CITY COUNCIL STAFF REPORT
October 1, 2024 {{section.number}}b
CAYS PARK MASTER PLAN REFINEMENT AND NEXT STEPS
RECOMMENDATION:
Review the Cays Park Master Plan alternative design features, construction phasing and project costs, and provide direction as appropriate which may include cost parameters and prioritization of design features and phasing.
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.
Cays Park Master Plan Process
In October 2022, the City initiated a new park master planning effort to develop a long-range vision for Cays Park to serve Coronado now and into the future while also addressing the existing maintenance needs. In early 2023, the City hired the renowned community park planners, Schmidt Design Group, to manage the Cays Park Master Planning project.
The park planning process focused on robust community engagement, with over a year of meetings with stakeholders, multiple community workshops and pop-up clinics, citywide outreach in newspapers and social media, a statistically-valid public survey, and discussions with the Coronado Cays HOA Board of Directors, the Parks and Recreation Commission and City Council.
Regular updates were provided to interested stakeholders and individuals via email notifications and a dedicated Project Coronado page (https://www.projectcoronado.org/cays-park).
Informed by community feedback, four park plan options with varying themes and percentages of programmable field space (100, 75, 50 and 25) were developed and shared with the City Council at its December 5, 2023 meeting. After the presentation and public comment, the City Council reviewed a list of potential park amenities and provided direction to the design team to move forward with development of a final plan. In the spring of 2024, this Preferred Plan was the shared through another round of outreach to the public with three workshops within the community and online engagement.
On May 6, 2024, the Parks and Recreation Commission reviewed the Preferred Plan and voted 4-0 in support of the plan. A draft summary of the May 6, 2024 Parks and Recreation Commission minutes and comments from the Commissioners is included as Attachment 6.
In addition, the Coronado Cays Homeowners Association (CCHOA) sent a letter supporting the Preferred Plan on April 10 (Attachment 7). The CCHOA also suggested within the letter that the City look at charging a fee to sports leagues for use of storage areas within the park.
Recent City Council Direction
On May 21, 2024 the City Council voted to accept the Cays Park Master Plan, including the Preferred Plan Design and park theme of “the Natural and Cultural Wonders of the Silver Strand” as presented, and directed staff to develop alternate design ideas to reduce costs from the native plant garden area/sunset hill area, and expand the social space within the pickleball courts.
ANALYSIS:
This agenda report will provide an overview the current Plan scope and the alternatives requested by City Council on May 21, 2024, provide an overview of original and revised costs, outline outstanding park maintenance needs, the environmental review process and next steps.
Master Plan Scope and Design Elements
The Cays Park Master Plan will serve as a guiding vision that informs future investments in the park. It includes a summary of all public feedback received throughout the public engagement process, schematic designs of the desired park amenities, the unifying design, projected cost estimates and potential construction phasing options for the park. The design renderings within are included in Attachment 1.
The Plan incorporates the following main elements as approved by City Council in December 2023:
• Maintains 75% of the current field space for active programmed use • Include an additional turf space for unprogrammed/passive recreation • Applies the Natural and Cultural Wonders of the Silver Strand theme • Maintains the dog park substantially the same size including fencing enclosed by landscaping
• Retains the current location of the tennis and pickleball courts with four tennis and eight pickleball courts
• Includes a softball backstop but not a skinned infield • Maintains a full-sized basketball court
• Removes the cul-de-sac to create additional recreation space • Preserves approximately the same number of existing parking spaces • Eliminates the concrete median noses in specified locations on Cays Boulevard to create additional street parking to offset any loss of parking due to the removal of the cul-de-sac, but does not reduce a vehicular travel lane • Excludes a direct connection with the Bayshore Bikeway, • Implements an improved and ADA accessible and inclusive playground • Provides options for fitness stations
• Includes a sunset view deck and hill, reducing the west wall height to accommodate enhanced views, with a secure design
• Installs pedestrian security lighting and court lighting with no permanent ballfield lighting • Selects trees and their placement to minimize impact on views • Uses fabric shade structures where possible to minimize view impacts • Includes flexible open space for park events
• Includes opportunities for public art
• Provides one larger, improved restroom facility, similar to the Spreckels Park restrooms Elements not included in the Cays Park Master Plan:
• Reduction of lanes on Cays Park Boulevard
• Reduction in acreage for the Dog Park
• Increases in soccer programming
Design Alternatives: Native Plant Area and Pickleball Social Area On May 21, 2024, City Council directed staff to work with the Schmidt Design Group to develop plan alternatives to reduce costs in the native plant garden/sunset hill area and expand the pickleball social area.
Staff met with representatives from the Pickleball Coronado Association to solicit additional input on the social area. Suggestions included moving the social area to between the pickleball courts, installing additional bleacher seating, modifying proposed fence heights, incorporating additional court lighting, and providing a water refill station, bulletin board, and gated entry. The cost of these additional improvements is approximately $246,107.
In an effort to reduce costs within the native plant garden/sunset hill area, three concrete seating areas were removed, along with two shade structures, and connecting concrete walkways. The cost savings achieved are approximately $217,972. Design details for both areas are included within Attachment 2.
Existing Cays Park Maintenance Needs
Cays Park has a significant amount of deferred maintenance and infrastructure replacement needs. No major renovations have been made to the park since its original construction was completed in the late 1970s, with the exception of the resurfacing of the tennis/pickleball/basketball courts in 2023.
Minor maintenance has addressed temporary repairs such as to the restrooms which were recently repainted; however, due to the age of the park, the following amenities are overdue and needed for the efficient functioning of the park:
Maintenance Item Description Estimated Cost
Irrigation system
replacement
Current irrigation system is original to the park
and is currently inefficient, overusing water, and
both over- and under-irrigates areas of the park,
degrading the durability and quality of the turf.
Cost savings of 20% are projected for the water
budget with introduction of new system.
$1,630,000
Regrade and resod
of entire park
The current turf is original to the park. The turf
has significant areas of wear, with improper
drainage in areas causing water to pool in turf.
$3,500,000
Resurface Parking
Lot
The parking lot has exceeded its usable life by 10
years and is in poor condition.
$200,000
New restrooms The restroom facility is original to the park.
Current restrooms are very dated with degraded
fixtures and stalls, with limited capacity during
peak periods. Conversion to family style
restrooms would increase flexibility and
availability.
$450,000
Select Sidewalk
Repair
Select sidewalk repair due to age and
deterioration.
$60,000
Overhead lighting The park is currently very dark at night. Limited parking lot lighting and pathway lighting
recommended for safer use of the park, which
closes at 11 p.m. Existing court lighting also
requires upgrade and replacement.
$860,000
Tennis/Pickleball/
Basketball Court
Full court demolition and replacement is required
in 5-7 years. Advanced degraded condition of the
concrete pads and rebar will not allow any
additional resurfacing.
$1,310,000
Children’s
Playground
Play structure is aged and degrading and one
structure was recently removed for safety
reasons. Playground options are limited and do
not provide accessibility and inclusivity.
$500,000
Other Infrastructure Storage Facility, Water Lines, Trash and Recycling Cans, Bike Racks
$300,000
Construction Costs General Conditions, Bonding, Mobilization, Design Contingency, Prevailing Wage,
Construction Contingency
$4,200,000
TOTAL ~$13,000,000
Staff assessed the existing condition of the above listed park amenities/systems and estimates that repairs and/or replacement of selected amenities would cost approximately $13 million to complete the major deferred maintenance for the park, including contingencies and prevailing wage.
Construction Phasing
A phasing plan for the project has been developed to minimize impacts on sports programming and other user groups during construction and to coordinate with the potential reconstruction of Fire Station #37. Construction would be broken down into three phases. Attachment 5 provides a graphic exhibit of phasing and is summarized as follows:
• Phase 1 – Dog Park, Native Gardens, Sunset Deck/Hill, Fitness Nodes, and Children’s Playground
• Phase 2 – Two Turf Fields, Plaza, Parking Lot, Vehicular Improvements • Phase 3 – Pocket Park, Basketball Court, Tennis and Pickleball Courts, Turf Field, Maintenance Facility, Storage
A phased approach to construction will allow for the turf field construction to be rotated, minimizing impacts to various park user groups. This also enables construction of a temporary dog park to provide continued service to those park users during construction of the dog park within Phase 1. Phasing also spreads costs over distinct segments that can be timed to meet financial considerations.
Cost Estimates
As part of the overall scope of the project, the City retained Psomas Engineering to provide Preliminary Cost Estimates of the Preferred Plan option produced by Schmidt Design Group.
The estimate is a summary of probable construction costs.
Since May, the Schmidt Design group worked with Psomas to refine the park cost estimates, summarized below by phase and total cost. These costs include 10% prevailing wage, 24% general conditions/mobilization/bonding and 10% contingency.
Phase Costs Presented May 2024 Updated Costs October 2024 Phase 1 $10,475,823 $9,785,150
Phase 2 $8,515,096 $8,386,950
Phase 3 $12,185,697 $9,850,731
Total $31,176,616 $28,022,831
Less Underlying Major Maintenance ($13,000,000)
Approximate Costs of Enhanced
Design Features $15,022,831
The revised total cost of the Cays Park Master Plan is about $28 million. This includes about $13 million of necessary maintenance to core infrastructure such as irrigation, sod, restrooms, reconstruction of the courts, sidewalks and lighting. Deducting these maintenance items from the total yields about $15 million as the cost of the enhanced design features in the Plan, inclusive of contingencies and construction overhead.
Costs for major park features are as follows:
Phase 1 Approximate Cost*
Dog Park $1.64 million
Playground $2.0 million
Native Gardens and Sunset Hill $605,000
Sunset Deck $522,000
Fitness Nodes $21,000
Temporary Dog Park (during construction) $39,000
Infrastructure Improvements $1.3 million
Phase 2 Approximate Cost*
Turf Field and Walkways $1.1 million
Plaza $2.0 million
Parking Lot and Vehicular Improvements $930,000
Infrastructure Improvements $1.2 million
Phase 3 Approximate Cost*
Pocket Park $330,000
Basketball Courts $370,000
Tennis and Pickleball Courts $2.6 million
Fitness Nodes $74,000
Turf Field and Walkway $977,000
Storage Area $973,000
Infrastructure Improvements $820,000
*Approximate as costs exclude contingency, general conditions and prevailing wage, which appear as separate line items in the cost estimation. These costs add ~44% to total.
Detailed cost estimates are included within Attachment 6.
The Cays Park Master Plan presents a high-level vision for the park. Detailed design and engineering plans and drawings must be developed as the next step. In this process, there are numerous decisions including the degree of adherence to the vision of the Master Plan and where deviations would be allowed.
Staff request Council input on feature prioritization, cost parameters and any other factors such as the quantity or quality of features to guide the technical design and engineering.
Environmental Review
The Cays Park Master Plan, as adopted by City Council on May 21, 2024, is an evaluation of design features for the park and does not constitute a project under CEQA because it does not commit the City to any particular action and does not have the potential to cause a physical change in the environment without subsequent Council action and decisions.
City staff will conduct a CEQA evaluation after completion of design but prior to award of a construction contract to determine if the project is exempt or requires preparation of a Negative Declaration, Mitigated Negative Declaration, or Environmental Impact Report. The City shall follow all public notice and document filing requirements of CEQA and City ordinances.
Next Steps and Funding
With Council direction provided at the October 1, 2024 meeting, the project will proceed as follows:
• Technical design and engineering drawings – To commence 2025 • CEQA evaluation – Timing to be determined
• Bidding – Timing to be determined
• Construction – Timing to be determined
There are no fixed deadlines for these project components. The City Council will be presented with decision points at appropriate junctures.
Also, there are two parallel but associated efforts underway:
Fire Department Community Risk Assessment Slated to begin Winter 2024/25, this assessment will characterize Coronado’s fire and emergency medical services needs now and for the next 50 years. Outcomes from the assessment will inform Fire Station planning and design, which in turn may factor into Cays Park design.
External Funding Opportunities and Financial Strategy. City staff, with the support of consultant services, will be analyzing grant and external funding opportunities for the Cays Park construction and other priority projects. In addition, the City will be developing an overall financing strategy that factors the City’s existing resources, funding options, and timing with other major capital projects on the City’s Capital Improvement Program horizon.
FISCAL IMPACT:
Providing direction at this interim juncture has no fiscal impact. The City has funds budgeted in the Cays Park Master Plan CIP project for design and engineering services.
ALTERNATIVE:
City Council could choose to make updates to the Cays Park Master Plan or provide additional direction to staff on the Preferred Design Plan, project phasing or financing.
CALIFORNIA ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY ACT:
Not Applicable.
PUBLIC NOTICE:
No notice required.
ATTACHMENTS:
1. Cays Park Master Preferred Plan Designs (as accepted May 21, 2024)
2. Cays Park Design Alternatives – as directed by City Council on May 21, 2024
3. Cays Park Master Plan Amenities Summary
4. Cays Park Master Plan Parking Summary
5. Cays Park Master Plan Phasing
6. Cays Park Revised Cost Estimates
7. Draft Minutes from Parks & Recreation Commission – May 6, 2024
8. Letter from the Cays Homeowners Association – April 4, 2024 Submitted By: City Manager's Office / Tony Winney and Tina Friend