City Council
MEETING DATE: 7/13/2016
TITLE:
Title
Presentation on the Public Workshop held for the proposed community park within the Dream Homes area and presentation made for the grant funded Cathedral City Whitewater Bike Trail held on June 13, 2016 at the Agua Caliente Elementary School.
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FROM:
John A. Corella, P.E. - City Engineer
RECOMMENDATION:
Recommendation
Informational presentation for City Council
Body
BACKGROUND:
Cathedral City Whitewater Bike Trail (Project): This Project is a combination of two (2) California Bicycle Transportation Grants that were awarded to the City in 2008 ($350,000) and 2009 ($405,000), respectively. The Project consists of 2.2 miles of concrete paving on the existing Riverside County Flood Control District's west levee of the Whitewater River Channel from Vista Chino to Ramon Road. The Project is designed as, depending on location, 14 feet wide and/or 2 - 8 feet wide paths along the existing levees.
Due to a proposal of a larger regional project, this Project had been delayed in an effort to make sure that there is no duplication of facilities and/or installation of facilities that would later be removed. In an agreement with the Coachella Valley Association of Governments (CVAG), the City is moving forward with this Project and CVAG anticipates that a funding agreement with the City will be completed so that the City's Project will be built to the proposed regional project standards.
Proposed Community Park, Parking Lot and Community Center: There is vacant City land located within the Dream Homes area that is available for the construction of a community park, parking lot and community center. The lots sizes are 7.26 acres, .26 acres and .46 acres, respectively. The proposed community park lot is of a linear narrow shape and will not allow for conventional park sports amenities.
As there is no funding for the above facilities, the first step is to have a public meeting to gather ideas on what the community wants for these City properties.
DISCUSSION:
The Public Workshop Meeting was held on June 13, 2016 at the Agua Caliente Elementary School in the Dream Homes area to provide information on the proposed Cathedral City Whitewater Bike Trail Project and ask constituents to provide input for the potential of developing the available City properties with a community park, parking lot and community center. The meeting was noticed two weeks prior to the meeting with advertisement in the Desert Sun. 988 notices were mailed out two weeks prior to the meeting to all residents and property owners within the Dream Homes area. 25 local constituents attended the meeting.
City Engineering Staff had several display boards that showed the proposed Bike Trail Project in its full length, with the proposed Project design concepts. In addition there were several display boards showing the City owned available properties that are proposed to be used for a community park, community center and parking lot. The attendees walked around and reviewed the boards, asked staff questions and sat down for the presentation on the Project and ideas for the vacant properties.
A presentation on the Bike Trail Project was made by City Staff and questions regarding that Project were answered. A presentation was also made on the available City properties with a goal of generating a discussion on what the community wanted for these areas. To initiate this discussion, City Staff passed out question and comment cards. The attendees were given time to talk amongst themselves and review the display boards again. Then the attendees were asked to fill out the question and comment cards with their specific ideas and requests for each property.
City Staff collected the cards and read these to generate more ideas as to what the attendees wanted for the properties. Some of the ideas that came out of the workshop for the proposed community park were: playgrounds for the children, open areas for smaller local events, shaded picnic areas with picnic benches, access points for the Bike Trail Project, benches, adequate parking so that cars are not stacked up on the streets, walking paths, lighting for the area, adult exercise equipment and par course and restrooms. An emphasis was placed on making all the amenities vandal proof and public safety. Some of the ideas for the community center concept were: emphasis on senior uses, health related uses, senior aerobics classes, indoor open space and water exercise features.
City Staff is looking at the suggestions and will generate concepts for each of the proposed available City properties and have another workshop with the community to refine the concept even more. Having a concept that involved the immediate community will allow City Staff to present the ideas to funding and grant issuing organizations in an effort to receive funds for actual designs and then construction.
At the request of the attendees at the Public Workshop, the presentation from that meeting was placed on the City's Engineering website.
The City Engineer will provide a presentation on the above event and the next steps resulting from the comments and questions presented at that meeting.
FISCAL IMPACT:
No impact as this is informational only.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Cathedral City Whitewater Bike Trail location map
2. City properties available for proposed community park, parking lot and community center.