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Home My WebLink AboutNB 2 PARK DSGN PROCESS 1-2-90DATE: TO: FROM: SUBJECT: - ' 90 December 26, 1989 William A. Huston, City Manager Community Services Department Park Design Process RECOMMENDATION: To continue current policy and procedures participation in park and facility design. BACKGROUND: NEW BUSINESS N0. 2 1-2-90 Inter - Com regarding citizen In November Parks and Recreation Commission Chair Sam Randall wrote a letter to the City Council requesting clarification regarding the Park and Recreation Commission's role in park development. That letter is attached for Council information. There has been some confusion on the part of the Commission regarding current policy. As recently as a Council -Commission joint meeting in September, current policy was reiterated by then Mayor Kennedy, but apparently some confusion still exists. In order that the City Council can have a clear understanding of the issues, staff would like to define current policy. The Parks and Recreation Commission is an advisory body to the City Council and the staff. It has been the City Council's philosophy that citizen participation is an extremely important value. Toward that goal, the staff includes citizen input at the initial design phase on any park or facility project. On major projects such as new parks or facilities, a Citizen's Task Force is formed to collaborate with staff and the consultant to produce the best possible design. As Council will recall, this process worked beautifully for the Tustin Area Senior Center. Staff feels very strongly that "Customer Designed" projects are the best projects. To summarize, the current process is: 1) A group of citizens who are in the immediate vicinity of the park or who are the prime users of the facility would form a Task Force; 2) The Task Force would become the working group with whom the staff and consultant team collaborates on design, much like the Senior Center; 3) After the Task Force has reached consensus on a design, it would then be reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission, and then sent on to the Council for final approval. Since this is a long-time City Council policy and practice, staff has proceeded along these lines. The Park Commission has questioned the Citizen's Committee for the next Tustin Ranch park. Staff feels it is extremely important to have a committee comprised of neighborhood residents who would have input into the design of that park. Once these citizens have worked with the staff and consultant to come up with their ideas, then the next step would be to take the process to the Parks and Recreation Commission for review. The Commission is not being left out of the process; the Commission is a part of the design process but not the first part, that belongs to the customer. The Commission also mentioned in their letter that a community meeting was held on November 28, 1989, to discuss redesign of play equipment at Frontier Park. Commissioners were concerned that this was not held at a Commission meeting. Again, in concert with current Council policy, staff felt very strongly that neighbors of Frontier Park should be first consulted; and the date of the meeting was scheduled when the consultant would be available. The process regarding park design can be lengthy; please see the attached flow chart for explanation. Actually the Park Commission does have initial input regarding policy advice - - the Commission assists staff with development of the capital improvement priorities for each budget year, truly the first step of the process. Some projects require Conditional Use Permits and Public Hearings before the Planning Commission, in addition to staff design review, Citizen's Task Force participation and Parks and Recreation Commission review. However, staff firmly believes that the neighbors and potential users of projects are the best advisors regarding design. As staff learned from our Customer Service Training, Customer -Oriented Organizations should have a "bottom- up" philosophy, which means the customer closest to the project should have the most input. Staff believes strongly that we should bring the design process to the citizen. Staff has already been in touch with the neighbors of the second neighborhood park in the Tustin Ranch and they are looking forward to participating in the design. Individual Commissioners are always welcome to attend Citizen's Task Force meetings; the current practice of having the Citizen's Task Force design the project with staff and the consultant has resulted in excellent facilities. Citizen involvement should be meaningful. The Parks and Recreation Commission reviews the Citizen's Task Force recommendations after the citizens have an opportunity for realistic input into the design. Staff sincerely believes that this "customer -driven" model produces the best designed projects and the happiest citizens. Staff agrees that the Commission has an important role to play in the process, that role being to work with the staff on initial capital improvement priorities, and to review the work of the Citizen's Task Force before recommending action to the City Council. Royleen A. White, Director Community and Administrative Services Attachments: Sam Randall Letter of November 29, 1989 Flow Chart regarding Park Design Process RAW/md pkdesgpr.wp 14`� S� City. of Tustin Community Services Department November 29, 1989 Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council City of Tustin 300 Centennial Way Tustin, CA 92680 Dear Mayor and City Council Members: At their November 16 meeting, Parks and Recreation Commissioners expressed concern over the scheduling of park related meetings that are being held independent of the Commission. Examples would include: 1. A citizens committee established to meet with the park architect to begin initial planning of the next Tustin Ranch Neighborhood Park. 2. A community meeting held on November 28 to discuss the redesign of the play area at Frontier Park. Certain Commissioners were concerned that as an advisory body to the Council and staff, the Commission should be involved in the initial planning and review stages of park development and have the opportunity to host citizens meetings when playground equipment and/or significant park changes are being contemplated. Since the staff and Commission are not in complete agreement in terms of the Commission's role in these type activities, we would appreciate clarification and policy direction. Thank you for your consideration. Sincerely, Sam Randall Chairman Parks and Recreation Commission SR/bw a:ltr.cc 300 Centennial Way 9 Tustin, California 92680 9 (714) 544-8890 u ,o u a� Up aNi b N N o ~ 0. o a R. 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