From: K Silva
To: Norvell, Bernie; Peters, Lindy; Albin-Smith, Tess; Rafanan, Marcia; Godeke, Jason; Sanchez, Diana Subject: 24 July 2023 City Council meeting - Public Comment on Item 5C Date: Monday, July 24, 2023 9:19:15 AM
Dear Mayor Norvell and Fort Bragg City Councilmembers~
Congratulations to you and staff for the California State Parks Programs Grant award. I have a suggestion for the RFP because I think any design firms considering bidding on the Bainbridge Park Enhancement Project would expect a site plan to accurately depict what already exists and/or what is desired. For that to be the case, the site plan included in the RFP needs to be corrected or additional information added. Two examples:
The site plan shows the Harrison Street fence entrance and the east/west sidewalk leading to the basketball courts located much farther north than they are in reality. The entrance is closer to the numeral 6 on the site plan. The fencing, sidewalk and benches were installed in Phase I of the Master Plan. You can’t tell by looking at the site plan in the agenda, but almost all of that new sidewalk, along with the new benches by the basketball court, will have to be removed to build the soccer courts. Why not let the design firms know the correct location of the entrance, the sidewalk and benches at the outset?
The site plan shows a pavilion “(approx. 24’ x 48’)“ located at the NW corner of the park. It would be impossible to fit a pavilion of any usable size there because the bit of angled fence in the corner is only 20 feet long, not 48 feet as shown. The design firms will be led to believe that it’s possible to fit a pavilion there until they discover later on that the fence is only 20’ long. Why not depict the pavilion at a location where it would fit or note that the site plan elements are not all to the same scale?
And you might want to include in the RFP any considerations important to you. Such as an emphasis on the maintenance challenges faced by the City so time isn’t spent considering design features that we can’t afford to maintain. And how about requiring only hearty native shrubs and trees that won’t need much care? All of the ginkgo trees planted during Phase I have died and it would be unfortunate for that to be repeated.
But it all has to start with an accurate depiction of the site. Adding a note about the site plan discrepancies, along with a current drone shot of the park, would show its actual state and size. If the time can’t be spent on making corrections or a taking a new photograph, there is one in the City’s records. In 2019, a drone shot was taken by staff and added to the agenda packet of a City Council meeting after these errors were pointed out back then. Although it wouldn’t show the current tree locations, that photo could be easily added to the RFP now.
Thank you for taking the time to read and consider my comments.
Sincerely~
Kathy Silva