okay i'm going to call to order uh the wednesday february 11th

2026 meeting of the city of mountain views parks and recreation and urban forestry board

uh allison flynn can you please conduct the roll call yep we have brian here

davis here silvester here chair mitchner yes here and your summer is absent

All right. We'll now move on to item three, which is the minutes approval.

First, is there any public comment, either in the room or online, regarding the minutes from the January 11th meeting?

No one online.

All right. Is there anyone who wishes to make a motion?

So moved.

Second.

We have a motion by Commissioner Bryan, seconded by Commissioner Davis.

Commissioner Bryan? Yes. Commissioner Davis? Yes. Commissioner Sylvester? Yes.

Passes 4-0. All right, moving on to oral communications from the public.

This portion of the meeting is reserved for persons wishing to address the commission on any matter not

matter not on the agenda. Speakers are limited to three minutes and state law prohibits the

commission from acting on non-agenda items. If anyone here in the room would like to provide

public comment, please fill out a blue card. And for those online, if you could please

use the raise hand feature and Allison Flynn will recognize you at the appropriate time.

So let's start with people in the room. Anybody here for public comment?

Anybody online?

All right, I will close public comment.

Moving on to new business.

Item number 5.1 is a heritage tree removal application appeal for 2415 Benjamin Drive in Mountain View.

before we go into that I'd like to do a couple of things first I want to introduce

two city attorneys who are going to be participating or at least listening to the process

assistant city attorney Diana Fazelli will be representing city staff and I see Diana on

on the zoom and senior assistant city attorney David Willis will be representing the urban

forestry board uh just to outline the process on tonight's appeal uh we'll start off with a staff

report then the appellant will have uh 10 minutes to speak and uh if the appellant wishes to

allocate some of that time to the owner um they may they may do that if they desire

We will then have PRC questions for either the staff or the appellant.

Following that, there will be public comment.

Then staff will have two minutes for concluding remarks and the appellant will also have two

minutes.

Again, they can allocate some of that time to the owner if they choose.

Following that, PRC will deliberate and come to some kind of a motion and a vote.

so uh to start things off uh i believe russell hansen our forestry manager will be presenting

all right thank you commissioners appreciate you coming this evening

um again the item that we're hearing this evening is for 2415 benjamin drive it is a heritage tree

appeal. The tree itself, actually, let me backtrack. You've got the aerial image up on the

screen now currently in that lower left corner is the approximate location of where this podocarpus

is located. As you can see, it's kind of right along the edge of the property in there between

those two properties. The tree itself is again a podocarpus graciliar. It's 22 inches in diameter.

It is what we would consider to be in good health and overall fair structure with the only

concerns being a little bit of unbalanced canopy from prior pruning. Applicant had listed the

following criteria as the reason for removal. Tree is in good or fair health. The tree does

not appear to have proper growth space. The tree is interfering with utility service, for example,

electricity, gas, sewer, or water. And lastly, that the tree is growing in close proximity to

the structures and causing damage or will do so in the near future.

So when we overall looked at the tree again, the canopy itself, again, we felt it was healthy.

Overall, the structure is good. As you can see to the left side, it appears that the neighbor

for the tree ultimately has done some side pruning to kind of keep some of that debris

off of their roof or otherwise, but hasn't really unbalanced the canopy anything too

significantly where we were too concerned. The picture of the tree on the right shows kind of

a location between the two properties and then it truly lies right there along that property line.

You can also see at the base of the tree there there's a little red dot. Ultimately that is kind

of what we were told was identified as the gas line that runs up to provide service to this property.

Start with the picture on the right because that relates to the gas line again.

You can see the gas meter on that side of the house.

Ultimately, it's about a foot from the home, extends out.

Not real sure exactly how it flows underneath there, but again, we're relying on the PG&E

located red dot to kind of tell us where that line is located under the edge of the tree.

When you look at the tree itself from the house, the neighbor's house, we took that

as about 43 inches away from the home in that case.

When we look at it towards the other side, the distance to the property owners home, ultimately that is approximately 50 inches from the home itself.

And so, again, absent findings, the staff's ultimate determination was to deny the removal of the tree, as we did not find that the condition of the tree of the tree required its removal as the overall condition is good.

no evidence of nuisance damage interference issues that can't be addressed through corrective brooding or otherwise.

We did not find that the removal of the heritage tree was necessary necessary in order to construct improvements, as there are no improvements proposed.

Third, the staff's evaluation found the tree that again healthy structure is good and provides value or benefit to the neighborhood.

And then lastly, our evaluation of the tree did not feel it should be removed for good forestry practices as no facts support this criteria were provided or observed.

So, you know, again, in this case, we absolutely understand the property owner did supply some additional information about sewer repairs or otherwise that was included in the staff memo for you.

based on what we were reading from the estimates or invoices or otherwise.

They got approximately a 20-year guarantee on those repairs

because they did a burst in place is what my understanding is.

And so ultimately, we're not as concerned about that.

And then when it came to the gas line, again, it goes underneath the tree.

We don't dispute that or in all likelihood goes underneath the tree.

But those lines are typically very flexible, polyethylene or otherwise.

they're also very very low pressure typically 2 psi or less and so even a slight impingement

or otherwise typically doesn't impede the flow of the gas significantly or otherwise so again

that is ultimately where we resided on this one was is that it just didn't quite rise to the level

and we felt you know potentially we could get another 10 to 20 years out of history

thank you i will now move to the appellant and i'm seeing jill gordon as the appellant

I'm Harry, the speaker for you.

So among our concerns are the tree is affecting the foundation on that side of the house and

I have some photographs of the side garage door and the, and also the utility door on

door on the side of the house that houses the water heater and stuff and I have some photographs

of that damage I'd love to submit and then also the driveway is being lifted at one and a half

inches approximately on the sides at this time I have some documents that show that

yeah if you could just pass them

thank you

the doors on the side of the house are

felt unable to vote this time because of the foundation and the pressful for the side garage

door have actually separated from the other foundation

You can go right.

You can go right.

We'll just look at these parts.

We believe the tree should be removed because there's a damage to the foundation.

And as the house has radiant heating, if it cracks the foundation, there's a damage to

computing system beyond repair, which would cost considerable expense for us.

And it's already caused us a large expense to have the sewer on it placed.

Thank you.

additional

all right um yes now it's a opportunity for commissioners to ask any questions that they

is that a question mayor you might maybe i don't know okay it could either be free

um no that's not um i don't know could you go back here

hang on just a second

after your questions yeah questions first so on the criteria for removal slide the first one said

that the trees in good health um and I think that kind of also says that in the ordinance

back of these slides should be not in good health not that slide maybe a prior slide

I think it was on the first thing, but that's not.

Listed the following reason for removal.

Tree is in good or fair health.

Sure.

Doesn't sound like a reason for it should not be the tree is not in good or fair health.

Ultimately, that is the way that the application was designed previously.

It gives them an opportunity to identify if it is in good or fair health or if it is in poor.

been poor in this case they checked that it was in good okay okay

so characterizing the tree but not stating it as a recent removal correct that's a little better way

to put it yes um second question so with sewer lines and water lines it's understandable tree

roots go for water and i think anyone that's got a sewer line this face the road over the water

Do gas lines, do tree roots get into gas lines?

Do you have any evidence of, or does that happen frequently at all?

It does not happen frequently.

There is absolutely opportunities for tree roots to damage gas lines.

But typically, because of the nature of the gas, it is toxic to the plant.

And so the plant doesn't seek it out because those lines are typically sealed so well.

it really doesn't know what's in there or otherwise. So it would be kind of a secondary

if the roots for some reason kind of grow around it, compress it, push it enough that maybe it

separates a joint or something. But even in that case, typically because it is so toxic,

all the ground covers, all the trees, plants, materials, or otherwise will typically die

within a very small radius, say five to 10 feet, depending on the size of the leak.

I'm not sure if you know this, but the typical depth of the gas line is...

It really just depends on the contractor that's installing them.

For the main lines that run along the street or otherwise, they're typically a minimum of 24, but more typically 36 inches or deeper.

And so that's kind of the starting point at the street as it comes up to the house, entirely dependent upon the contractor that installs those and kind of how they do that to the meter.

But typically, again, they're going to be 24 to 36 inches.

That's what's recommended.

and for either you or the applicant that pg and e didn't indicate the age of the gas line

no they typically do not um again we relied on them i believe to do the marking i called pg

and it came out and they looked at it it's the original gas line so it's from the 50s yeah about

1956 ish so 70 years so well i'm asking a question so the house is 70 years old yeah

and then driveway seven years old the driveway's been replaced

and parts of the driveway was placed when the sewer line was replaced and two clean outs were

added and these photographs are showing the the level the pitch of the driveway correct right

pitch the driveway and also the driveways pitched relative to the foundation also.

It's good concrete. Remarkably, there's no cracks. It's just definitely heat.

It has been replaced. Do you know the age of the driveway?

I don't recall.

Thank you. That's all the questions I have. Anyone? Other questions?

i have a question for staff um is there anything that could be done in terms of pruning or root

shaving or any other amelioration that would help any of these potential issues like slowing the rate

of heaving yes absolutely commissioner um that when it comes to this typically i start to get

nervous when we get closer than about three feet to the side of a tree that inside of three feet

you get into more of the structural the very large roots that are kind of the buttressing

that feed all of the other root system on that side.

Once we get to about five feet,

you typically are getting out into the smaller part of that root system

so it's a little less impactful.

Again, the damage to the doors, et cetera,

weren't brought up to us until the appeal process.

So we didn't necessarily evaluate that during the original process.

But our belief is after the appeal,

kind of looking at the distance from the tree or otherwise,

likely that it could be mitigated through root fruiting or otherwise.

but again if they do that recruiting if we identify a large number of roots or

we start to see a decline in the tree as a result of that again those are all

criteria to reconsider the application in less than the minimum two years

that's typically required okay thank you

to prune the roots you're going to be very close to the gas law

do you have any other i have a question for you paulet um has the rate of driveway lifting

increased um at a higher rate i haven't recent years or yeah we do know that we had to replace

the gate on that side also because of that house of that that side of the house it didn't

spreading because of the lifting and spreading gates okay but the i can't tell you what the rate is

i didn't know if it was just increasing recently or how long have you noticed um the lifting

uh it's been going on for a while because we had to replace the gate

so and then the garage doors have got steadily gotten worse

to the point that they're no longer functional or closed and in one of the photos you can see the

actual threshold broke away so it's an ongoing problem thank you when you say garage door you're

speaking of a human access not a uh there's a the so the front garage there the main garage doors

we had to have those readjusted because of the they were dragging because and put the side human

in egress and ingress door on the side of the garage to the backyard that there that door and

then right behind the garage is where the um utility for the there's a door um for a room

with the hot water heater and the heating the boiler for the gradient heating in the slab

you can kind of see them in that picture on the right that the one that i'm assuming you're

talking about the heater etc is kind of almost immediately at the front of the picture and then

just past the gas meter that other little brown strip is the other door correct the the garage

door is the first door the second door is the is the water heater water heater and radiant heating

mr hanson the tree relative to the picture on the right is to the right yes correct then if

you look at the picture on the left the tree is just outside of the gate that he's referring to

that's been replaced and then ultimately those other doors are behind that gate and the picture

on the right sir the the door you see with the with the window in it the white on the door that's

the side garage door so the first the first door knob you see there is the side garage

i have another question for you uh i actually went and looked at the tree um it looks very

close to the gate are there issues opening the gate on either properties there were or getting

things in and out of that we had to replace the gate yeah it looks like it i don't know if the

gate opens in or out but it looks like it wouldn't be able to open out it will not open out we can't

open it out because of the tree yeah look that's what it looked like yeah so thank you and it

sufficiently lifted the gate that we had to place it just open the gate right thank you so i also

have a question for staff um so i have gates in my my yard that sometimes i can barely open at all

and it depends on the weather on the soil there's the tree nearby I've had to have my garage door

is a sliding door but I periodically have to have someone come and adjust the height of the door

because presumably the soil keeps shifting so how does one tell the difference between

just the soil is shifting versus the tree roots are getting in the way is there some way to

assess that yes is the short answer but ultimately really the only way to assess what kind of roots

are under there or otherwise is to excavate to expose those roots see the depth of them see the

size of them and then make a determination as to whether you can replace that soil and kind of leave

them in place or whether you actually have to root prune them and then put the soil back.

But in most of those cases, and similar to kind of how he had mentioned the gas line,

it is fairly easily done now because most of the contractors are getting to where they're

using hydro excavation, where they actually use water to kind of loosen the soil and then

they vacuum that soil out of there.

And so they're able to expose all of those roots and get a really good handle before they have to cut them.

Where in the past, it absolutely was mechanical backhoe, hand big or otherwise.

And you frequently were damaging roots and kind of getting near gas lines or otherwise.

Where now it's far easier to kind of do that work through hydro excavation or otherwise without doing too much damage, I'll say.

What kind of roots does this history have?

I was going to say, for the most part, podocarpus are fairly hardscape friendly.

All trees will cause hardscape damage, so I don't want to misrepresent that at all.

But typically with the podocarpus, they don't have, I'll say, significant buttress rooting or

significant structural roots in a lot of cases until they get really, really mature.

By that, I mean probably 50 to 70 years. That's getting to where we're at with this tree. It's

fairly close to that age I would estimate but again size wise because of some of the pruning

or otherwise it may not have developed as extensive of a root system because typically

the root system is going to adapt to the canopy that it's trying to support so by kind of trimming

it back and doing some of the other things they've done to keep it in shape or looking good

it also has likely limited the amount of root growth. Thank you.

any other questions um so i had a few um so in a case like this you know where the neighbor is

actually more impacted than the owner um is the owner still really the only person who can

initiate a heritage tree removal yes yes as the property owner where the tree resides they are

one that are responsible yeah i mean that's potentially an awkward situation if we revisit

the the thing maybe that would be something you know the heritage tree policy gets uh

being looked at you know maybe a neighbor could initiate with the approval of the owner or

something right anyway so to clarify that absolutely we do allow others to apply on behalf

of the owner that there are numerous cases more typically it's for a contractor with our commercial

properties or otherwise that they're run by property managers etc and the contractors will

frequently step up and go we'll take their other permit for you so they get a letter from the

property management or the property owner that says they're authorized to seek that permit

we will accept them as the applicant in those cases but they have to have the permission of

of the property.

Yes.

Okay.

Sorry, a couple of questions.

I mean, these were more related to some of the materials we received ahead of time.

A lot of the billing documentation was sort of redacted, the amounts and stuff like that.

Was the $59,000 all for the main sewer line or was some of that for sort of fixing what

i think the report called deterioration and corrosion of 50 year old kitchen and laundry

um drains yeah so you've got this the main sewer line that had to be replaced and then you have

the laterals that have to be replaced because they're attached to the main sewer line right

it's not like it's it's not a separate ecosystem okay does that make sense yeah except yeah but

But there were 50 years.

I mean, the course said there were 50 years.

The laterals are in a slab, or under the slab.

So they're not something that you can routinely replace.

They've got concrete on top of them.

And then not only, it's not like a house with a crawl space.

There's, it takes pretty extreme measures to get to them.

Plus, with the radiant heating, which

is piping in the concrete slab, you

can't really disrupt the slab very much or you'll break that system.

Sure.

And then could you differentiate, there was an invoice from 2021 and then there was one

from 2024 and I'm just trying to interpret it.

It looked like the 2021 might have been the house to the property sewer clean out line

to the street or something like that.

I was just trying to differentiate between the work that was done.

Just a moment.

I may have that with me.

So I have the unreact, I think your staff reacts to the figures because we're at least

I mean, that's fine. I mean, I just, just high levels.

If you could just describe the nature of the work in 2021 versus what was in 2024.

So in 2021 was, do you see the figure, the picture where the rooms have completely filled the sewer line?

That was 2021.

Okay.

And then we subsequently had to do other work on the line, including doing the trenchless coating on the inside of it.

Does that explain and answer your questions?

Yeah, that's good enough, I guess.

But I mean, $59,000 was the amount.

I mean, was that the amount for everything?

For all repairs every year?

those two thirty seven thousand one time because i saw a 37 and i saw an eight so 21 600 the other

time okay okay um so

i had this as a question and staff brought it up but i just wanted to check with you i'm

Does the 20-year warranty that's sort of listed in the appeal filing for the work EJ Plumbing did in 2024, does that cover you if tree roots intrude on that same?

No, it only covers the coating on the inside of the pipe.

That's it. It does not cover root yet.

Okay. But in theory now, a root would have to go through two separate surfaces, right?

I mean, we'd have to go through the original.

Part of the problem is that the existing pipe was broken in places,

so they put an epoxy liner in it because there's limitations on what they can do.

Because it's all underneath the house structure.

So it's an eichler, so everything's under concrete,

and then it goes right under the driveway, and that's all under concrete.

All right.

That's it for my questions.

So now we'll go back to, oh, actually, public comment.

Is there anyone from the public online, anyone in the room wants to?

Okay.

We'll come back to staff now for any additional remarks.

Sure.

again no real additional remarks ultimately i think where we're coming from on this decision

was that um we feel like it is still manageable i'll be honest the radiant flooring is new to me

i had not heard that before this evening i don't know if that was shared with matt when you guys

were having conversations with him during the the kind of consideration period um but have you had

additional damage to that yet to the to the radiant flooring no we okay we the radiant

of pouring is is heating is still it's still functional um but once it cracks then it and

that then though we have to replace the you know entire system or otherwise yeah where's so excuse

me where is that relative this new information we don't have the way out of that so is that behind

the garage or where is the radiant heating occur the radiant heating is in the foundation of the

house so the house is on a cast slab with so before they pour it they put down all this piping

if the slab gets cracked by the tree then it'll break up that those pipes what is the the house

proper behind the garage relative to the street it's pretty close to the garage um because uh you

the utility cabinet is is right next to the garage so you've got you've got a you've got

the garage door a short distance with the um the gas meter and then then that's where everything's

within a few feet of that couple three feet or so there's another door that's the utility

if you were to estimate that 8 10 12 feet from the fence your front bench your gate

more than a less than 12. i'm guessing right now we honestly did but that's what i would ask

absolutely like i say it's just it's new to me so i wanted to make sure and so ultimately again

for us that's kind of a new piece of information but i would just say kind of based off of those

rough estimations i still feel like the roots could potentially be manageable where we could

get in there do some small excavations or otherwise identify those roots that may be causing the

problem and at least delay it another five or ten years that would be all that i'll add

do you guys have any concluding oh i will say that uh the uh the neighbor that uh they're the

person that filed the applicant we consulted with them before we uh application before we

uh you know the papers appealed and so we and the neighbor both would like that and

concerned about ongoing damage to the property

thank you

all right uh we'll now bring it back to uh the commission for discussion

I don't know if anybody wants to lead on.

I'll lead off, I guess.

I would like to see further information on the radiant heating in the slab and actually

see the floor plan relative to the tree in the street.

I mean, that information ideally would have been part of the application.

It sounds like the tree is in good health.

The tree is fine.

It certainly is an asset to the neighborhood.

And we're talking primarily about maintenance issues.

And I guess the unfortunate truth is properties that are 70 years old

and are going to face maintenance issues.

And to be consistent with the prior rulings of the commission,

Pettus Street and I can't name the streets of the other ones

where we've had buckled drives and cracked concrete,

we've seen those as unfortunate and sometimes costly,

but there are maintenance issues that can be dealt with.

And I think that's the staff assessment is there are ways to deal with it

and it can come back to the commission when uh and if other information becomes available

so i think i would probably want to see that other information before i'd be comfortable um

not denying but uh disagreeing with the staff

my two cents on that yes i will i agree this is uh

why heritage tree appeals are never fun to deal with um it seems however that since our our

our job is to try to protect trees and

the possibility of seeing where the root pruning will solve the will will solve the problem will

will delay problems and that seems a not major damage to the tree it seems like that avenue

should be explored first with the understanding that if it turns out that it's a major root that

is threatening your your uh your foundation then you can come back to the prc

cracking your your foundation is is not not the right thing but it seems like

there is another step that needs to happen before we can um disagree with the staff on denying the

the appeal.

Chair, I'm probably past the point of asking questions.

I guess I'll make this as a comment.

I don't know if it's possible to probe the ground

to determine the extent of the lateral spread of the roofs

and in the future make a determination,

is it actually encroaching on the living space of the house?

So I'll make this as a comment.

i i would hope there would be a way to um before making a decision to remove the tree to determine

if the actual living structure

grounds are up you know slab was at risk

um this is a difficult one i share uh commissioner davis and bryant's comments about

wishing we had a little bit more information particularly about intrusion um into the

foundation especially given that it's the radiant flooring because that would be really problematic

so we also know that some potential exploration of the root structure and trimming it back

could give us more information to make a better decision or perhaps delay the removal of the tree

I know that there's been a lot of expense to date and a lot of issues and concerns to

date.

So I have a lot of empathy for the appellants.

But I think I'm siding with doing a little bit more research and hoping that they can

come back if they want to appeal with more information about intrusion in particular.

Because if it's intruding into the major foundation already, I think that's a very different story

for us.

um so i guess i'm going to be similar you know to me it's a it's a it's a it's a healthy tree

it stands out in the neighborhood um you know the branches aren't at risk of falling and i

I guess none of that's really in dispute.

The city code section specifies that a single removal criterion is just a minimum

and that the decision has to be rendered with an emphasis on preserving and imperative degrees.

I mean, and these are always difficult, but a lot of times it comes down to that charge that we're given

with an emphasis on preserving heritage trees.

After reading the materials and spending time at this site,

I guess I'm very sympathetic that you had to pay $59,000

to clear a sewer line.

It wasn't even due to a tree on your own property.

that bothers me a little bit.

You know, I just think that's a really high amount.

And if the current conditions were to change

and you were to face that sized financial hurdle again,

or, you know, if we were to find out more

that there weren't mitigations in place

to or possible to um to work around some of the uh roots around the foundation and around the

radiant floor heating areas um you know i'm i would definitely be open to to a new uh discussion

however i guess you know at the current time under the current conditions you know i'm hopeful that

at least with the sewer line protection, which is mostly what we heard about before tonight,

that, you know, that polyethylene line, as well as the same similar type of line for the gas

line should be sufficient, at least for the near term. So for me, in this case,

the removal criteria just are not sufficiently met under the current conditions to allow for

removal of three so i would also be siding with denying the appeal and upholding the decision

but i again similar to others if the conditions change then the code allows for a reapplication

and we could consider that with more information.

So those are my thoughts.

And I'll make a motion and a comment.

May I do that?

Sure.

So I'll move that the commission adopt a resolution

of the Urban Forestry Board of the City of Mountain View

to deny the appeal of COVID staff decision

and deny the removal of one heritage tree at 2415 Benjamin Drive

to be read in title only for the reading wage.

for the attachments. Second.

We have a motion

and a second.

Any further discussion?

Commissioner Ryan? Yes.

Commissioner Gatiss? Yes.

Commissioner Buster? Yes.

Yes.

I think I'm at that.

Go on.

My suggestion

for your staff when dealing with residents who are either making appeal or putting in an application

is to tell them that the commission is unlikely to take new information that's not in the original

application or appeal. It's really tough to get stuff in the moment and act on it with any

confidence so if if you're guys where's the first one typically we do do that in this case again

because we're dealing with owner we're dealing with neighbor it's you know it might have gotten

dropped or otherwise where we didn't get all of the information but yes absolutely you know here

if you want to be successful here are the things you need to do and it's got to be in the uh the

packet that goes in uh just to get easier to look at thanks yeah i mean also that wasn't a criticism

No, I have to piggyback on that and also just to explain some, you know, can't absolutely speak for everybody because I don't, we don't track each other, but I think that most or if not all of us go visit these three sites.

And we've typically read the, you know, we read all the information ahead of time and we're looking for specific things based on the information in the report and the appeal.

and you know we'll look around for other things too but but uh you know so it's good for all that

to be in the initial initial packet of information so we can see it pictures are great but it's good

to be able to see it live too absolutely okay all right um thank you

can i please make a comment sure sure it would be useful to applicants if you offered a little bit

of guidance to what you're looking for so for example i i didn't uh i thought that bringing

materials today was sufficient i could have easily submitted it to you much sooner if i knew this

that wasn't a bit of a blot the other thing i'll mention is the communication with us has been

subpar by far we previously held a hearing without our knowledge um and and uh and this has been

going on for a considerable period of time i believe we originally applied a plot appealed

this back in august is that correct i believe so thereabouts and and no one notified us of the of

the of of this matter and and no one also said you know that we could we needed to supply those

documents prior to the to today and we certainly could have done that so yes that's my observation

thank you and and i apologize on our behalf for the communication issues that resulted in this

Thank you for your time.

Okay.

We'll now move on to item number six, which is commission staff announcements, updates, and requests.

Can we start?

Sure.

All right.

So Allison sent out some updates.

um the originally scheduled march 11th erc meeting is uh going to be canceled that's actually

uh a time that we are at the california parks and recreation society conference

um and you'll be hearing more about that um probably early next week we have some exciting

news to share um and so more to come on that about the meeting or about the stuff

we will be uh announcing that we have been an award winner um a statewide award winner um and

so more information to come we're excited about it so uh while we're there we'd be uh recognized as

for the leader in record um so that leads us to the march 17th meeting uh we are reviewing the

parks and recreation strategic plan that went to city council um for those of you that uh may have

seen the the work that was done leading up to the city council meeting it it provided uh an attachment

that provided kind of a cliff notes of what was updated from the parks and rec uh commission and

thank you for your input how that input was translated into the next uh draft of the plan

we took that to the city council we received some direction there we will be doing the exact same

thing for the next iteration which will provide those cliff notes of what was changed and where

those changes were made within that document um and so we'll be bringing that to you um also that

night um we will be bringing two tree appeals um we believe those will be um somewhat direct

and not take a lot of time.

And so Parks and Rec

strategic plan as well as two trees for

March 17th.

Yes.

So we'll see a

new draft,

a revision.

We're here to let the city council

stop.

And then you'll have the

description of what's changed.

Great.

Just to clarify, there's a

cliff note version out there now will it will the next one just sort of build on the one that's out

there now or is it going to be a complete rewrite I mean if we want they're not significant the the

amount of changes between what we brought to city council to what we're bringing to you will be much

more condensed as far as the types of changes and number of changes so it will not be as as many to

just a request if possible um could you keep that cliff notes version that that you have for

the city council and then just have an add-on at the end of the subsequent changes that were made

after the city council meeting so so then we can we can start yes working on the the

in effect that's what we would be doing so i frankly have some concerns about having the

strategic plan and two heritage three appeals and say so i i watched the whole the whole

meeting with the council and my opinion is that staff did a really great job you know

taking the comments of the community and the PRC and making changes to the strategic plan and

I think the work that we did in our meeting had a significant effect on the strategic plan

So I would like our next meeting, which is kind of our final meeting before it goes to council for approval to be an equally serious working meeting and not limited by the fact that we've been thrown to heritage trees and we just want to go home.

So maybe the heritage trees should be at the end of the meeting.

Although I understand that there will be the appellants will come and they will want to come and go.

But I'd like us to have the time to do the kind of serious job last time.

And hopefully it'll be a much smaller job.

It looks really good at this point.

But just to have the ability to get it done.

And then I'll transition into April. We have a lot of projects going on at Shoreline right now. We'd like to highlight what is going on at Shoreline, all of the activity that's taking place currently and what is on the future.

and so shoreline manager brady will come and just provide an overview of the types of projects that

are going on what's scheduled so you're you're aware also looking at the future public safety

building and the tree mitigation that's being scheduled for that project and then an item that

you had requested which is a review of our park design process and review we're going to be coming

to you with some options of how to go about that and get your input as far as how you'd

like to implement that process.

So those are the three items for you.

In addition to that, hot off the press, just came in today as the Spring-Summer Activity

Guide that is available online as of the day.

And then, you know, this is just a great opportunity for the community to see what's available.

And as always, we've added some new programs.

So we're excited about the season ahead.

We are.

First community wide special event of the year is the Lunar New Year.

That's taking place on Saturday, February 28th here from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.

So this is just another community event that brings a lot of people.

And it's a great event.

If you haven't seen it, the decor and the entertainment and just the families that come is really great.

Right now, the Senior Center Solar Array and Electrification Project.

Those are anticipated to be completed by Friday, February 20th.

So this is a combination of solar arrays and then also installing all electric appliances

in the commercial kitchen that CSA uses.

So we're looking for that program to, for that project to be complete February 20th.

As of right now, we have the senior lunch program and some of their activities taking place here.

And so after that date, we're looking forward to bringing them back into their facility and bringing back our programs here as well.

That is all I have.

right um yeah just a tap on i mean if you wanted to move one of those tree appeals from march to

another month we would be uh i'm sure we'd be open to doing that because again i i i also have

concerns that you know i'd love it if we could really just be focused on the strategic plan but

i don't know what commitments you've made to people and i don't want to keep people waiting

forever for their appeals. Any commission comments or reports or updates?

I have a question. I read in the voice today that the school district is planning to have their school in San Antonio built

in 2027 or something of the sort. So I was wondering about the park and what the situation was there.

So we met with LASD just yesterday and we are discussing the construction schedule that they are on as well as when we would be prepared to start working on the design of the two acre park.

It seems as though some of those are in alignment to a point.

I don't know what the article said. I didn't see it.

As of the conversation yesterday, it sounds like they were looking to start construction this summer or possibly spring.

And then a possible opening date of 2028.

And so that is a slightly different timeline than we were aware of until yesterday.

And so we're still trying to figure out how that is going to work.

We have been looking at our projects that are in the works right now, as far as those

that are in construction and those that are going to be in design.

We're already in design and how that will be moving forward in the construction timeline

and project timeline so we're still trying to figure out how those two are

gonna work out just as of yesterday I'm sorry are you referring to the site by

San Antonio Road the yes yes and then the coal site yes yes

the park and the school will be separate so the design of the school will not necessarily

oh let me let me back up for a moment then thank you the part that i missed is there is a desire

on the part of the los alto school district to use some of that or all of that two acre site for a

future park as part of their construction staging and so that's where we're trying to find the

balance of how long do they truly plan to be under construction and using that two acre site compared

to us having a timeline to start our own can the kids climb on the back of it thank you

any other anything else um i just had a question you can do a no comment if you need to um

pick up all anything going on any new developments on the private property yes um at the city council

meeting, I read a prepare statement that was pre-approved.

We have identified a location that a property owner is interested in working with us.

We are, this location is a somewhat new development.

and so

they are working with us

we met with them last

Thursday

and we think that we are

moving positively in a direction

that will come to fruition

we think we'll have

a public

update again within the next

two months probably

to be able to talk about

where we are

in the next steps

all right it sounds promising any uh can you say how many courts that might that will actually be

a policy decision that we'll be making a recommendation and city council will

all right um if there's nothing else uh we'll adjourn and our next meeting is on

make note it's a tuesday uh tuesday march 17th at six o'clock