From: Jenny Blaker
Sent: Saturday, October 25, 2025 12:06 PM
To: Ben Ford <[email protected]>; Sylvia Lemus <[email protected]>; John Savage <[email protected]>; Susan Harvey <[email protected]>; Laura Sparks <[email protected]>
Cc: Damien O'Bid <[email protected]>; Craig Scott <[email protected]>; Henry Babits <[email protected]>; Kevin Patterson <[email protected]> Subject: City Council, Oct. 28, 2025: Item 6A
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Dear Mayor Ford, Vice Mayor Lemus and City Council
Re: Cotati City Council meeting, October 28, 2025, Item 6A I respectfully request that Item 6A (Adopt.a.resolution.for.approval.of.an.agreement.with.
PJM.Landscape.to.repave.the.Delano.Park.pathway.and.amend.the.budget.for.the.required. appropriations) be withdrawn from the Consent Calendar.
The Resolution requires you to approve repaving the path through Delano Park with asphalt.
While it is clear that this well-used walking path is in a hazardous condition and needs to be replaced, there doesn't appear to have been any discussion as to why asphalt is being recommended rather than a more natural-looking, self-healing, low maintenance alternative, such as decomposed granite or crushed rock.
On November 26, 2024, staff proposed replacing the asphalt on the Laguna de Santa Rosa trail from E. Cotati Ave to Commerce Blvd. After receiving input from the public and discussing alternatives, staff and Council reconsidered the options and later recommended an aggregate surface. In the staff report for the September 9, 2025, Council meeting, staff recommended, "Removal of existing asphalt surfacing and replacement with natural pathway construction" and stated that this option is "expected to have a lower long term maintenance cost, is easily repairable by City crews, is ADA compliant and will create a more natural environment along the creek."
PUBLIC COMMENT
Surely the same thing applies in Delano Park where there are even more reasons to adopt a more natural aggregate surface rather than asphalt, and none of the same constraints.
There are no fences or walls or steep drop off on one side, as on the northern section of the Laguna trail.
Criteria to consider might include:
• "self-healing materials" that wear well and require little to no maintenance, don't pit, buckle, crack, when they encounter tree roots, etc.
• suitable for all trail users including walkers, runners, kids, dog-walkers, strollers, skate boarders, cyclists, seniors with walking frames, wheelchairs • safety - people seem to get hurt tripping and falling on asphalt • long-term costs vs short-terms costs (longevity)
• natural-looking surfaces that are also cooler
Crushed stone seems to be one surface type that works well for all users:
Rails to Trails Conservancy: https://www.railstotrails.org/trail-building-toolbox/surfaces/ for comparisons of a range of different surfaces used for trails. https://www.americantrails.org/resources/the-art-of-building-crushed-stone-trails Fom American Trails: https://www.americantrails.org/
I hope you will reconsider the proposed asphalt surfacing for the trail through Delano Park. Thank you.
Sincerely
Jenny Blaker