CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
December 5, 2023 {{section.number}}d
CAYS PARK MASTER PLAN DESIGN PLAN OPTIONS
RECOMMENDATION:
Receive and review community input on the four Cays Park Master Plan Design Options and provide direction to staff on the selection of a preferred design option, theme(s), and park amenities for further refinement, and provide other direction as appropriate. .
BACKGROUND:
Coronado Cays Park (Cays Park), located along Coronado Cays Boulevard and adjacent to the intersection with Grand Caribe Causeway, is Coronado’s largest city-owned park, totaling approximately 16 acres. The park currently has four athletic fields, a children’s play area, dog run, tennis, pickleball, and basketball courts, as well as restrooms and a parking lot.
In October 2022, the City initiated a new park master planning effort to develop a long-range vision for Cays Park that will create a signature park to serve Coronado now and into the future.
In early 2023, the City hired the renowned community park planners, Schmidt Design Group to manage the Cays Park Master Planning project. The park master planning process includes robust community engagement from residents and other stakeholders.
The City Council previously directed staff to pursue conceptual Master Plan design options of:
1) 25% of active field space and 75% passive space;
2) 50% of active field space and 50% passive space;
3) 75% of active field space and 25% passive space; and, 4) maintaining 100% of the current active field space.
Current active field space is defined as the open field use for sports and the softball field (horseshoe pits, volleyball court, dog park, children’s playground, basketball, pickleball and tennis courts are excluded).
The City kicked off the public outreach process in February 2023 with small stakeholder group meetings and spanned multiple public outreach sessions. A project website was created for the Cays Master Plan process where regular updates are provided to interested stakeholders and individuals can sign-up for email notifications located at https://www.projectcoronado.org/cayspark.
ANALYSIS:
Public Survey
As part of the original Cays Park planning process in 2019, a public survey was conducted online to solicit input on desired amenities in Cays Park. The 2019 survey received 302 responses, with 89% of respondents reporting their residence in the Coronado Cays. A summary of the 2019 survey results is included as Attachment 1 for reference. It should be noted that while it was informative, the prior survey was informal and not conducted using statistically valid survey techniques.
To obtain a representative and valid profile of community views on the Cays Park Master Plan, the current planning effort included the administration of a statistically valid survey by True North Research, which specializes in public opinion surveys. The Cays Park Master Plan survey was conducted in English and Spanish between May 24 and June 14, 2023 and followed a mixedmethod design that employed multiple forms of recruiting methods (mail, email, text, and telephone) and multiple data collection methods (telephone and online).
The 2023 survey was designed to:
• Profile the recreation activities of interest to Coronado residents; • Identify the frequency with which residents visit Coronado’s parks in general, as well as Cays Park in particular;
• Measure how well existing parks and facilities are meeting resident’s needs, as well as the improvements that are most desired; and,
• Capture residents’ top-of-mind ideas for how Cays Park can be improved, as well as how they prioritize a variety of potential amenities that could be included in the park.
There were 464 respondents to the survey, resulting in a maximum margin of error ± 4.4% providing a 95% level of confidence. The geographic breakdown of respondents by neighborhood is representative of the Census population for those neighborhoods and included military housing.
This represents a very healthy response rate for a community of Coronado’s size.
When residents were asked their park improvement priorities, shade trees, paths for walking and jogging, bicycle amenities, children’s playground equipment, and the dog park garnered the most support. A detailed report and analysis of the 2023 public opinion survey results is included as Attachment 2, along with a copy of the survey instrument on page 37 of the report.
Design Plan Themes
In addition to the four design plan options previously detailed, the Schmidt Design Group created fou themes that would influence the overall design of the park, helping enhance the connection to the cultural and natural history of Coronado.. Copies of the four plan options and chart showing comparisons of amenities between the four plans are included in Attachments 4-8.
Public Outreach
The four conceptual designs and themes were shared with the community for additional input through a series of public outreach meetings, pop-up events, and displays at the following locations.
• September 12: Coronado Cays Yacht Club
• September 27: Cays Park
• October 5: Coronado Public Library
• October 9 – Current: Community Center Lobby (display only) • October 19: Cays Homeowners Association
• November 2: Parks and Recreation Commission
All City residents and park users were invited to participate via postcards mailed to all residents in Coronado, as well as a series of ads in local newspapers and social media posts leading up to the workshop dates. Attachment 3 includes a list of media outreach and notifications through other outlets to encourage public participation in the process.
Approximately 230 participants attended the series of meetings, providing comments and feedback on the four plan options. In addition to in-person opportunities, residents were provided the ability to provide their comments and thoughts online via the project website to the design team.
As of November 1, we have received 130 project emails, 104 website submissions and 724 handwritten comments received during the public workshops. The majority of comments received were from Coronado Cays residents. Attachment 9 includes a detailed summary of all public comments received through emails, comments received at the public workshops and through the project website. Attachment 11 also includes a letter from the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association with a summary of their recommendations.
The Schmidt Design Group also presented the four plan options to the Parks and Recreation Commission on November 2. A summary of the minutes and comments from the Commissioners is included as Attachment 10.
Summary of Public Feedback
The City received an enormous amount of feedback, with a wide variety of opinions. After review of all comments received, a number of generally supported themes emerged:
• There was support for the Beauty of the Islands and the Natural and Cultural Wonders of the Strand themes.
• More people favored the 100% and 75% plan options over the 50% and 25% plan options. • While parking was mentioned as sometimes being impacted by the two annual soccer tournaments, generally residents wanted to keep the same quantity of parking for the park or increase it slightly for peak demands.
• There was support for removal of the existing cul-de-sac adjacent to the fire station to free up space within the park for additional recreation space. • There was support for removal of a portion of the concrete median on Coronado Cays Boulevard to create some additional parallel street parking to accommodate the slight loss of parking at fire station cul-de-sac.
• There was also a desire to improve bike and pedestrian safety, if possible; however, the potential bicycle and pedestrian connection to the Strand was not supported. • Residents supported keeping at least 1.5 acres dedicated to the dog park (which is its current size) and elongating the design shown in the design plans. • There was support for inclusion of a sunset view deck and hill along the western fence edge and reducing; however, further reductions of the west wall to accommodate the viewing area were not generally supported unless security measures could be integrated into the design to prevent entry.
• Generally, residents wanted to keep the tennis and pickleball courts at the existing location areas, if possible, and include a basketball court or half court.
Also generally supported:
• Improve and expand the children’s play area.
• Add fitness stations, or a small fitness hub.
• Include tasteful pedestrian security lighting, maintain lighting for tennis/pickleball/basketball courts. Lighting for one multi-purpose field to minimize light intrusion of mobile lights was inconclusive.
• Include the space to hold events in the park.
• Include public art opportunities.
• Include a backstop but not a skinned infield.
• Include a larger improved restroom and a smaller satellite restroom near the dog park area.
• Provide shade structures utilizing fabric to minimize view impacts. • Minimize view impacts by clustering trees at the park fire station cul-de-sac. Minimize adding trees north and south of the core area.
• Utilize small to medium scale tree and palm species for any new tree plantings.
Current Field Usage
The multi-purpose fields are currently utilized by a mix of local sports groups, including soccer, lacrosse, and rugby. The Coronado Youth Soccer League, which utilizes the majority of field reservations at Cays Park, is required to meet a residency requirement for 75% of their players.
Residency is verified by Recreation staff, and fields are monitored regularly to ensure appropriate usage. In addition to the ongoing field reservations, two annual soccer tournaments are held at Cays Park in July and December.
If the amount of available multi-purpose field space was reduced from the current four fields, Recreation staff have confirmed with Coronado Youth Soccer League representatives that the league could still operate with three of the fields, including the (2) 104 x 62 yard fields and (1) 104 x 70 yard field, as Field 3 is a smaller field at 81 x 50 yards and currently used flexibly for practice space. Reductions of active field space beyond the elimination of Field 3 could have direct impacts on field allocations elsewhere in the City.
Cost Estimates
As part of the overall scope of the Master Plan, the City hired Psomas Engineering to provide Preliminary Cost Estimates of the four design plan options produced by Schmidt Design Group.
The following is a summary of probable construction costs, including prevailing wage, bonding, and design/construction contingencies.
Preliminary Park Cost Estimates
Plan Option 100% 75% 50% 25%
Preliminary Estimate: $37.8 M* $32.7 M $29.4 M $36.7 M
*The 100% cost estimate includes engineering and road work for lane reduction and addition of roundabouts along Cays Boulevard.
Preliminary estimates would be updated based upon City Council feedback on preferred amenities and final scope. The City will explore state and federal funding options, such as State Park grants, to help achieve financing goals as part of development of the final Cays Master Plan and potentially phasing of the project.
Park Maintenance and Upgrades
There is a significant amount of maintenance needs at Cays Park that will need to be addressed independent of any future changes contemplated by the Master Plan. Ongoing maintenance has addressed temporary repairs of areas such as the restrooms which were recently repainted; however, due to the age of the park the following amenities would benefit from significant upgrades in order to meet the needs of Coronado residents:
• Irrigation system replacement
• Resod of entire park
• Resurface parking lot
• New restrooms
• New pathway and overhead lighting
• New storage facility
• Tennis/Pickleball/Basketball Court replacement in 5-7 years (as degraded conditions will not allow any additional resurfacing)
Staff has assessed the condition of the above park amenities/systems and estimates that repairs and/or replacement would cost approximately $13-15 million to upgrade the park, depending upon when the Master Plan for Cays Park was implemented.
Next Steps
The first round of public workshops and review have been completed. After receiving feedback from the City Council on the design plan options and associated amenities at Cays Park, the design team will then work collaboratively with the City to update designs based on input from all stakeholders and City Council and create one preferred plan, and will then advance for a second round of additional input from the community, including the Coronado Cays HOA, as well as consideration by the Parks & Recreation Commission and City Council.
Recommendation
Receive and review community input on the four Cays Park Master Plan Design Options and provide direction to staff on the selection of a preferred design option, theme(s), and park amenities for further refinement, and provide other direction as appropriate.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The cost of services outlined by the current agreement with Schmidt Design Group totals $225,967 with funding allocated in the Cays Park Master Plan project account (40070000-97170- 18008). Cost estimates for the future renovation of Cays Park will be determined by the amenities selected and project scope determined by City Council.
ALTERNATIVE:
The City Council could decide to direct staff to conduct additional surveying or revised prior direction on the scope of the Cays Park Master Plan.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT:
Not Applicable.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
No notice required.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. 2019 City Public Survey Results
2. 2023 City Public Survey Results
3. Summary Media Outreach
4. Draft Park Design Option 1 (25%)
5. Draft Park Design Option 2 (50%)
6. Draft Park Design Option 3 (75%)
7. Draft Park Design Option 4 (100%)
8. Park Design Option Amenities Comparison
9. Summary of Comments Received from the Public on Cays Park Master Plan
10. Summary of Comments from Parks & Recreation Commission (draft)
11. Letter from Coronado Cays Homeowners Association regarding Cays Park Master Plan Submitted By: City Manager's Office / Tony Winney, Assistant City Manager