
Parks and Recreation Committee Special Meeting Minutes
April 24, 2006
Town Hall Chambers
Focus: Facilities
Present: Val Metcalfe - Co-Chair, Patty Radlo, Karin Bergh, Ben Gikis, Rebecca
Hickman, Scott Vanderlip, Steve Johnson; Tod McLemore - Parks and Recreation
Supervisor, Honorable Mike O’Malley, Council Liaison
Guests: Cesar Bisono, Zsusa Molnar, Patti Roche
The Committee meeting was opened by Val Metcalfe at 9:30 a.m.
The minutes for March 20th Parks and Recreation meeting were approved unanimously.
Existing Recreation Element
Tod McLemore provided a copy of the Recreation Element from the General Plan for the
Town of Los Altos Hills for committee review. The Recreation Element Provides
guidelines for meeting the recreational needs of the Town. The objective in the
Recreational Element as stated in the document is to provide recreation areas adequate to
meet neighborhoods and community needs of the Town. These areas are set forth in the
document as Open Space Preserve, Open Space Conservation, Public Recreation, Private
Recreation, Historical sites, and Private and Public Institutional areas. The committee
will be using the Recreational Element as a guideline for the meeting as they assess what
is feasible for the Town in terms of recreational facilities and programming development.
Current Facilities & Programs Assessment
The Committee identified the following facilities (an asterisk indicates current use by
department for programs):
*Town Hall
Town Ring
*Little League Fields
*Little League Playground
*Byrne Preserve
Westwind Barn.
Other Community Facilities Shared
Pinewood School
Bullis School (used in the past for camp programs until closure, at present program use in
negotiation.)
Community Partners
At present, the Los Altos/LAH Little League, Pinewood School, Friends of Westwind,
Los Altos Hills Horsemen’s Association (Town Ring Maintenance and Park Bond
Monies Agreement), Skyhawks Sports Camps and LASD.
Possible Partnerships That Can Be Made For Sharing Facilities
With limited facilities resources, sharing private and public facilities with other
organizations is important for the department’s on-going program development. The
Committee identified the following organizations as possible options for resource
sharing:
Foothill College (sports fields, classroom use)
Temple Beth Am (meeting/classroom use)
Bullis Charter School (future facilities development)
St. Nicholas School (sports fields, classroom use)
Hidden Villa
The Waldorf School
Limitations of Current Facilities
Because of the Town’s limited facilities it is hard to offer consistent indoor programs as
well as a broader offering of outdoor sports programs that meet community demands.
Therefore, the lack of such facilities in particular limits the department’s ability to offer
programs in peak programming times like other towns. Facilities limitations are
identified as such:
Multi-purpose sports field
All-weather sport court
Indoor gym
Indoor community or class program room
The Committee will explore ways to remedy our community’s lack of these facilities
through various options presented at this meeting.
Improvements to Current Facilities
The Committee identified current projects in process to improve existing facilities:
Sewer project at the Little League Fields
Town Ring Improvement Project
The Committee identified projects currently on the table for consideration:
Small Lower Riding Ring for programs at Westwind Barn
The Committee identified future projects for consideration:
Multi-purpose sports field
All-weather court
Community Room
Possible Location(s) for Future Facilities
Given limited designated recreational land available for recreational development, the
committee identified the following possible locations for facilities development:
O’Keefe Property
Westwind Barn (lower program arena, community room)
Little League Fields (community room)
Purissima Water District Building (community/class room/department office)
Types of New Facilities to be Considered
Multi-purpose sports field
All-weather sports court
Community Room – improvements to Little League shack may allow us to expand site
for community room
Purissima Water Building (available in 9 months – structural integrity and soundness a
consideration to improvements)
Positive Aspects of Adding Facilities
By improving and/or adding new facilities, the Department will be able to greatly expand
its recreational offerings to the community. The addition of a community room will
enable after-school as well as year-round indoor programming for children and adults. A
multi-sports field will allow more diversified sports offerings (lacrosse, soccer, football,
etc.) An all-weather court will allow for basketball, volleyball, badminton etc.
Negative aspects of Adding New Facilities
The committee identified the difficulty of acquiring land and cost of development
beyond Park Bond monies grants. Working to limit impact to those neighborhoods
affected is critical – a completely transparent and open approach to neighbors is vital to
the success to any facilities development project.
Conclusions
The Committee has identified the following areas of facilities needs and will be working
to prioritize and further work towards feasibility of these projects:
Multi-purpose sports field
All-weather sports court
Lower program riding ring at Westwind Barn
Community Room at Little League Fields
Community Room at Westwind Barn
Partnership with Foothill College
Water District Building Development
Scoreboard Project at Little League Field # 1
Pony Rides at Town Hall Picnic June 4
A motion was made to allocate $500.00 from the Parks and Recreation Committee fund
to pay for Pony Ride service at the Town Picnic. The Los Altos Hills Horsemen’s
Association will be providing volunteers to support Parks and Recreation. The motion
was seconded and approved unanimously.
Presentations from the Floor
Patti Roche, representative from Friends of Westwind, discussed the development of a
Master Plan that would enable operations at Westwind a better opportunity to fully
support the program and development needs of Parks and Recreation and the LAH
community. Val Metcalfe and Steve Johnson thanked Patti for her comments and said
that they thought a Master Plan for Westwind is a good idea and that the idea should be
vetted through the established Westwind Barn Governance Ad Hoc Committee.
Meeting adjourned at 12:00 pm.
Respectfully submitted, Rebecca Hickman