City of Sunnyvale
Excerpt Meeting Minutes - Draft
Heritage Preservation Commission
7:00 PM Online and Bay Conference Room, City
Hall, 456 W. Olive Ave., Sunnyvale, CA
94086
Wednesday, December 4, 2024
CALL TO ORDER
Chair Johnson called the meeting to order at 7:00 PM.
ROLL CALL
Chair Sue-Ellen Johnson
Vice Chair Aaron Sofaer
Commissioner William Garrett
Commissioner Charles McManis
Commissioner Pamela Sharma
Present: 5 -
Commissioner Ashmita Rajkumar
Commissioner Parthiv Rawal
Absent: 2 -
STUDY SESSION
1. 24-1197 Discussion and Consideration of Naming Ideas for the New City Park Currently Referred to as Corn Palace Park
Recreation Services Manager Tracey Gott presented a slide show to discuss considerations of names for a current City Park currently referred to as Corn Palace Park. She discussed the history of the site, noting it was agricultural land and a family farm in Sunnyvale that was owned and operated by the Francia family since the 1920’s, where Corn Palace farm stand was constructed in 1965. She noted that naming City parks and recreation facilities is the responsibility of the City Council and any name considerations will first be reviewed by the Parks and Recreation Commission who will make a recommendation to the City Council for naming or renaming any park and recreation facility. She further noted that a majority of City parks presently have the name of the planning district in which they are located and that any new parks should follow the same criteria, and where the naming of the planning district is not possible, the following criteria will be given consideration in naming a park or facility within a park: 1) Greatest consideration should be given to a name that has historical significance to the City of Sunnyvale, 2) Open space that was formerly school property or adjoined to a school, 3) Naming a park for a specific
Attachment 4
December 4, 2024Heritage Preservation Commission Meeting Minutes - Draft individual will only be considered if that individual has made a significant contribution to the City of Sunnyvale, and 4) Other name considerations will only be considered if one of the three above criteria do not provide a suitable name.
Commissioner McManis suggested Acorn Park or Maize Park. He also asked Ms.
Gott about a proposed plaque from the applicant to honor Corn Palace at the park and she responded that she would check with Parks and report back.
Commissioner Sharma noted she frequented Corn Palace and spoke to Mr. Francia in the past. She noted that she suggested Corn Palace Park, Maize Park, or "The Gathering Place".
Commissioner Garrett asked if there are other parks to honor Native American Heritage, besides Muwekma Park and Ms. Gott responded that it may in the future as smaller neighborhood parks get built. Comm. Garrett noted that Corn Palace Park is the most commonly known name and suggested to try to find opportunities to honor the Native American Heritage.
Chair Johnson noted that she wanted to keep the park known as Corn Palace as it is commonly known.
Director of Library and Recreation Services Michelle Perera noted that staff is looking to revise the park naming policy.
Councilmember Mehlinger noted that he is the newly appointed Council Liaison to the Heritage Preservation Commission. He noted that Moffett Park Specific Plan is adding new green space that the Commission will have opportunities to suggest names.
Vice Chair Sofaer suggested Corn Palace Park or Manzanita Park and naming parks the same as other parks in different cities can get confusing (referring to Tamien and Ohlone Park).
Attachment 4