From: lynndeed
To: Diana Rich; Neysa Hinton; Slayter, Patrick; Sarah Glade Gurney; [email protected] Cc: Mary Gourley
Subject: CalderCreek Restoration
Date: Friday, January 28, 2022 8:54:07 PM
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A new Calder Creek through Ives Park
Dear Council
With the restoration of Calder Creek I hope you take full advantage of the opportunity to turn Ives Park into a truly beautiful gem of a central city park. Please go for the top choice design recommended by the Planning Commission. Make the Park a showplace attraction.
Of course there are a few issues. Below I am passing along comments on three.
Lynn Deedler
Issue 1.
In the planning Commission’s top choice, the Park baseball field area would be used to restore Calder Creek’s natural meander. The Little League organization will likely object.
Below are a few facts that should be considered to evaluate this. *The field takes up one third of Ives Park and is locked to the general public. *The Ives field is controlled exclusively by Little League which also has exclusive use of two other City owned fields next to the Community Center. No other City in the County offers such a deal. Not even close. Two other County cities allow Little League use of just one field for a fee and not exclusively.
*The Ives field is one of the smallest in the City. It is too small for teens and adults that can hit balls over the fence.
* Several field options are available.The Sebastopol area has 12 baseball fields. All are available to organized baseball teams for play and practice, except the three Little League controlled fields. On a per capita basis Sebastopol has five times as many baseball fields on average as the five surrounding cities, ten times as many as Santa Rosa.
Issue 2. The Ives Park Master Plan needs a redo. Numerous aspects of the Master Plan do not make sense. An example is the Plan shows the western segment of Calder Creek off Jewell undergrounded and existing large redwood trees removed. This is along the current fenced channel – just to alter a grass field shape. A new Master Plan would likely be needed with the top choice restoration plan. This is needed.
Issue 3. At the Jewell-Willow corner removing the large sweeping turn and include this land and the triangular landscaped island into the park. It appears that everyone in the surrounding neighborhood applauds this change – except for one. Their reason is based on inaccurate information.
This work could be largely funded by the Calder restoration grant if the creek is restored where is goes under the road. Plus, several neighbors have stated they are willing to make significant financial contributions to see this happen.
This corner is a highly viewed area of the surrounding community and town. Now it is mostly asphalt. The creek here with trees and landscaping would enrich the feel of the surrounding area and town. In addition this would:
*Slow and lessen the traffic next to the park.
*Provide a safe road crossing corner for the walkers and bikers from the large neighboring community area.
*Move the traffic away that now sweeps by next to the big picnic area.
This is the best option.
Option C: “Stable Planform Creek” – This alternative was developed in response to a request to develop an alignment without the ball field. This opens up space within the park to create a more centrally focused great lawn, add a nature play/fairy tale forest area adjacent to the creek, while reincorporating other Master Plan elements. The creek in this alignment is dynamically stable with ideal sinuosity and channel length, meaning it would be in its most natural condition with minimal engineering at crossings and outlet. As a result, the stream channel is lower maintenance. As with Option B, its form creates opportunities for picnic areas and other activities to nestle into the meanders of the riparian corridor.