TITLE
Recommendation to adopt resolution authorizing City Manager to submit a grant application to California State Parks through the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program of 2008, for the construction of a new community center and community garden at Orizaba Park, at a total estimated construction cost of
$2.2 million. (District 4)
DISCUSSION
On November 7, 2006, California voters passed Proposition 84, the $54 billion Safe Drinking Water, Water Quality and Supply, Flood Control, River and Coastal Protection Bond Act of 2006, to provide capital funding for water quality and park programs. Subsequent enabling legislation authorized $368 million in Proposition 84 grant funding for the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program of 2008 (Park Development Program).
The Department of Parks, Recreation and Marine (PRM) would like to apply for $2.2 million in grant funding through the Park Development Program for the construction of a new community center and community garden at Orizaba Park. Originally, Orizaba Park consisted of 1.5 acres along the former historic Pacific Electric Right-of-Way (PEROW) trolley line, also known as the Red Car Trolley Line, between Temple Avenue and Orizaba Avenue. Recently, the Long Beach Redevelopment Agency (RDA) acquired a 1.1-acre site adjacent to the park and along 14th Street, in order to remove blighted industrial areas. The goal is to use this additional site to expand the park area in this park-deficient community. In addition to the community center, a community garden will be included in the grant application as a second "recreational feature," which is a grant requirement for achieving maximum grant rating points used toward the awarding of funding (Attachment A).
Through a partnership between the City, RDA, and the community during the acquisition process of the adjacent land, several public meetings were held in order to gather community input for an overall new park des...
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