Alameda Recreation and Park Commission Regular Meeting - June 12, 2025
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Alameda Recreation and Park Commission Regular Meeting - June 12, 2025
The Alameda Recreation and Park Commission held its regular monthly meeting on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at 7:00 PM in the City Hall Council Chambers. The meeting included non-agenda public comment, staff communications, commissioner communications, approval of minutes, a presentation on adult and youth athletic programming, and an update on the Aquatic Center project. No formal actions were taken on the discussion items.
Consent Calendar
- Approval of Minutes (May 8, 2025): The commission unanimously approved the minutes from the May 8, 2025 regular meeting.
Public Comments & Testimony
- Henry Song (non-agenda public comment): A long-time parks user and racket sports enthusiast spoke against the expansion of pickleball in Alameda parks. He raised concerns about equity (pickleball groups monopolizing courts and pressuring officials), environmental noise (70–80 decibels, akin to a vacuum running continuously), displacement of tennis players, and documented behavioral issues (e.g., a hitting partner was threatened at Ladecker Park). He urged the commission and city council to limit pickleball in certain areas if coexistence becomes impossible.
Discussion Items
6-A: Adult and Youth Athletic Programming
- Presentation: Joey Carroll, Recreation Supervisor, provided an overview of current and planned athletic programs. Youth programs include after-school pickleball (grades 6–8), homeschool PE (10–15 participants per session), and tennis lessons (ages 6–14; newly expanding to ages 15–17 in fall). Summer camps feature pickleball, volleyball, basketball, flag football, ultimate frisbee (pilot season), and all-sports camps. Adult offerings include tennis lessons (beginner/advanced beginner at Krusi Park), women’s flag football (64 participants, fills in minutes), open gym (Sundays, 6–10 PM at Alameda Point Gym, ~15 attendees), pickleball classes and drop-in at the Hub, and softball (9 leagues, 45 teams). Future initiatives include a youth flag football league at Estuary Park (September), expanded pickleball for 3rd–5th graders, and adult dodgeball (pilot in fall) and kickball (spring/summer). Commissioners praised the pilots and expansion, and asked about use of school district facilities; Director Long noted school gyms are heavily rented, and overall program capacity is constrained until a sports complex expansion occurs.
6-B: Aquatic Center Project Update
- Presentation: Director Long (also project manager) reported on design development progress. The two-pool solution (30-meter competition pool and activity pool with zero-depth entry) was selected after four community workshops and surveys with over 3,000 responses. Value engineering reduced the project cost from $42 million to $35.5 million while preserving all water space—a key priority. Reductions included removing the outdoor pavilion, shrinking the administration building, changing exterior materials from wood composite to split-face block with perforated metal accents, reducing parking by 20+ spaces, rotating the activity pool to tighten deck space, and eliminating a large storage structure (replaced by fenced covered area). The community room was reduced to 11×17 feet (lower rental revenue expected). Geotechnical challenges require soil stabilization to 35 feet for seismic resilience (designed for a 7.8 earthquake; more than 2 inches of settlement would render the pool unusable). Groundwater is 3–5 feet deep, requiring mechanical pumping systems. City Council directed full electrification (no gas), adding upfront cost but with long-term utility savings; the City Manager proposed $4.5 million from unassigned reserves to close the budget gap, and bond sales generated $1.1 million. Next steps: Planning Board (June 23) for conditional use permit, City Council (July 1) for project approval; construction documents continue, with bidding in December 2025 and construction start in January 2026. Director noted collaboration with Alameda Municipal Power for rebates and a demonstration project partnership. Commissioners asked about the smaller community room’s revenue impact and the feasibility of a future pavilion (deferred to the community garden area). No public comment was received.
Key Outcomes
- Minutes approved (unanimous).
- Information received: Presentations on athletic programming and the Aquatic Center were received; no motions were made.
- Next meeting: Scheduled for July 10, 2025. Agenda will include an update on the Gene Sweeney BMX/loop facility, an annual report from the Shrub Group (housing), and a workshop on the surf pool proposal.
- Adjournment: The meeting was adjourned unanimously.
Meeting Transcript
All right, good evening. Welcome to the June 12th, 2025 meeting of the Alameda Recreation and Parks Commission. Can we get a roll call, please? Yes, uh Commissioner Alexander here. Uh Commissioner Robbins. Here. And uh Vice Chair Schwartz. Here. All right, great. First item on our uh agenda is uh non-agenda public comment. Um so the we have members of the public can speak for three minutes on any matter and not on the agenda. Commissioners will not respond uh or answer questions. The city welcomes speakers providing public comment, but please be advised. This is a limited public forum. As such, speakers must stay on topic if speaking to a particular agenda item, and if speaking during non-agenda public comment, they must address matters within the jurisdiction uh subject matter jurisdiction of the city. If uh speakers fail to follow these rules, they will be warned, and if they continue to disregard the rules, their opportunity to speak will be ended. Do we have any non-agenda tonight? We do we have one in-person speaker, Speaker Henry Song. Welcome, Speaker Song. Good evening, Commissioner, so thanks for your time. Uh, my name is Henry Song, and I'm a long time uh parks user and patron of of Alameda Parks here for over 15 years. I've been a racket sports connoisseur of sorts, if you will, for almost three quarters of my existence, you know, playing uh ping pong with my dad as a five-year-old boy. I've dabbled poorly in squash and racquetball, and of course, the longest being is that I've been a long-time tennis player for over 15 years. Um, and I'm here to talk about the growing concern about the the expansion of pickleball here in Alameda Parks. Um I think uh I know there were some policy and action items on and off for several years through the parks commission and of course through the city to uh provide space for pickleball players. But I think at the very least, um I think going forward the commission and the parks and city council um should reconsider or at least look for ways to limit um pickleball play in certain areas of Alameda based on some um pressing issues, uh, being that of uh uh the issues like equity, environmental impact, displacement of tennis players, and documented uh behavioral issues. So with equity, um public parks are meant to serve for a diverse, you know, demographics of uh uh of uh individuals who come and use public facilities, not just the loudest or the latest trend uh that that takes place uh in our public space, but what we're seeing is an imbalance in that pickleball groups effectively monopolize certain courts using um ways to fence off public spaces and pressuring uh various city officials and volunteer commissioners to give them exclusive access. But what we're seeing is an imbalance in that pickleball groups effectively monopolize certain courts using um ways to fence off public spaces and pressuring uh various city officials and volunteer commissioners to give them exclusive access. Um in fact, in a study in 2023 reported by USTA, 40% of public tennis courts in some California cities have been converted or disrupted by you know pickleball overlays, and that in some ways um and also in the process of taking out uh um uh access to youth and and and children uh being able to use public space is is not equitable. And then there's the environmental issues where the sounds of pickleball can exceed over 70 to 80 decibels. That is also the you know the equivalence of a vacuum uh running a non-stop potentially for 12 hours, and that has given um some distress to even homeowners and nearby residents who are unable to bear with the the uh the incessant noise and the pop, not being able to extricate from those situations, and of course, with the tennis players being pushed out because they're often forced in these situations where they have to shared spaces, and in one of very egregious incident last September, my hitting partner was threatened by pickleball players at Ladecker Park because they kept uh cutting through, you know, in the middle of our uh live rally and refusing to walk around in the the walkway that's behind the tennis courts, and such behavior has gotten so out of hand that uh you know I think coexistence is becoming a problem. So I think going forward, if uh if it comes to the point where the coexistence is not possible, and I think that we need to look for ways to either um uh you know keep the two activities uh you know from from uh butting heads going forward. Thank you. Thank you, Speaker Song. Any other speakers? Great. All right, we'll close public uh close uh non-agenda public comment. Uh next on our agenda is uh staff communication. Uh so Director Long. All right, thank you, Commissioners. Um tonight's director's report is going to go over uh upcoming events and uh actions that we have going on to start for our upcoming citywide community events. Uh the rhythmics rising sea uh performance series will take place Saturday, June 21st at 1 p.m. at Svenson Maritime Park, and that is located north of the estuary off of Clement. Um on Saturday, July 11th. Um they're also going to have uh a performance um from 1 to 4 at Shoreline Park in Bayfarm with live music and dance um theater, and you can get more details from rhythmics.org. Um, Alameda Walks will be taking place in Bay Farm Island uh Saturday, June 28th from 9 until 10:15. Um, and you'll meet at Godfrey Park, which is a uh 281 Beach Road. Um, and then for our department upcoming events, the 57th annual Sandcastle Cont or Sculpture Contest will take place Saturday uh June 21st from 9 until 1 p.m. at the Robert Crown Memorial State Beach. Uh it's it's sponsored by ARPD in partnership with East Bay um uh park district.
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