City Council Minutes 2018 01 02 - Laserfiche WebLink

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City Council Meeting Minutes January 2, 2018 Page 5 of 11 Cindy Bedell, 662 West Willow Street, stated many nonresidents are using the park causing great overuse. One option might be to close it one day per week for maintenance, perhaps institute a parking fee for nonresidents. She suggested putting some trees in to get some shade on the grassy areas; perhaps leaving part of the area vacant some days and rotating that space around for less use. She also asked the Council to consider keeping the Recreation Center open until 10 pm with the new expansion. Laurie Marcum, 469 East Raintree Court, stated the recently installed crusher fines on the trail are too powdery and people are avoiding it and walking on the grass. Helen Moshak, chair of OSAB, 493 Eisenhower Drive, encouraged Council to make sure they listen to all voices in the room and to staff The Charter calls for recommendations from OSAB. She noted this area is open space, not a park. She stated all the good ideas on management are vital to this project. It is important to find best practices, manage this property as open space, engage the community, and honor the charter We know we can solve this problem; OSAB is available to continue this dialogue. Council Comments Councilmember Keany thanked the public for coming to OSAB and Council. He noted there is a great deal of misinformation on social media. He stated open communication is important to the process. He thanked OSAB for their work on this. He supports both OSAB and the public sentiment to keep this area available. The Charter is very clear that once something is designated as open space it takes a city wide vote to change that That is there to protect the land. He noted ways for the public to get information on what is happening in the City. Councilmember Leh thanked the public for attending. He stated he hopes there is no need for an election to change the designation of the property He noted there are a great number of good ideas being presented tonight and they should be evaluated We don't want to pit parks people against open space people or dog owners against open space There are tensions about land use, but there are many ways to collaborate on this before there is true conflict We all want the DOLA to continue to work Councilmember Maloney stated it is important we communicate better so there is less misinformation. Use of the property as a dog off leash area is allowed within the Municipal Code; we should look for other areas where we can do this. He supports the recommendation from staff. Mayor Pro Tem Lipton thanked OSAB for taking on this issue. The current state of the off -leash area is not sustainable and OSAB was willing to look at this and create a work plan for the next few months on how to better use the area. As a community, we do have a commitment to the preservation of open space even if this area is being used as