Neighbor Carrie Zenker voices her support for a skate park at April's Rancho Murieta Association meeting as the crowd spills into the outer room.
Overflow crowd at RMA backs skate park proposal
Published
Monday, April 23, 2007
A standing-room-only crowd attended Tuesday's Rancho Murieta Association meeting to support a proposal for a skateboard park.
Both children and adults urged the board to approve a volunteer group's plan to fund and build a 10,000-square-foot facility at Stonehouse Park with donations of material, labor and funds. All but two of the 17 residents who came to the podium spoke in favor of the park.
Mark Herbert, treasurer of the non-profit Rancho Murieta Youth Enrichment Advocacy presented an overview of the 39-page proposal for a park that was presented to the board in closed session last month.
According to the plan, the RMA board needs to approve the project so fundraising can begin and enter into a partnership agreement with RMYEA to carry out construction, although RMYEA is "not asking for a single, thin dime of the association's money," Herbert said. "What I'm asking for is the opportunity to start raising money to give a gift to this organization."
Al Dolata spoke in opposition to the plan, saying the group had "done their thinking with their hearts." He said he was concerned that costs were grossly underestimated at $30 per square foot. Neighboring communities spent $50 or more per square foot for poured concrete parks designed by the same firm, Dolata said.
In talking about the need for the park, some speakers offered the rationale that appears in RMYEA promotional literature – namely, that the streets and other paved surfaces in a community become an unsafe alternative to a skateboard park.
Half a dozen children came to the podium, some of them in twos, to say they wanted the park because it would be a lot of fun and they would treat it with respect.
RMYEA says potentially 15 percent of Murietans would use the park. The figure is based on age data in the 2000 census.
Speaker Marcia Reimers, a grandmother, was applauded when she said she had pledged $1,000 for the effort because she believes teenagers in the community are "underserved" and need to be reassured that they are valued.
After about an hour, President Jack Cooper attempted to close the comment period but the crowd protested that the speakers – especially the children – should be heard, and three more people spoke before the board moved on to other items on the agenda.
Rachel Abess, left, and Marjorie Kirk were among those who spoke.
Cooper said there will be another presentation next month, when the board is expected to vote on the proposal.
Last year, the Kiwanis Club jump-started the project by donating $9,400 toward a $10,000 skateboard park design. The Parks Committee authorized spending $600 from the parks fund to pay the rest of the cost after the RMA and the Community Services District boards made the park a top priority on the parks matrix.
The parks fund is made up of contributions from developers and smaller, matching contributions RMA members pay as part of their dues. The funds are paid on a per-lot basis as development proceeds and are used to finance projects identified in the Parks Master Plan. After park projects like restrooms, playgrounds and playing fields are built, they become the property of the RMA, which is responsible for maintaining them.
The Parks Committee held three meetings on the skateboard park project last year.
The first meeting gathered input from young skateboarders and the second was a presentation of a design for a 7,000-square-foot park. Both meetings were conducted by the designer of the facility.
The third meeting consisted of people speaking for or against the project, and no attempt was made to provide an overview or mediate the session. Questions raised at the meeting about liability, and insurance issues were referred to RMA General Manager David Stiffler to research and address at a future Parks Committee meeting.
The meeting was never scheduled, although Stiffler eventually met privately with RMYEA members and provided them with information for their plan.
In January, skateboard park opponent Evelyn Caudill commented that the RMA had been unresponsive to the concerns she had raised. Caudill also spoke at Tuesday's meeting, reading her request for a survey of the membership to determine its preferences for community recreational facilities.
CSD board members commented on the project's shift away from the Parks Committee at their board meeting the following evening.
CSD President Wayne Kuntz said the matter was brought up at the presidents meeting, a private monthly session attended by RMA, CSD and Country Club presidents and general managers. "We conveyed to (the RMA representatives) that we felt (the skate park project) was part of the Parks Committee," said CSD President Wayne Kuntz. "Their feeling was that it was not."
CSD General Manager Ed Crouse pointed out that other projects cited as precedents for the type of donated funding that's proposed for the skateboard park have come through the Parks Committee.
In recent years, the committee authorized the expenditure of $10,000 in parks funds to supplement private donations for lighting the Little League field and $30,000 in parks funds for the playing field at Stonehouse Park, both volunteer projects that relied on donations.
"As long as there is Parks Committee funding for any aspect of the skateboard park, then it needs to go through the Parks Committee for review," said Director Jerry Pasek, noting the committee's contribution to the design phase.
Crouse said the CSD board's position is the skateboard park is a good idea and fills a gap in activities for pre-teens and teenagers. "Our belief is that all facilities that are part of a park need to originate and flow through the (Parks Committee) because their task is to develop and construct the park and then turn them over to the RMA for operation and maintenance," Crouse said.
Director Dick Taylor said the community has been told there is no money in the parks fund, "and that absolutely is not true."
"When was the last time the Parks Committee had an accounting from the RMA, which handles the funds?" Pasek asked.
Taylor said there was an accounting at the last Parks Committee meeting, in November 2006, "and even that wasn't sufficient. … There is also still the issue … that we brought up having to do with legal expenses … that have been allocated from the parks fund to reimburse the RMA."
The RMA "reimbursed itself," Taylor said, for legal expenses it incurred in 2005 and 2006 for the pedestrian bridge project.
The CSD offered to forgo reimbursement for its own legal expenses for the bridge provided the Country Club would do the same and the RMA would return the parks funds. See coverage here.) The RMA has not responded to the CSD's letter, Crouse said.
"That is unfinished business that should be discussed at a Parks Committee meeting that we cannot get the coordinator to schedule," said Taylor.
The CSD board concluded its discussion by asking staff to write a letter to the Parks Committee coordinator, RMA General Manager Dave Stiffler, requesting a committee meeting and a detailed accounting of the parks fund.
In other news from the RMA meeting:
Cable marketing contract approved
The RMA board approved a $25,000 contract to market cable TV services. The money will not be released until the successful completion of testing for the new digital services. The board approved a total of $50,000 for marketing in the 2007 budget.
South Gate update
The RMA board agreed to share half the $16,785 cost of adding three parking spaces at the South Gate with the CSD. The spaces are needed because two of the three existing spaces are now designated for handicapped parking to comply with Americans with Disabilities Act requirements. The requirements went into effect when the CSD remodeled the gate facility to allow gate officers to give out passes to visitors.
Work is expected to begin this week on the installation of the support columns for the overhead structure at the gate. A too-tall truck knocked the columns off their bases last summer. Repairs were delayed by the need for structural changes to the supports.
Increased security for July 4
The board approved increasing security for July 4, when the population of the community increases dramatically due to the influx of visitors, but rejected a proposal to charge residents for their visitors passes to pay the cost. Residents are entitled to five free passes from the RMA for carloads of guests. The passes relieve congestion at the North Gate.
Assistant General Manager Danise Hetland said the association's costs for the day are about $17,000 and come out of the recreation budget. The fireworks display is included in the cost, and security accounts for $1,600 to $1,800 of the amount, she said. CSD Security brings in off-duty deputies for the day to supplement its patrol staff.
Rec Committee chair appointed
Director Anne Denker was sworn into office at the start of Tuesday's meeting and appointed chair of the Recreation Committee later in the meeting, replacing Donni Quinlan, who resigned from the board last month. Denker was appointed to serve the remainder of Quinlan's term, which expires at the end of the year.
Traffic enforcement
President Jack Cooper said he supports pursuing a resolution by the county Board of Supervisors that would allow the motor vehicle code to be enforced on the private streets of the community. Cooper said the sight of a police car is an important factor in preventing crime.
