TITLE
Recommendation to authorize City Manager to execute the Funding Agreement between the County of Los Angeles and the City of Long Beach, for community engagement activities related to the Countywide Parks Needs Assessment; receive and file the project lists from the five Planning Areas and two regional parks in the City of Long Beach; and
Increase appropriations in the General Fund (GF) in the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department (PR) by $12,500. (Citywide)
DISCUSSION
On February 3, 2015, the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors approved a plan to produce a Countywide Comprehensive Park and Recreation Needs Assessment (Assessment) to analyze current public parks, open space, and cultural and recreational assets and needs. Participants include all 88 cities in Los Angeles County (County), state and local agencies, and nonprofit organizations based in the County. The goal of the Assessment is to conduct a comprehensive assessment of the park and recreation needs and opportunities in the County. The Assessment is on an aggressive timeline, with the final summary report, including a prioritized list of park projects and funding needs from across the County, due in June 2016.
The Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine (PRM) is serving as the lead agency on the Assessment for the City of Long Beach (City), and is responsible for providing data on the condition of park amenities in the City, hosting six community outreach workshops, and bringing a prioritized list of park projects to the City Council for approval.
In August and September 2015, PRM staff performed an inventory of existing conditions of all park amenities in regional parks, community parks, neighborhood parks, and pocket parks. This information, along with park location and acreage information, was provided to the County.
The County required at least one outreach workshop be held in each Planning Area (areas of roughly equal population) for the purpose of gathering comparable information throughout the County. A stipend of $2,500 per Planning Area is available from the County to defray event costs. The City must enter into the Funding Agreement for Community Engagement Activities Related to the Countywide Parks Needs Assessment (Funding Agreement) in order to be eligible for the stipend. The process for the outreach workshops was established by the County through an Outreach Toolkit to ensure a consistent feedback process across all 188 Planning Areas throughout the County. The City was divided into five Planning Areas: North, East, South, West, and Central. In addition to holding one outreach workshop in each Planning Area, PRM held a Spanish-language workshop at Admiral Kidd Park. Attached are maps showing Planning Areas Countywide (Attachment A), and Long Beach Planning Areas overlaid on Long Beach Council Districts (Attachment B).
In January and February 2016, PRM facilitated six community outreach workshops designed to engage the community in the County’s Assessment process, and to prioritize a list of park projects in each Planning Area. The Long Beach outreach workshops were held:
• Wednesday, January 6, 2016, at Veterans Park Community Center (West)
• Monday, January 11, 2016, at the Miller Family Health Education Center (Central)
• Thursday, January 14, 2016, at Houghton Park Community Center (North)
• Thursday, January 21, 2016, at Bixby Park Community Center (South)
• Monday, January 25, 2016, at Whaley Park Community Center (East)
• Monday, February 1, 2016, at Admiral Kidd Park Community Center (Spanish language)
The County’s process required up to ten park projects be provided for each Planning Area. For the purposes of this Assessment, the County categorized projects into three types: 1) repairing existing park amenities; 2) adding or replacing amenities in an existing park; and 3) creating a new park or specialty amenity (creation of a new park would be counted as three projects). The result of each outreach workshop was a list of prioritized projects for that Planning Area. Prioritized projects from the Spanish-language outreach workshop were merged with the lists for the individual Planning Areas.
Regional parks and nature centers are being addressed separately from other parks. The County has identified two Long Beach parks as being regional parks: El Dorado Regional Park and Heartwell Park. Up to five projects may be submitted for each regional park and up to three projects may be submitted for each nature center. Attached are lists of prioritized projects for each of the five Long Beach Planning Areas, along with the projects for El Dorado Regional Park, Heartwell Park, and the El Dorado Nature Center (Attachment C).
Once the County receives the lists of prioritized projects from all Planning Areas across Los Angeles County, total costs of the submitted projects will be estimated based on land acquisition costs, park amenity costs, and existing infrastructure needs. The County will develop a Summary Report that will include an executive summary, an introduction and description of the planning context, a description of existing conditions, the community outreach strategy, a list of future park projects, and an appendix containing the full list of projects Countywide. The results of the Assessment may be used by the County to inform potential future Countywide park funding and park planning decisions.
This matter was reviewed by Deputy City Attorney Linda T. Vu on February 9, 2016 and by Budget Management Officer Victoria Bell on February 11, 2016.
TIMING CONSIDERATIONS
City Council action is requested on March 1, 2016, in order to submit the Funding Agreement and the lists of prioritized projects to the County of Los Angeles by the established deadline.
FISCAL IMPACT
Contract costs for the outreach workshops, translation services, and tabulation of community input totaled $19,050, and are currently unbudgeted. The requested appropriation increase will offset $12,500 of these costs, and the Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine will absorb the remaining $6,550 in its General Fund (GF). An appropriation increase in the amount of $12,500 is requested in the General Fund (GF) in the Parks, Recreation and Marine Department (PR). There is no local job impact associated with this recommendation.
SUGGESTED ACTION
Approve recommendation.
Respectfully Submitted,
STEPHEN SCOTT
INTERIM DIRECTOR OF PARKS, RECREATION AND MARINE
APPROVED:
PATRICK H. WEST
CITY MANAGER