TITLE
Recommendation to receive and file the Drake Chavez Vision Plan;
Adopt resolution authorizing City Manager, or designee, to submit a grant application to the California Department of Parks and Recreation for the first phase of the Drake Chavez Vision Plan Implementation Project; accept said grant, if awarded, in an amount of $8,500,000 in Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Program funding; execute all documents necessary to accept the funds for the implementation of the Drake Chavez Vision Plan; and
Accept Statutory Exemption SE-19-191. (District 1)
DISCUSSION
On June 5, 2018, California voters passed the Parks, Environment, and Water Bond (Proposition 68), which authorized $4 billion in general obligation bonds for state and local parks. The measure required that between 15 and 20 percent of the bond funds, depending on the type of project, be dedicated to projects in communities with median household incomes less than 60 percent of the statewide average; that 60 percent threshold amounted to about $39,980 in 2016. The largest amount of bond revenue, $725 million, was earmarked for neighborhood parks in park-poor neighborhoods in accordance with the Statewide Park Development and Community Revitalization Act of 2008's competitive grant program. The California Department of Parks and Recreation (DPR) has notified applicants that $650,275,000 will be distributed throughout multiple rounds. Grant awards are anticipated to be announced in January 2020.
In 2010, the Drake Chavez Greenbelt Master Plan was completed, following a series of stakeholder discussions and community meetings. This community engagement effort, and ultimately the Master Plan, focused on amassing properties for park purposes that would connect Cesar E. Chavez Park to Drake Park, through the development of wetlands and passive and active open space (Attachment A). The City had received a series of grants from the Safe Neighborhood Parks, Clean Water, Clean Air...
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