El Sobrante Municipal Advisory Council
3769B San Pablo Dam Road, ES 94803 - Meetings 2nd Wednesday of each Month (7:00pm)
El Sobrante Library 4191 Appian Way, El Sobrante

Chair: Barbara Pendergrass, Vice-chair: Erica Peng, Secretary: Tom Owens, Treasurer: Hope Scott,
Members: Marilynne Mellander, Wendi Gosliner, Charles Marino, 1st Alt. Susan Swift

 

DRAFT  Minutes of Regular Meeting held June 22, 2006

Special ESMAC & R9 Joint meeting

Meeting called to order at 7:04PM. 
7:04 pm Supervisor John Gioia requested the chairs of ESMAC and R9 call the meeting to order.
7:05 pm Barbara Pendergrass called the ESMAC meeting to order.
7:06  pm Donald Bastin called the R9 meeting to order.

Introductions:
Supervisor John Gioia|Members: Tom Owens–Secretary ESMAC, Susan Swift–Alternate ESMAC & R9 member, Cliff Watts-R9 member, Doug Novotny–R9 member, Donald Bastin–R9 Chair, Hope Scott-member both ESMAC & R9, Marilynne Mellander–ESMAC member, Barbara Pendergrass–ESMAC Chair & P&Z member, Wendi Gosliner-member both ESMAC & R9.
Special guest Lisa Carnahan-Special Districts Planner with Public Works Department.

R9 formed by Board of Supervisor’s resolution 754/1059 to look at services in the unincorporated El Sobrante area. It is unique in that there is not an assessment associated with this service area. Membership is based on a map of the area in 1974 not residency in the unincorporated El Sobrante area. Originally composed of 9 members but switched to 7 members and 2 alternates, of which 1 is currently a City of Richmond Resident. It is expressly to look at parks and recreational facilities and services. It has taken on the role of a Park and Rec. Advisory Body for the El Sobrante Valley to the Board of Supervisors. The money that it makes recommendations about are from fees mainly from new development which is currently ≈$4000/house (park dedication fees). The R9 is advisory only spending of this and the final spending authority is the Board of Supervisors.

In 2000/2001 The City of Richmond and the County funded a study of parks in the El Sobrante Valley. This packet is to be used as a resource for you and not a final solution. Not everyone will agree with the priorities outlined but it is fairly comprehensive. Some of the areas that it included for parks are no longer available.

The ESMAC is another advisory body for the Board of Supervisors given a less constrained area of operation making recommendations concerning the unincorporated El Sobrante Valley.

Park dedication fees, by law, are for capital expenses only and may not be used for maintenance. R9 does have some money that was collected outside of the park dedication fees that are available for maintenance. Approximately $25K of that is for maintenance of the reading garden are at the library (5yr at ≈$5K/yr). At this time R9 has $614,450 of which a projected $305,000 is committed to current projects leaving $309,450 available. It is projected that  $248,000 will become available in the next 2 years. This is not a lot of money considering the costs associated with parks.

At this point Supervisor Gioia stated that it is his philosophy that the money is better spent on projects that would not happen without the R9 money rather than projects that would happen anyway but with other money. Either adding on to a project such as at La Moine Park or new such as the Children’s Reading Garden.

All money collected in the El Sobrante area by the county is spent in the area. The City of Richmond pools all the fees collected and has spent some of it where by law it is suppose to be spent – how much of the total we have no idea. The City of Richmond has the lowest fees in the area and despite a study that indicated that the fees should be increased it was not enforced and in fact fees are often not collected even at the lower fee rate. The money should be spent to benefit residents of that area. The County has spent some of the R9 money in Richmond as the projects have benefited the local residents and there are no funds available for maintenance in the unincorporated area. It was pointed out that the majority of the money has been spent in the unincorporated area of El Sobrante. Question was raised if the city of Richmond should contribute to the R9 in the future (or maybe retroactively?). 

The park dedication fees would be collected and spent in El Sobrante by the Board of Supervisors even if the R9 did not exist.  If an assessment for maintenance ever does come into existence in unincorporated El Sobrante the R9 will be the advisory agency on how to spend that money.

Goals:
Find a way to make a park happen in El Sobrante. Find a way to pay for maintenance of a park.
Find areas that the two groups can cooperated on and how to best accomplish any joint projects. Get Richmond to contribute a fair share.
Find a way to get Richmond, R9 and ESMAC to work together. R-9 Agenda should be included in the monthly MAC agenda packet.
Boundaries are artificial and any improvement is better than nothingAssessment would have to be equitable for both Richmond and El Sobrante.
Attempt to leverage this money to get bigger projects.
Increase communication between R9 and ESMAC.
Work faster before all available space is utilized for other purposes.
Update reading garden:
Drainage issue addressed by General Services in the next week or two.
General layout remains the same as last presentation.
Construction start estimated for later part of November.
Design is nearly complete, will go to General Services and then out to bid.
Security concerns were stated but assured that it’s better to have area in use than not and that the sheriff will increase presence.
Benches will be composite recycled plastic with graffiti resistant coating.

Review of “The El Sobrante Valley  Parks Study”:
Convenience for residences important.
Amend road property no longer available.
Hilltop Green Park is not easily accessible by valley residents and should be left for Richmond to deal with.
La Moine Park upgrade in progress.
El Sobrante Swim Center may be part of DeAnza High renovation (not with R9 money).
Potential park at El Sobrante Boys and Girls Club but with problems concerning access across creek.
Pocket parks along San Pablo Dam Road and Appian Way are proposed as part of the Downtown/General Plan Revision.
Get list of proposed improvements in the El Sobrante schools.
Appendix B has list of “vacant” land and needs updating.
R9 explore public access to EcoVillage site.
Appendix D has list of possible funding sources. Explore assessment district for parks in the Valley with or without the City of Richmond's participation (specifically, also look at pros and cons of such a district, explore funding to get a campaign started, have a Question and Answer session on assessment districts at a future meeting).

Next steps:
Explore partnership with Boys & Girls Club (invite Tom Mason to the later meeting).
Determine how R-9 can work with the City of Richmond (invite City's Park and Rec director to come to an later R-9 meeting).
Another joint meeting should occur in September 2006.
Develop a strategic plan with priorities.
Preserve the open space we currently have.
Investigate Richmond's use of park dedication fees.
Get list of current assessments that exist for El Sobrante taxpayers.
Explore the DeAnza site for either a future park or to sell and use revenue for another project.
Get a map of current Urban Limit Line in the area.
Get El Sobrante residents that live in Richmond to express their concerns to their city council.

Public Comment:
Check if the land behind DeAnza is in Richmond or unincorporated county.
Check on capturing mitigation fines and using them in the valley.
Why was a bathroom not included in La Moine Park improvement.

Meeting Adjourned 9:23