Representatives of the Friends of Moraga Canyon appeared before the February 25th meeting of the Piedmont Recreation Commission (minutes | video — see the Public Forum and agenda item 6 on the Coaches/Blair Update).

Randy Wedding spoke during the Public Forum asking the Rec Commission to rescind their previous resolution of 11-19-08 which recommended the addition of field lighting at Coaches Field. He noted that their resolution was conditioned on three premises which are no longer valid:

First premise: Piedmont access to Alameda play fields may be significantly curtailed in 2009 and possibly terminated in 2010.
Current status: FOMC representatives found that a new 5 year lease with Alameda Point was in the hands of the Piedmont Soccer Club and was anticipated to be signed. Therefore, this premise is invalid.

Second premise: City playfields were being considered as sites for school district portables possibly making those fields unavailable for the upcoming years.
Current status: School district will not place portables on those fields since students will be temporarily housed in Emeryville. Therefore, this premise is no longer relevant.

Third premise: A lighting study was made as part of the Initial Study for Coaches Field which adequately showed no significant impact to the community.
Current status: Residents did not agree with those findings and submitted numerous responses to the Initial Study. Those responses were not addressed (as required by law) as the Coaches Field and Blair Park project needed to be combined to assess their cumulative impact and an EIR has been initiated for the combined project. Therefore, the lighting study has not been totally vetted and the impact has not been fully established.

Commissioner Mons Cedercreutz asked Recreation Director Mark Delventhal (who is the Project Manager for the EIR process) about funding for the Blair Park project construction and cost estimates. Only informal estimates could be given as the project is in very early stages. Mr. Cedercreutz again raised his question as a ‘concerned citizen’ of the appropriateness of expending city resources on the proposed Blair project without knowing the economic feasibility of the project.

Ralph Catalano next represented FOMC to voice his concern about the lack of information available on the Blair Park project. Even though the design is being initiated by a private party, studies have been approved by the city. Still, we have not been able to receive a project description from the city. We were just informed that a traffic study is underway. How can a study be undertaken when there is not a detailed project description?

Rick Rowe, a member of Friends of Moraga Canyon, presented the following statement at the February 27, 2009 Piedmont City Council meeting:

Mayor Friedman, City Council Members:

My name is Rick Rowe. I reside on Scenic Avenue, and am an active member of the Friends of Moraga Canyon.

The “Piedmont General Plan – Resident Survey Report” of November 2007 had an impressive response rate of approximately 30 percent, making it the best current source of information about the wants and needs of Piedmont citizens.

Question 8 of the report asked, “What should be the city’s highest capital improvement priority?”. The second-highest priority was a city-owned competitive-sized swimming pool. Fifth on the priority list was “Additional recreational facilities”, a category that included, but was not limited to, sports fields.

However, in the Mid-Year Budget report presented to and approved by Council on February 2nd, all CIP monies for a community swimming pool – $600,000 – were deferred, while a total of $811,671 was retained for Blair Park and Coaches field studies and improvements. There was no discussion at the February 2nd meeting as to the rationale behind these budgetary actions.

Despite survey results, despite other projects clearly more important to the citizenry of Piedmont, and especially despite an increasingly dire financial outlook, Council stubbornly clings to committing an inordinate amount of money toward sports fields. I feel it is time for Council to reexamine its financial priorities in this regard.

Thank you.