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1 CITY OF PACIFICA
PARKS, BEACHES AND RECREATION COMMISSION
CITY COUNCIL COMMITTEES/COMMISSOINS PRESENTATION June 13, 2022 The Parks, Beaches and Recreation (PB&R) Commission is submitting the following as a summary of the Commission work for 2021-2022 period.
Commission Members Term Expires
Cindy Abbott, Chair 2022
Nick Lusson, Chair pro Tem 2023
Kevin Kellogg 2022
James Heywood 2024
Gail Benton Shoemaker 2023
Carl Nicolari 2025
Open 2023
Cindy Abbott, Executive Director, Sanchez Art Center, is an ocean and beach enthusiast, who sees the work of the Commission as addressing issues that are the essence of Pacifica - a small city with a population that values community engagement for all ages and the outdoor environment. She has been a resident of Pacifica since 1996.
Nick Lusson has lived in the Linda Mar neighborhood of Pacifica since moving here with his wife & son in 2018. They've quickly fallen in love with the natural beauty and outdoor features as well as the small-town community lifestyle. After a long history of working at multiple levels of soccer, he is now the Athletic Director at The Olympic Club in San Francisco. He joined the commission out of belief in community service and desire to give back to his family's new home.
Kevin Kellogg moved to Pacifica in 2010 with his wife Alicia to pursue a career as a forensic scientist with Santa Clara County. They have two children, ages seven and four. Kevin wanted to join the Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission because of his enthusiasm for the outdoors and community.
Gail Benton Shoemaker has lived in Pacifica for 32 years. She has been a Producer for Public Television, Executive Director of Pacifica School Volunteers, and a Program Officer for AmeriCorps overseeing grants to nonprofits working with children and Seniors. Currently, she serves on the PB&R Commission, the board of a San Francisco nonprofit, and with the community organization Tree City Pacifica which organizes Arbor Day. Gail is an avid walker and greatly appreciates Pacifica’s parks and beaches.
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2 James Heywood works as a Film Technician and Stagehand with IATSE locals 16/San Francisco and 80/Hollywood. He has 3 school age children and is a lifelong skateboarder, surfer, and swimmer.
Carl Nicolari is a San Francisco native who grew up exploring the coast side. He's a member of Rockaway Beach Conservation Stewards and one of the leaders of Bay Area Hiking and Camping, which organizes many group hikes in the area. He also served on the Bicycle and Pedestrian Safety Committee in San Bruno. Carl works as a Senior Program Manager at GoPro and enjoys photography and mountaineering.
Highlights from the past year
Work Plan
The Commission spent two meetings over the past year creating and confirming a work plan for the coming year. Some of these items are a continuation of Commission work from this year, as highlighted below. The 2022 Work Plan will include:
• Surf Camp/School Policy
• Poet Laureate Nominations and Appointment
• Bike Park
• Heritage Tree Processes and Appeals
• Beach Safety
• Playground Improvement Program
• Liaison Assignments
• Additional items for future discussion included: protection of marine life and sensitive environments, all abilities playground in Pacifica, park visit/field trip by commissioner and skatepark improvements.
Bike Park
In October and November of 2021, PB&R Commission gave feedback to staff and the Pacifica Bike Park Committee (PBPC), a 501(c)3 nonprofit for the development of a survey using the City-wide FlashVote system for Pacifica residents. At the February 23, 2022, PB&R Commission meeting, the PBPC shared the results of the survey and presented an overview of their progress. Their presentation included information on considered locations as well as their discussions with another non-profit organization with experience in developing, designing, maintaining, and fundraising to build a bike park.
The Commission recommended to approve the concept of a bike park at the lower Frontierland Park site. City Council agreed and made the same recommending at their March 28, 2022 meeting. The PBPC will now be focusing efforts, among other things, on fundraising, environmental reports, maintenance, and design.
Heritage Tree Appeals
While the PB&R Commission heard only one tree appeal over the last year, they also participated in a Heritage Tree Ordinance update joint study session with the Planning DRAFT
3 Commission and the Beautification Committee. Commission/committee members were presented with an informational report regarding the Heritage Tree Ordinance update and were able to provide input/comments to City staff and Davey Resource Group (DRG) Surf Camp/School Policy Recommendations
On June 22, 2020, following public comment, City Council referred to the PBR Commission an opportunity to review the historic permitting processes for surf camps/schools through an equity lens. The Commission held several meetings and study sessions from summer to fall of 2020 and eventually approved the creation of a task force to consider and make recommendations regarding the policy to increase access to nonprofit organizations serving communities that have had limited access to surfing and the healing benefit of the ocean. After meeting monthly from February to October of 2021, the Task Force presented their recommendations to formalize a “Community Access Permit Program” (CAPP) for nonprofit organizations and an RFP process for commercial camps to the Commission on October 27, 2021. The Commission approved the recommendations, which were adopted by the City Council on January 10, 2022.
Staff is currenting involved in the application process with the Coastal Commission for a Coastal Development Permit (CDP) for the program. The Commission will provide ongoing review of the program as well as acting as the reviewing body for commercial applicants.
Poet Laureate
In 2013 Council directed the PB&R Commission to create a process for the selection of the City’s Poet Laureate. Since then, we have had two poets serving in this position. Commissioner Benton Shoemaker and Chair Abbott are serving on the Poet Laureate ad hoc committee with Supervisor Beth Phipps acting as staff liaison. It is expected that approval of the next Poet Laureate will come to the Commission in July/August of this year.
Special Presentations
As part of department quarterly (4x/year) updates, staff members attend Commission meetings to present highlights for each division and their programs. Many of the staff presentations included information on how department programs were dealing with the many and ever changing/evolving guidelines, protocols, and procedures for COVID-19. In addition to these staff presentations, Paul Totah gave a comprehensive overview of Tree City Pacifica’s work.
Meeting Summaries – include June 2021 – May 2022
6/23/21
Commissioners heard a Heritage Tree Appeal for 223 Roberts Road. Public Works Superintendent Ray Kurttila presented the staff report, and commission heard testimony from the appellant as well as the applicant. The Commission voted 5-0 to deny the appeal and approve the removal of the tree due to infection with pitch canker disease, and to the replacement of two 15-gallon trees on the property.
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4 7/28/22
Recreation Coordinator in charge of Aquatics, Anthony Schriver, provided a presentation covering spring and summer programs at Jean E. Brink Pool, while operating during a pandemic.
Department quarterly reports were also submitted and highlighted. 8/25/21
Paul Total attended the meeting and provided a detailed overview of Tree City Pacifica presentation, which included information about the formation, requirements, help with the ordinance update, as well as outreach and collaborative efforts. 9/22/21
Acting Senior Services Supervisor Beth Phipps gave a detailed update and overview of all the Senior Services program activities. This included a report on Grab & Go drive-through meals, Meals on Wheels, COVID activities, CaR Program, outdoor activities, and special events. In addition, she highlighted the grand re-opening of the Senior Center earlier in the month.
Coordinator Schriver gave an update on the Bike Park Survey process. Commissioners then discussed the survey and gave staff direction on suggested edits.
Staff gave a report regarding a proposal to place telescopes at Linda Mar Beach from View Telescopes owner Gary Wahrhaftig, who was present to answer questions. Commissioners asked staff to move forward with pursuing the possibility of putting them at Pacifica State Beach, Linda Mar as well as at Rockaway Beach and the pier.
9/28/21
A Heritage Tree Ordinance Update joint study session was held between the Planning Commission, PB&R Commission, and the Beautification Committee. The purpose of the meeting was for committee and commission members to receive an informational report regarding the Heritage Tree Ordinance update and to provide input/comments to City staff.
Planning Commission Chairman John Nibbelin acted as presiding chair of the joint study session. The City’s consultant, Davey Resources Group, Inc. (DRG) gave a PowerPoint presentation of preliminary comments received from stakeholder interviews regarding the Heritage Tree Ordinance. Following the presentation, Chair Nibbelin, with assistance from PB&R Commission Chair Abbott and BAC Chair Moses, led the joint session to receive questions/comments from commission/committee members. This was followed by public comment and final comments from commission/committee members. 10/27/21
The Pacifica Surf Camp/School Policy Advisory Task Force presented their recommendations to expand access for nonprofit organizations through the formation of a “Community Access Permit Program” and new RFP process for commercial permittees to the Commission. The Task Force had been meeting monthly from February through October after the approved formation by the Commission in December of 2020. Task Force members Johnny Irwin and Cliff Hodges along with DRAFT
5 Director Perez answered questions following the presentation. The Commission voted 6-0 to approve the recommendations, which were then approved by the City Council in January 2022.
The Commission also had a discussion regarding the return to in-person meetings. This information was shared with City Council. Quarterly reports were submitted and highlighted. 11/17/21
The Commission Work Plan for 2021-2022 was discussed. Items included on this list were Surf Camp/School Policy, Liaison Assignments, Poet Laureate, Bike Park, Heritage Tree Process and Appeals, the Playground Improvement Program and Beach Safety. Commission asked staff to come back with an update of the plan reflecting their comments and suggestions. New Commissioner Carl Nicolari was introduced and seated.
1/26/22
Commissioners continued their discussion of the 2020-2021 Work Plan and approved the items, which included Surf Camp/School Policy, Liaison Assignments, Poet Laureate, Bike Park, Heritage Tree Process and Appeals, Playground Improvement Program, Beach Safety and an additional item for “future discussions” to include discussion on the department plans/roadmap for the future (5, 10, 20 years), protection of marine life and sensitive environments, all abilities playground in Pacifica, park filed trip by commissioners and Skatepark improvements.
Child Care Site Coordinator Eva Tong gave an overview of the Child Care program including information and changes made for adaptation to COVID-19 protocols. She also highlighted information on recent special events and field trips as well. 2/23/22
Following a staff report and presentation, the Commission voted to recommend staff move forward and work with the Sea Valor Organization and Arunay Foundation to install Life Ring Buoy Stations at City of Pacifica Beaches.
Pacifica Bike Park Committee member Amir Mendel presented an overview of their progress, which included: site selection, initial consultation with the Mountain Bikers of Santa Cruz regarding assessment, design, construction and maintenance and the results of the Bike Park FlashVote survey. The Commission voted to recommend the concept of the Bike Park at lower Frontierland Park.
3/23/22
Commission held a study session to discuss a Parks Overview, which was the first in-person meeting since February of 2020. Director Perez gave a presentation that provided information about all of Pacifica’s parks that included the location, amenities, recent work completed, and any future improvements scheduled. Deputy Director of Public Works Sam Bautista and Parks Division staff Michael Pham attended and provided additional information. 4/27/22
New Recreation Coordinator Sophia Mahoney-Rohrl introduced herself and gave an update on here first two months working for PB&R, which included highlights on the J-Teen After School DRAFT
6 program at Vallemar, the Reverse Egg Hunt, the YAC Attack conference as well as upcoming summer programming.
The Commission Annual Report to Council was discussed. Department quarterly reports were also submitted and highlighted.
5/25/22
NCE, the landscape architect consultants gave a presentation on the progress of the conceptual plans for the Priority Parks Project. Commissioners also discussed and gave final input on the Annual Report to Council, to be presented June 13, 2022