Cotati City Council
Agenda Staff Report
Item type: CONSENT CALENDAR (ACTION)
To: City Council
Subject: Design Agreements for Putnam and Cator Field Updates Date: June 27, 2023
Written by: Damien O'Bid, City Manager
Recommendation
It is recommended that the City Council adopt a resolution authorizing the City Manager to execute design agreements for the update to Putnam Park and partial update to Cator Field.
Background
In late 2019, the City of Cotati (City) approved the Parks Capital Plan for all parks in Cotati. The plan includes concepts for amenities, improvements, and upgrades to Cotati parks based on community input, with planning level cost estimates and relative priorities.
In 2020, the City began public workshops and design for Kotate Park, the first park to advance to detailed design. Kotate Park subsequently went into construction early this year and is anticipated to be complete in July. The next major park improvement was identified in the capital improvement program to be Putnam Park.
Additionally, the City entered into a 10 year license agreement with the NorCal Oaks Little League, which included advanced improvements to the baseball fields at Putnam Park and Cator Field. These improvements include extensive renovation of the baseball fields and related fencing, stands and dugouts, which are underway now. To minimize off leash dogs in the newly renovated fields, NorCal Oaks has also offered to assist in construction of dog parks at Cator and possibly Putnam, both of which were identified as potential improvements in the Parks Capital Plan.
Finally, although not part of this item, the City recently received a grant from the State to improve Sunflower Park. Therefore, this project will advance in priority and a scope of work to initiate design will come to the City Council in the near future.
Analysis/Discussion
Now that the City is concluding the Kotate Park improvements, it is time to begin work on Putnam, the next park in priority. This park was prioritized by the City Council due to the age of infrastructure and heavy usage by the community. The proposed scope of work recognizes that the planned baseball field infrastructure will advance separately by NorCal Oaks, will prioritize the dog park design given the potential for NorCal Oaks assistance, while also working on the overall park upgrades, focused on a perimeter pathway and connecting pedestrian bridge to the Laguna de Santa Rosa train, picnic areas, benches and amenities. The design will also potentially include a replacement restroom and consolidated snack shack. The work will kick off with a public workshop to gather community priorities to refine the previous input received during the Capital Plan process. The City Council should also be aware that some citizens have separately expressed to staff that they would like to see landscaped buffered areas between the planned pathway and the existing drainage swale that runs along the south side of the parking lot, continuing along the east side of the park and connecting to the Laguna de Santa Rosa. This will be part of the workshop and design conversation.
Although Cator Field is behind Putnam in priority, it is very common for people to run dogs off leash in the Cator baseball field. Inconsiderate dog owners allow their pets to defecate in the field and don’t pick up the waste and was a regular complaint from Cal Ripkin Little League before they ended the license agreement with the City. There is no dog park at or near Cator, making enforcement and encouraging pet owners to do the right thing difficult. To correct this, the Capital Plan identified a future dog park at Cator. With NorCal Oaks currently renovating the baseball field for use and offering to assist the City with the dog park, the priority of the dog park has escalated to address this issue. Separately, the City has observed that there is a lot of interest in youth beach volleyball but very few good facilities in the county. Currently, the only good facility is at Ragle Ranch in Sebastopol and Santa Rosa plans to upgrade their courts at the Finley Center in the near future. Cotati has one of the few quality courts in the county at Veterans Park and currently has a license agreement with Aloha youth volleyball to use the single court for practice only. Games for any of the youth teams are generally played out of county or out of state.
Providing sand volleyball courts at Cator Field would further energize this largely unused field and could encourage games and league play in Cotati, drawing in families that are likely to visit our restaurants and businesses before or after matches. Therefore, the design of sand volleyball courts are also included in the advanced design work. Other improvements identified in the Capital Plan (skatepark, playground, pathways, tables and amenities, etc.) would be deferred to a future design effort but would be considered in the planning of this initial work to ensure space is reserved for these potential future improvements.
Integra Planning and Landscape Architecture’s (Integra) proposed scope of work entails working with City Staff to conduct up to two separate public engagement meetings and workshops for each park to gain community input on design options and amenities that they would like to see.
Following staff and community meetings, Integra will aggregate the results from community meetings and will create a final design and cost estimate for bidding and construction.
A more detailed description of the services to be provided is included in the proposed scope of work attached to this staff report.
City Staff has reviewed the scope and rates and finds the rates and charges to be of good value for the proposed work.
Financial Considerations
The projected cost of the Professional Services Agreement is $59,470 for Cator Field and $192,250 for Putnam Park (Total of $251,720). The City’s adopted Fiscal Year 2023/24 Budget allocates $285,000 for both Putnam Park and Cator Field. The budget for Putnam Park anticipated design only expenses in Fiscal Year 23/24, with construction planned for Fiscal Year 24/25.
Construction funding has not yet been identified for construction of Putnam Park improvements.
The budget for Cator Field anticipates both design and construction in Fiscal Year 23/24. As previously stated, the dog park elements would be advanced at both parks given the timing of NorCal Oaks field improvements. If NorCal Oaks is able to contribute to the construction of the dog parks, these elements may advance to construction in Fiscal Year 23/24. Lastly, if approved by the City Council and budget allows, the volleyball courts at Cator Field may also advance to construction in Fiscal Year 23/24.
The design agreements for both projects are one time costs, with no on-going commitment of funds. Future facilities, if constructed, would add additional on-going maintenance costs that could be better quantified once design is complete.
Environmental Issues
The action of entering into a consulting agreement is exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA), because it is not a project which has a potential for resulting in either a direct physical change in the environment, or a reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment, pursuant to CEQA Guideline section 15378.
As part of the design process, the City will perform a CEQA review of each park once the full extent of the project impacts are known.
Attachments:
Helen Putnam Park Scope of Work (PDF) CatorCivic Center Park Scope of Work (PDF)