Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting - July 9, 2025
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Parks and Recreation Commission Meeting - July 9, 2025
On July 9, 2025, the Monterey Parks and Recreation Commission met to receive updates on department operations, discuss a proposal for a new community space in the Villa del Monte neighborhood, approve minutes, and appoint new officers for the fiscal year 2025-2026.
Public Comments & Testimony
- On the Villa del Monte neighborhood needs analysis and potential community space at 205 Montecito Avenue:
- John McClellan, a neighborhood resident, expressed strong support for the proposed community space, citing its ideal location and potential benefit to the area.
- Shelly Schmidt, a Casanova Oaknoll resident and NCIP representative, acknowledged the need in Montecito but raised concerns about the Casanova Oaknoll Park Center lying vacant. She suggested further outreach to that neighborhood, questioned funding sources given the city's financial constraints, asked whether NCIP funds could be used on a leased private property, and stated that neighbors would want discussion on any potential leasing of Casanova to a private entity.
- Chelsea (online, Casanova Oaknoll resident) requested access to the aggregate data from the needs analysis, expressed that opportunities remain at Casanova, and appreciated that there are no near-term plans to close that center.
Discussion Items
- Parks and Recreation Operations Report (May–June 2025):
- Shannon and Bill presented updates on parks maintenance, including weed control and fuel reduction, sea lion closure at San Carlos Beach, and a re-landscaping project there. Summer camps are full with waitlists, exceeding 2019 registration levels. The sports center pool reopened on June 1, with a new cycling studio, improved dehumidification system, and expanded group exercise programming. Key statistics: 10,000 new memberships since June 1, 130.6% of revenue achieved for camps, 5,230 meals on wheels in FY24 (up from 984 in 2019), and 51 summer softball teams with 765 participants. Senior programs are growing, with 31% of Monterey’s population aged 55+ (projected 41.2% in 10 years). Commissioners praised the staff and facilities.
- Villa del Monte Neighborhood Needs Analysis and Potential Community Space at 205 Montecito Avenue:
- Shannon presented a detailed analysis showing the Via Del Monte neighborhood has four times the children and twice the renter rate compared to Casanova Oaknoll, and is more diverse. Attendance at Montecito Park events is high (300+), while Casanova averages low (30 or fewer). The proposal is to lease a 3,600 sq ft building at 205 Montecito Avenue (across from Montecito Park) for a community center, potentially in partnership with the Boys & Girls Club. The city would be the leaseholder, and the Boys & Girls Club would provide after-school programming. Initial improvements (restrooms, ADA, landscaping, networking) are needed. Commissioners discussed lease terms (5–10 years), staffing, and whether Casanova would be replaced. Shannon clarified Casanova would remain available for scheduled programs but not be closed. Some commissioners expressed support for addressing the underserved neighborhood.
Key Outcomes
- Approval of Minutes: The commission unanimously approved the minutes of the previous meeting.
- Appointment of Chair and Vice Chair for Fiscal Year 2025–2026: The commission voted to appoint Commissioner Justin as Chair and Commissioner Kathy as Vice Chair, following the established rotation. The motion passed unanimously.
- Next Steps on 205 Montecito Avenue: The proposal will be further developed with cost estimates and a funding plan, and presented to City Council within six to eight weeks.
Meeting Transcript
Meeting to order. We're gonna have Melissa do the roll call first. Chair Crampton. Here Vice Chair Ono. Here. Commissioner Benz. Here. Commissioner Bariah. Commissioner McKeon. Here. Commissioner Weed. Here. And Commissioner Schmidt. Thank you. Nate, if you could uh discuss the uh public comment procedures, please. Yes, thank you, Madam Chair, and good evening, Commissioners. Information on participating in this meeting and providing public comment, including remotely by Zoom or telephone, is available on this meeting's agenda, which is online at iSearch Monterey.gov. Remote commenters, you will be muted until it is your turn to speak. And a timer will be shown on the screen. If you are connected on Zoom, the timer is accurate with no delay. In the chamber, we ask attendees, please to keep your phones and devices muted to prevent audio interference with tonight's meetings. Thank you for participating in your city government. All right. Now we're gonna have the uh presentation on the status of the parks and recreation department operations for May through June 2025. This is not a project under CEQA Article 20, Section 15378, and under General Article 5, Section 15061. Shannon, please. Okay, so actually it's pretty much gonna go right into TICE, our park operations manager. All right, good evening, everybody. Um, as you can see there, we have uh upcoming meeting for Laguna Grande. Um hope to see people there. That's on uh have your say Monterey too, by the way, where the things are posted. Next slide. All right, there you go. We there's all the wonderful statistics uh that that we've uh kind of accomplished in the last couple months. Uh the picture you see there is Camp Keen Sabi or where um our crew has uh helped uh kind of prep for for the camp there. That's the pool, which was uh which is a big undertaking every year, uh putting that up. Uh really want to tip my cap to um supervisor Steve Garcia and uh senior park maintenance worker, uh Sal Ortiz and some other the parks maintenance staff. It's it's not easy and obviously done in the uh very exposed heat out there on a concrete pad. So it's uh quite an undertaking. But um obviously one of the other things that you see up there that's I really want to point out is the weed control fuel reduction, just weed eating the city from end to end um with contractors with in-house staff, um, another big undertaking to get done. And they did it in a very short amount of time. So I'd say um pretty much most of our areas got hit um in the months of May and June. So as soon as we got that dry weather, um that was a pretty short short turnaround, I think for our for everybody to get that done. So very proud of our our staff and contractors for doing that. Next slide, please. Um yeah, as you can see, there's uh we had a fun uh fun May with and part of June with uh the sea lions. Sea lions came back up uh to San Carlos Beach, started one that one weekend with just a small group of them, and then within a week the whole line of beach was covered. So unfortunately we had to close the beach for temporarily. Um at the same time we had um uh we our crew was doing a re-landscaping project there. So if you haven't seen it, it looks really nice.
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