|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday to move forward on planning a 17-acre community park on Staples Ranch that could include an 8-acre ice skating and ice hockey arena proposed by a subsidiary of the San Jose Sharks.
The action came despite several objections and the threat of an initiative that would ask city voters to ban all commercial and residential development on the 124-acre, undeveloped Staples Ranch property except for a proposed auto mall.
As initially proposed by the city’s Parks and Recreation Commission, the new park would be one of the largest in Pleasanton outside of Sports Park and would include at least two all-weather lighted sports fields, six lighted tennis courts, bocce ball courts, a dog exercise area and trails with a trail assembly area of restrooms and parking.
Staples Ranch is located just northeast of the Pleasanton city limits at the corner of I-580 and El Charro Road. It is unincorporated and owned by Alameda County, which has signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Pleasanton officials to develop the property with a 40-acre auto mall, a retail center, a 600-800-unit senior living complex, the community park and a corridor reserved for the future extension of Stoneridge Drive to El Charro.
Although fielding public comments for much of the council meeting on the Greenbelt initiative, Mayor Jennifer Hosterman ruled that comments on the Staples Ranch park could not deviate to other concerns for the property, including the proposed initiative.
“I will not entertain those comments,” she told a crowded council chamber.
A supporter of the ice arena, retired Parks and Community Services Director Dolores Bengtson, said the proposed park and all of its amenities “should enjoy broad public support.”
“While I feel there is an elephant in this room that we can’t talk about,” Bengtson said, referring to the initiative, “I hope we get many in the community behind this. To those who question why we need four sheets of ice (ice rinks), I’d like to point out that we have more than 30 soccer fields and plenty of baseball and softball fields. I think our community will be well served by this.”
Eight-year-old Nicholas Powers agreed. An avid hockey player, he said his parents drive him a minimum of 45 minutes to reach the nearest rink.
“Hockey is a fast, growing sport,” he told the council. Many kids play baseball and soccer here, but they can’t play hockey because there’s no facility in town.”
Businessman Brad Hirst cited hockey tournaments in the Lake Tahoe area where his grandchildren play, games that attract hundreds of players and their families who, in turn, spend thousands of dollars on fees, refreshments, restaurant, food and hotels.
“This proposed arena would have a tremendous economic impact on Pleasanton,” Hirst said.
Another resident, Jon Carroll, disagreed. He called the proposed facility “enormous,” and said it would be a regional, not a Pleasanton-only, attraction.
Anne Fox, whose Greenbelt initiative would block the ice hockey arena proposal, said at one time all of Staples Ranch–and much of the Vineyard corridor and a part of the Bernal property–was to be zoned for agricultural uses. She said the proposed Sharks facility would be a commercial use on the property on land intended for a public park.
Even so, the council voted 4-0 with Councilman Matt Sullivan absent because he was on vacation, to adopt the recommendation by city staff and the Parks and Recreation Commission to proceed with a conceptual plan for developing the 17-acre parcel, which could be expanded to 22 acres, for recreational uses and the ice arena.
City manager Nelson Fialho said negotiations will get under way immediately with San Jose Arena Management, the Sharks subsidiary.
In other action, the council:
* Voted to install radar speed-detection warning signs along Sycamore Road and Alisal Street as part of an $80,000 traffic calming program sought by Traffic Engineer Michael Tassano and Happy Valley residents. The plan includes at least seven speed “lumps” to force motorists–many of them golfers headed for Callippe Preserve Golf Course–to keep close to the posted 25 mph speed limit on those streets. Some warned, however, that the lumps, similar to those installed on Crellin Road, could encourage motorists to use Happy Valley Road as an alternative.
* Agreed to join the new East Bay Joint Powers Authority to upgrade and coordinate regional communications systems among various Contra Costa and Alameda County police, fire and other emergency response systems.
* Voted to increase the speed limit on Vineyard Avenue between Pietronave Lane and Machado Place from 40 mph to 45 mph.
* Voted to give itself a 90 percent pay raise effective with the election and swearing in of the next City Council in December 2008. The council’s action boosts the stipend for council members from $500 to 950 a month, and the mayor’s from $600 to $1,050. The last time council salaries were raised was in 1990.
– Jeb Bing
– Jeb Bing
Great news! As someone who grew up in Pleasanton and experienced first hand how boring it can be, it is great to see Pleasanton getting in on some action finally. I never understood why Dublin and Livermore seemed to have all the fun places (bowling lanes, movie theaters, ice rinks, etc.) and not Pleasanton. It was rather sad when Pleasanton lost its movie theater when Hacienda Crossings was built. Parks are great if you are a parent or a younger child, but older kids need their places too.
Although I agree ice skating is as vital a sport in any community, worthy of existence besides all youth sports, I am opposed to any ice facility on an open-space city park.
Every city park should strive to preserve visually boundless areas. Facilities for youth sports such as baseball, soccer, lacrosse, football, softball, jogging, swimming, etc. all do not require solid walls, roofed buildings, and heavy industrial electrical equipment. Ice arenas require all of this…none of which belongs in a city park. This type of venue should be erected within the confines of a light industrial zone, where buildings, equipment noise and large electrical and ice making equipment are acceptable. If the city wants to participate in a partnership with private enterprise to create and maintain ice facilities, great – but don’t place this kind of structure in what is supposed to be an open-space recreational area.
In addition to the interruption a building complex would have on a park, have you considered that ice arenas require water to be frozen by artificial means, which requires heavy electrical cooling equipment? This equipment must run 24/7, 365 days a year and will consume far more energy than, say, a solar powered baseball score board. Heavy ice making equipment not only consumes vast amounts of energy, but also generates vast amounts of heat and emissions – global warming contributions!
Please do not allow the ice complex to go forward on city park land. Please do create and maintain any facility that preserves open space. Please do create and maintain any facility where the only energy required is renewable. Please create and maintain any facility where the only heat generated is from active kids and adults enjoying sports and other activities in a beautiful outdoor space!
A park with this kind of ammenities allows kids the opportunity to enjoy one of the best sports (Ice hockey). While there are some negatives in terms of impact to the environment there are also positives.
Our community has one rink with two sheets of Ice and the kids really enjoy it. Young adults have a place to go to socialize and enjoy themselves. We had our first player in Northern California drafted to the National Hockey League and that is something to be proud of for sure. The commentor above stating to put an ice complex in a industrial location that is completely off base.
For someone who grew up in Michigan the rinks back there are mostly in City facilities that are nice parks. If anything kids can see snow in the back of the rink. The equipment to cool the arena is not loud just take a look at logitech arena. I for one look forward to seeing your community have sheets of ice. The rinks in Northern California are old and some of them are closing. Berkley for example was an old rink that needed to be closed and Oakland is pretty old in its own right. So I personally believe it will benfit the community and the surrounding areas. Also could not choose and option for being from Sacramento but that is where I am livng for the past 10 yrs and I frequent the bay for my kids hockey and mine.
Apparently we should also tear out the aquatic center and move it to a light industrial area. Such facilities have no business being on city park land.
Do you have any idea how much energy it takes to maintain four large sized pools? Those pool filters have to be run 365 days a year!
I think this is a wonderful idea and I wish that I could see this take place in the Pleasant Hill community.
I hope it happens in my lifetime.