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HomeMy WebLinkAbout2014-09-15; Parks & Recreation Commission; ; DEPARTMENT REPORTz 0 i= CJ <( z 0 en en - == == 0 CJ PARKS & RECREATION COMMISSION -AGENDA BILL AB# 0914-4 MTG. DATE: 9/15/14 STAFF: SPICKARD/ LANCASTER RECOMMENDED ACTION: DEPARTMENT REPORT Receive a presentation from the Parks and Recreation staff. ITEM EXPLANATION: INFO [Kl ACTION Sue Spickard, Recreation Services Manager, and Kyle Lancaster, Parks Superintendent will report on recently completed and upcoming Parks and Recreation activities, donations and grants, as well as other topics of local interest. EXHIBITS: 1. Department Report «~ ~ CITY O F PARKS & RECREATION DEPARTMENT REPORT CARLSBAD Parks & Recreation GENERAL & RECREATION 1. Completed Events(s)/Donation(s) Harlem Globetrotters Basketball September 15, 2014 Special guest Harlem Globetrotter Sherwin "Shake" Durham, paid a visit to the Parks and Recreation Department youth summer basketball camp at Calavera Hills on Friday, July 25th. A special treat for the young basketball campers of Carlsbad who "oohed" and 'awed" while "Shake" showed off his special tricks and game fundamentals. A couple of lucky campers were selected to demonstrate some of the tricks 'Shake" taught them and although not quite there yet, the kids had lots of laughs and fun. Adult Coed Themed Kick Ball The Parks & Recreation Department Adult Coed Themed Kick Ball League is kicking with twelve teams on Friday Nights at Alga Norte Community Parle A 100% increase in teams from last season and we expect Carlsbad to be the leader in adult kick ball in the North County. Youth Competitive Basketball PRD TRUST The Parks & Recreation Department newest program, youth basketball competitive teams lias started with four teams after a one season introductory period. The PRD TRUST Teams will be playing against other cities in the county. Participation in Parks and Recreation Summer Camps Grows Traditional Summer Camp remained strong again this year filling more than 95% of all its openings with more than 1760 hours of fun. A very strong showing from Pee Wee Camp at 96% capacity and Kidz Camp at 100% capacity. Kidz Camp also set a new record with more than 250 participants on its waiting lists at one point during the summer. Preschool was 100% full for its summer sessions and had a waitlist. The number of youth sports camp participants increased 33% from 2013 to 2014. Carlsbad's Kidz, Explorer, and CIT Traditional Camps participated in the 10th Annual Go Play Get Fit summer camp field trip on July 9. This event is a collaborative effort put on by local San Diego County city recreation departments that include Solana Beach, Coronado, Oceanside, Santee, La Mesa, Escondido, Encinitas, National City and of course Carlsbad . More than 650 youth participated in games and activities geared to keeping kids healthy and active. Summer Special Events Alga Norte Aquatics Center was the place to be this summer. For four Saturday nights, Parks and Recreation hosted Float 'n Flick, an event where families gathered in the water with rafts and inner tubes to watch the featured presentation in the outdoor floating theater. Movies included: Finding Nemo, Goonies, Surfs Up and Lila & Stitch. The pre-triathlon event, formerly known as the Health & fitness Expo, had a facelift this year. This event was renamed Lifestyle & Fitness Festival and moved to the beautiful park setting of Pine Avenue Park. Just over 50 vendors offered information on healthy lifestyles, athletes came to pick up their packets, and the Family Fitness Zone was a huge hit with the newly added Zorb balls, Gibbon slack lines, Wipeout and an inflatable dodge ball arena. The 33rd Annual Carlsbad Triathlon had an exciting year with beautiful weather, just under 1,000 athletes and over 200 volunteers. We have a few notable points this year. The City of Carlsbad employees formed six relay teams with a total of 18 employees competing. Also, local resident, Olympic medalist, and lronman World Championship winner, Michellie Jones won her 10th Carlsbad Triathlon retaining her title of Carlsbad Triathlon's most winning triathlete. Lastly, Olympic medalist Apolo Ohno joined the race for practice for his upcoming lronman World Championship in October. He has been training at Alga Norte Aquatics Center and along Carlsbad beaches. We won his division coming in two seconds behind Michellie Jones. The annual Snores & S'mores cam pout in the park sold out again this year with over 400 campers setting up tents on the baseball field at Aviara Community Park. This year's event was based on the movie, "Monster's University", where families competed in scare games like Don't Get Caught, Toxicity Challenge, Join-A-Frat, the Scream-O-Meter, and more. The evening finished up with a monstrous feast along with s'mores, popcorn, and the movie. Campers were treated to a 'super moon' as they went to bed and a beautiful sunrise at breakfast. We can truly say that all of our attendees went away as happy campers. Opportunity Grants Fundraiser "Pizza for a Cause" fundraiser was held on August 25 at That Pizza Place from 5 p.m. to 10 p.m. 20% of all sales was donated to the Parks and Recreation Department's Opportunity Grant program which helps low income Carlsbad residents send their kids to classes and camps. We're happy to report that $324.77 was raised including a $100 donation from Glen Van Peski. Activenet Milestone On September 10, 2014, the Parks and Recreation online registration system marked a milestone of having over 25,000 customers registered and using the system. This new on line registration system was initially launched to the public on December 11, 2013 and it brought to the community many exciting features, allowing the user complete access to the site 24/7, ability to set up their own account, ability to use multiple data devices to register for classes, sports leagues and events, create "wish list(s)" and reserve picnic areas. The Parks and Recreation Department has seen a jump in online registrations from approximately 28% to around 70%. Alga Norte Over 100 participants from all over Southern California came to Alga Norte Aquatic Center on June 29 to compete in a short course meters meet. The event ran smoothly with several local, regional and national records broken. This was also the first time that aquatics staff moved the bulkhead, pool divider, to a different location in the competition pool. Alga Norte Aquatic Center and Park was busy this summer with Splash Bashes, Float 'n Flick, nearly 2,000 children learning to swini, 398 children attending camps, 1,630 inflatable zone wrist bands sold, over 100 birthday parties, and over 50,000 swimmers either drop in or scan in for recreation or lap swimming. Two North Coast Aquatics inter squad meets were also held. Over the course of the summer 60,000 plus community members visited the Aquatic Center and Park in some fashion. PARKS 1. Alga Norte Community Park Supplemental projects continue to be done at our newest facility including a mezzanine at the Aquatics Center, solar shade structures in the parking lot and related irrigation and plantings. 2. Arroyo Vista Trail Extension Staff continues to work on securing trail easements and permits required to move forward with the trail improvements. Two adjacent alignments are currently being considered: one through private re~idential properties and the other traversing outside those properties -through sensitive wetland habitat. Staff recently received an appraisal report identifying the market value for a 12' wide trail easement, and will be contacting the potentially affected private residential property owners with a monetary offer to secure the e_asement. If the adjacent property owners grant the trail easement, the city will be able to largely bypass wetland mitigation costs that will otherwise be associated with building the trail outside of those private residential properties. 3. Trails Master Plan Update Staff continues to work with consultant KTU+A to complete an update to the Carlsbad Trails Master Plan. A gap analysis was recently completed which formulated a list of potential future trails and trail improvements throughout the city. When the draft Trails Master Plan is completed, staff will circulate the document through various stakeholders in an effort to gather comments or suggested modifications. Ultimately, the plan is expected to be presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission for review/acceptance in late fall, and the City Council for review/adoption in early winter. 4. Trails Volunteer Event On Wednesday, August 6th, volunteers from Puma/Cobra Golf helped clean-up and clear part of the Hidden Valley Trail, between Aviara Parkway and 24 Hour Fitness. The hard working volunteers cleared and removed overgrown brush along the trail, installed two trail head signs/posts, and picked up trash along the entire Hidden Valley Trail -both east and west of this segment. A total of 25 volunteer service hours was contributed by volunteers at this event. 5. Agua Hedionda Lagoon Maintenance Dredging The Encina Power Station is currently completing their permitting requirements in order to conduct a maintenance dredging operation in the western basin of the Agua Hedionda Lagoon. The power station is proposing to dredge up to 500,000 cubic yards of sand that has been building up in the western basin. The dredged sand material will be pumped to three segments of beaches: from Pine Avenue south to the inlet jetty at the Tamarack Avenue parking lot; between the inlet and outlet jetties, and from the outlet jetty south to the Terra mar Point. The dredging project is expected to begin in mid-October, 2014 and should be completed in early April, 2015. The power station will provide a public notice sign at the sand deposition work site, and applicable safety measures around the site for those who visit the beach. 6. Open Space Presentation On July 15th, staff provided a comprehensive presentation of the city's Growth Management and Open Space Programs at a city council workshop. Th~ presentation provided a history of the development and implementation of the Growth Management Program, an explanation and descriptions of the city's open space categories as defined in the General Plan, and a current acreage inventory of open space in each of those categories. Staff also addressed various questions, myths, and misunderstandings that have been posed by the public relative to open space and parks performance standards. Staff is currently working with the Planning Division to further respond to public comment on the Open Space, Conservation, and Recreation Element of the draft Carlsbad General Plan update. The final General Plan update is projected to be brought before the city council for adoption in early 2015. 7. Upcoming National Public Lands Day On Saturday September 27th, the city will honor National Public Lands Day with a volunteer event at Hosp Grove. National Public Lands Day is the nation's largest, single-day volunteer effort aimed at educating the public about the environment and natural resources to improve public lands for outdoor recreation. City staff and volunteers will work together to plants trees in the East Grove area, perform trail surface improvements, pick-up litter, and remove weeds. Volunteers will meet at The Rotary Picnic Area parking lot on Monroe Street beginning at 8 am. 8. Sports Fields Lighting Retrofit Projects Staff recently advertised for bids, and held a bid opening meeting, for the retrofit of the existing sports field lighting fixtures at both Calavera and Stagecoach Community Parks. The existing fixtures are from the original construction of the parks, and they have become antiquated versus today's technology. The new fixtures will be far more energy/cost efficient, and will provide improved lighting conditions to the fields. The City Council is scheduled to consider awarding a contract to the lowest responsive bidder at its meeting of September 23rd. Presuming the contract is awarded, the requisite retrofit work should be underway in October, and completed by December. 9. Synthetic Turf Field Replacement Project Staff has hired a consultant and overseen the drafting of plans and specifications for the replacement of the synthetic turf field at Poinsettia Community Park. The existing synthetic turf field is nearly twelve years old, well worn, and beyond its useful life. The new synthetic turf will be of comparable quality ot the synthetic turf that was installed with the construction of Alga Norte Community Park. The City Council is scheduled to consider approval of those plans and specifications, and authorization to advertise for bids at its meeting of September 23rd. Presuming approval/authorization is granted, the bids should be opened in late October. 10. Tamarack/Frazee State Beach Bluff Restoration Contractual work is in progress along the Tamarack/Frazee State Beach Bluffs. The initial efforts have been focused on the removal of debris and invasive plant materials, starting from the Tamarack Avenue parking lot, moving northward -ultimately to the Ocean Street parking lot. In addition, coordination meetings/communications have been held with the contractor and representatives from the State of California Parks & Recreation Department on the development of irrigation, planting, and fencing plans for these bluffs. Once the plans are complete, irrigation and fencing work will commence, followed by the planting of native species in the late fall/early winter. 11. Tamarack State Beach Upper Picnic Facilities Steady progress continues to be made on improvements to the Tamarack State Beach Upper Picnic Facilities. Recently, twenty new benches, and five new picnic tables were installed within this linear coastal park (extending from Cherry Ave, to Tamarack Ave.). The benches and tables are of smooth concrete construction for durability, and in a warm sandstone color to compliment the adjacent coastal bluffs. Additionally, ten new trash/recycling receptacles were installed within this linear coastal park. The receptacles are manufactured from marine grade stainless steel to handle our coastal environment. 58% of those materials are 'upcycled'. The trash/recycling receptacles are split stream -half capacity for recyclables, and half capacity for trash. They are black in color to match the 'Bike the Village' bicycle racks, and contain the City of Carlsbad name and logo in the side grill work. The city's Facilities Division is finalizing the development of plans and specifications for the remodeling of the Tamarack Avenue restrooms, which will then be taken to the City Council for approval and authorization to bid. 12. Parks Proactive Maintenance Painting of the interior walls and entry gates of the Pine Avenue/lower seawall restrooms was recently completed. The installation of epoxy floor coating in these restrooms will follow shortly. During the summer, field closures for both the contracted and in-house maintained areas were conducted, in order to renovate the natural turf fields. This process allows the fields to repair/rejuvenate from the high use they receive during the balance of the year. Staff also ensured that all of the sites used for the Concerts in the Parks series received extra maintenance efforts in advance of the events. 13. Trees Proactive Maintenance Contractual tree maintenance was completed at Leo Carrillo Historic Ranch Park, Maxton Brown Park, and along streets within portions of the city's northwest quadrant. Additionally, the California Conservation Corps continued clearing dead brush in Hosp Grove -specifically on the slopes above Marron Road. The Corps have also raised tree limbs off the ground to reduce ladder fuel, and performed minor (pre-selected) tree removals -to further reduce fuel and promote a healthy forest.