Finley Center
2060 W. College Avenue
Cypress Room
City of Santa Rosa
Board of Parks and Recreation
Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft
4:00 PMWednesday, August 27, 2025
1. CALL TO ORDER AND ROLL CALL
Chair Quandt called the meeting to order at 4:10 pm.
Chair Carole Quandt, Board Member Paul Castillo, Board Member Jack Pond, Board Member Carolina Spence, and Board Member Keating Vogel
Present 5 -
Board Member Madonna CruzAbsent 1 -
2. REMOTE PARTICIPATION UNDER AB 2449 (IF NEEDED)
3. PUBLIC COMMENT ON NON-AGENDA MATTERS
Mike Montegue spoke about the Prince Memorial Greenway and concerns with campers along the Greenway path.
Fred Allebach spoke about the General Plan map in regards to its ability to show Disadvantaged Communities alongside park priorities.
4. APPROVAL OF MINUTES
A motion was made by Board Member Spence, seconded by Board Member Pond, to approve as submitted. The motion was approved as submitted.
Chair Carole Quandt, Board Member Paul Castillo, Board Member Jack Pond, Board Member Carolina Spence, and Board Member Keating Vogel
Present 5 -
Board Member Madonna CruzAbsent 1 -
4.1 REGULAR MEETING MINUTES APRIL 9, 2025 AND APRIL 23, 2025
5. RECREATION AND PARKS UPDATES
5.1 UPCOMING EVENTS & PARK PROJECTS
A list of upcoming events and current park projects was distributed to the Board and made available to the public prior to the meeting.
Attachment 2
City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft Staff Liaison Emily Ander shared highlights and encouraged Board members to attend at least 1 upcoming event prior to the next Board meeting.
6. CHAIR/BOARD MEMBERS REPORTS AND COMMITTEE UPDATES
Chair Quandt commented about the new Upcoming Events layout and requested email reminders and invitations be sent to Board members to attend Recreation & Parks events. She spoke about attending the Finley Aquatic Center Splash Pad Dedication event.
Board Member Spence spoke about the upcoming Merit Awards and invited everyone to attend.
Board Member Castillo spoke about visiting the new Finley Aquatic Center Splash Pad.
7. SCHEDULED ITEMS
7.1 BOARD AND STAFF INTRODUCTIONS
Board and staff members will provide introductions
All Board members introduced themselves, including new Board Member Keating Vogel who joined the Board in July and Jack Pond who is a new retiree who moved to California and joined the Board in August. New Staff Liaison Emily Ander, Assistant Parks Planner, introduced herself and new Recording Secretary Kim Grindell, Parks Planning Administrative Technician introduced herself.
Recreation and Parks staff in attendance introduced themselves, including Transportation and Public Works Director Dan Hennessey who is now the Director of Parks, and Housing and Community Services Director Megan Basinger who is now the Director of Recreation.
7.2 CITY OF SANTA ROSA REALIGNMENT
Transportation and Public Works Department Director, Dan Hennessey, and Housing and Community Services Director, Megan Basinger, will City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft provide an overview of the City’s realignment related to the City’s budget constraints and the impacts on and restructuring of the Recreation and Parks Department and responsibility for the Board of Parks and Recreation.
Director Dan Hennessey and Director Megan Basinger provided a brief update on recent layoffs and the City's restructuring of the Recreation Division and Parks Division related to budget constraints.
Chair Quandt requested an update regarding the reorganization at a Board meeting in the spring.
Public Comment:
Mike Montegue spoke about Prince Memorial Greenway volunteers not feeling valued.
Fred Allebach spoke about his love of Brush Creek Trail and hopes to see more trails connected to each other and City parks.
Annette Arnold thanked the Parks Maintenance staff and other City staff for cleaning up Newhall Trail at MLK Jr. Neighborhood Park and would like to provide volunteer service with Maintenance staff support.
7.3 MARTIN LUTHER KING JR. NEIGHBORHOOD PARK & TRAIL
MASTER PLAN AMENDMENT
Assistant Parks Planner, Emily Ander, will present the MLK Jr. Park & Trail Master Plan Amendment and the community engagement process.
Recommended Action: Discussion and recommendation to City Council for adoption
Presentation given by Assistant Parks Planner Emily Ander and Dave Rubin of Callander Associates Landscape Architecture on the community-driven Park & Trail Master Plan Amendment including explanations of the planned park amenities, their layout, location, and the related community outreach process that created the park master plan. There is insufficient funding currently available to design and construct all the park master plan improvements at once.
City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft Staff requested that the Board make two motions on this item.
Motion one to recommend the master plan to Council for adoption and motion two to advise Council regarding which amenities should be built in the first phase of construction.
Public Comments:
Annette Arnold spoke in favor of improving the North side of the park since that would provide more new amenities, and shared concerns about parking if a new field is put on the South side of the park.
Beth Wettergreen had questions about Newhall Trail and biking.
Gail Seymour supports a full renovation of the park and is very disappointed the City is only planning to improve 50% of the park.
Christina Dutton with Sonoma CAN - Headstart - shared her concerns about limited parking and requested more parking spots instead of a drop-off zone for parents.
Fred Allebach requested a tree inventory from Parks staff and spoke against cutting down any mature trees in the park. He approves of the Master Plan and sees pros and cons on both sides.
John Ferrick supports renovating the North side of the park first. He prefers natural grass over artificial turf for the new field.
Laura Larque spoke in favor of the renovation and the great need for residents to enjoy a park in the area.
Randy Smith approves renovating the North side of the park and overall improvements. He requested a plan to block the dumping of trash on Newhall Trail.
A motion was made by Board Member Castillo , seconded by Board Member Pond, that this BPR - Consent be adopted.
It is recommended by the Transportation and Public Works Department, Parks Planning Division, that the Board of Parks and Recreation approve City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft the Martin Luther King Jr. Neighborhood Park and Trail Master Plan Amendment to include a lit basketball court, a lit futsal court, fitness equipment, picnic areas with barbeques, play areas for youth ages 2-5 and 5-12-years-old, a prefabricated restroom, an open lawn area, a central shade and stage structure, a central promenade with picnic tables and front porch swings, a synthetic turf soccer field (70 yards x 110 yards) with field lighting, spectator and player seating, and equipment storage, a rehabilitated trail connecting Hendley Street to Petaluma Hill Road, security lighting, shade trees, a renovated multi-use path along Hendley, raised crosswalks, park monument signs, site furnishings, and fencing around the preschool campus and recommends to Council approval of the same.
The motion carried by a unanimous vote.
Yes: Chair Quandt, Board Member Castillo, Board Member Pond, Board Member Spence and Board Member Vogel
5 -
Absent: Board Member Cruz1 -
It is further recommended by the Board of Parks and Recreation that the project funding be used to construct either the north or south side of the park as the first phase of park improvements. If you are in favor of the South, it is essentially the lit artificial turf soccer field with lighting. If you are in favor of the North first, that would be the futsal, basketball, large picnic area, shade structure, and open grassy area. If we are comfortable having this vote, and remember it is an advisory vote only, you would not respond with yes or no, you would respond with South for soccer field or North for the other amenities. Is there anyone who is not comfortable taking this vote and would like to move the agenda item for future discussion at a future date. Motion to move forward with a vote to advise Council on constructing the park amenities on either the North or South end of the park.
A motion was made by Board Member Spence, seconded by
Board Member Pond.
North receives 5 votes. South receives 0 votes.
7.4 SUMMER PROGRAMS & REGISTRATION
City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft Deputy Director of Recreation, Jeff Tibbetts, will present registration and programming data from Recreation & Parks Summer 2025 season.
Deputy Director of Recreation, Jeff Tibbetts, presented a PowerPoint on registration and programming data from
Recreation & Parks Summer 2025 season.
Points of discussion included the season length for the new spray ground at Finley Aquatic Center and the spray ground at Prince Memorial Park.
Board members expressed appreciation for the new spray
ground and the work of summer life guards.
Board members were encouraged to attend Recreation program activities.
7.5 BOARD OF PARKS AND RECREATION BYLAW UPDATES
Staff Liaison Emily Ander provided a presentation on the changes made to the Board bylaws approved by the City Council that went into effect May 16, 2025. The Board discussed a change in meeting frequency and meeting times. It was
unanimously agreed upon to start Board meetings at 4pm, with an attempt to present items of public interest after 5pm.
A vote to approve these changes and the selection of a new meeting frequency and time will be held at the next Board meeting.
It was agreed that the next regular meeting would be held on September 24th if there were enough agenda items brought forward, otherwise the next meeting would be on October 22nd, 2025 at 4 pm.
8. WRITTEN AND/OR ELECTRONIC COMMUNICATIONS
Written and electronic correspondence on Board agenda items were shared as part of the meeting agenda and summarized by City of Santa Rosa
Regular Meeting Minutes
August 27, 2025Board of Parks and Recreation Regular Meeting Minutes - Draft Staff Liaison Ander at this time.
9. FUTURE AGENDA ITEMS
10. ADJOURNMENT
Chair Quandt adjourned the meeting at 7:12 pm.
Next regular scheduled meeting will be held on September 24, 2025 at 4:00 pm.