Doug Long Parks & Recreation Director 600 Elm Street San Carlos, CA 94070 Phone: (650) 802-4382 Fax: (650) 595-6727
April 21, 2005
Meeting Minutes
Roll Call
Brad Lewis opened the meeting and roll was taken.
Barry Weiss distributed a revised meeting location schedule and handouts requested at the meeting.
Approval of Minutes
Minutes were approved with the request for more detail of discussions to be included in the future.
Items from Last Meeting and Areas of Common Interest
Information binder: It appears as though there are differences in various pieces of information in the binder such as Greg Harris’ field hours vs. Barbara Billings/Staff field hours. The question was asked as to how the differences would be resolved. As the committee progresses differences will be identified and information clarified or added where necessary.
The question was asked if the Parks and Recreation Commission approved all of the projects on the State of the Parks list. Commissioner Brad Lewis stated no, that the list was a draft list that never got finalized due to the economic downturn and lack of money. The items approved by City Council in the Capital Improvement Program are identified as such on the list. Mr. Weiss informed the committee that Hillcrest Circle Park was approved originally approved for $100,000 as noted on the list and subsequently increased to $214,000 by the City Council. Barry also noted the approved $75,000 for Eaton Park bridge repairs will not be needed thanks to Eagle Scout projects led by Bill Southard’s two sons. Mr. Weiss thanked Bill and his two sons.
Discussion of Current and Projected Need for Field Space
The committee discussed determining need vs. want. There is a definite need to maintain what is available now. There appears to be a large demand that cannot be filled any time soon. It was suggested to identify what percentage increase should be sought. It was mentioned to be mindful to include the increase in usage for walk on/unscheduled activities.
The question was asked, if the committee can agree that there is an unmet request for field time? It was suggested that unscheduled field time is a better sounding phrase than need. A discussion occurred on, what value or what is most important in the community? Community values – Regional vs. youth/adult/all. What are the values in the community?
It was asked if the Parks and Recreation Department have anything in writing about community values. Barry described the department’s vision, mission and core values.
The question was asked how to prioritize the needs? If there is a limited resource, how do you propose to allocate? What comes first? Children, adults, free time? The process for assigning field time used by Parks and Recreation was referenced in the binder.
It was suggested that criteria for making decisions be included as an item on the next agenda. Is the core need space or time? Goals and objectives and philosophies from each group should be shared to help identify why there is a need, not just a want.
Norm Whitely, School Board member stated that the public elementary schools have had constant enrollment for the past few years.
Kirk Dryden suggested the approved committee goals could be used as a checklist as a way to progress.
Mike Gibbons made the following motion which was seconded: “The committee has determined that there is a substantial unmet request for additional athletic field use.” Motion approved with no votes against.
Presentation By Representative of Sports Group
Barbara Billings - Soccer A handout, Summary of Youth Soccer Needs was distributed and reviewed with explanations given when necessary. It was explained that CYSA is ages under 10 to under 19. AYSO is age under 6 to under 19. Some upper level AYSO teams play out of town. Registration was closed earlier than usual, but it was uncertain if any San Carlos children were denied participation. 60% of the children are 12 and under in AYSO.
Are groups organized by cities? CYSA typically plays other cities - AYSO plays in the city. Scores of kids from San Carlos play outside of San Carlos because there isn’t field space available. San Carlos cannot field top-level high-level teams at this time. AYSO is comprised of 45 % girls (at one time, if not now, the highest in the nation. Well over 90% of AYSO participants are San Carlos residents.
Chris Quinn - Baseball Little League currently has 877 kids in the program, Pony has 90, Joe DiMaggio has 50-75. The Little League season is Feb – mid June. Little League has 73 teams ages 4 – 12, and Pony has 7 teams. Little League is losing space to girl’s softball, field closures, and a diminished capacity of field use. There are 35-40 teams playing on a typical Sunday. Some groups play 4 days in a row. Little League needs one more field than what they are currently allotted, after Arguello re-opens. Plastic mounds have been installed for the baseball season and are then removed making the field more adaptable. Barry noted that cities have an ethical and now a legal obligation to provide equal athletic facilities for boys and girls. This was part of the reason for removing the mounds as girls softball cannot play on a field with a mound. The changes began with a discussion started in August at the Athletic Sites Advisory Committee (ASAC) meeting and work on mounds happening within the past month.
Previous discussions about lights being installed at Flanagan Field occurred but the City Council decided against this option. Flanagan serves Carlmont, Joe DiMaggio, and Colt teams. Colt is 15 or 16 year olds. Little League is ages 4 – 12, Pony ages 13 –14, Joe DiMaggio ages 16 – 19; Carlmont High School ages 14 – 18. Less practice time is available, especially with field closures for maintenance. Soccer is impacted by field closures as well. Shorter practices are necessary, with some practices beginning at 3:00 when not all players can make it. Practicing on asphalt occurs. It was noted that this is a safety concern.
Cameron Miller - Girls Softball: San Carlos Youth Softball Association (SCYSA) has teams ranging in age from 6 – 15 years. Players cannot play recreation ball and on a high school team as well. SCYSA population was 476 this year, last year was 427, and the year before was 400. Seven years ago the population was 204. Teams are made up of all girls, in two-year increments. There are nine players per team and six teams. The under eight group has ten players per team, with 12 teams. The ten-year-old group has ten teams with 12 players per team. The 12-year-old group has eight teams with 11 players per team. The 14-year-old group has three teams of 12 players per team – almost all are 8th graders. All groups have increased in numbers.
Field space - all games are played at Tierra Linda with the exception of Saturday mornings that are played at Heather. Practice is held five days a week at Heather. Only 20 hours of city field space was used. The Tierra Linda field is in poor shape. City fields are not used for fast pitch games because fields with pitcher’s mounds cannot be used for softball. Three fields have been adapted and now do not have mounds. Ideally, girl’s softball should not play on men’s baseball fields. SCYSA schedules times and keeps up the fields at Tierra Linda. It was asked why there is no joint use agreement with the City for Terra Linda? Barry stated that his department would be interested in maintaining and brokering the field but resources, including staff, would need to be provided in order to do so.
Practice starts March 1st and is over the week before Memorial Day. 60 girls start playing games Memorial Day weekend. All games are played at Tierra Linda and team players are predominantly San Carlos residents. Practice is limited to 1 hour, 15 minutes once a week, and then the games are played. Additional field space would allow for additional practice time during the week and also allow time for the six year-olds to practice, something that is not currently taking place.
Linda Lynch – Adult Softball - Adult softball has two seasons – spring and summer – with men’s, women’s and co-ed teams. The games last approximately one hour. There are 60 teams this year, and they would like to have practice time as none is currently available. The team roster allows 18 registered players with 10 players needed to play a game. If there were more field space there would possibly be more adult teams playing.
The Parks and Recreation Department tried to capture the data of how many San Carlos residents (adults) were playing in other cities but the data was not available. Adult softball has been delayed 6 weeks to accommodate Little League with current field closures. Adult softball has 52 – 55% residents. Years ago those who worked in San Carlos and played here were counted in sports groups as residents as they play on their company team.
Item 5D Camps/Classes will be picked up at the next meeting, as will adult soccer and baseball.
In response to a question about field time allotted per organization a handout detailing this information was provided. The information does not differentiate between practice and actual games.
Barry stated he believes the impact of not enough field space on all programs is greater than what came across tonight.
Public Comment
No members of the public were present at this meeting.
