Ceremony to install mayor, newly elected council members tonight

Newly-elected and re-elected members of the Pleasanton City Council will be installed tonight with a full agenda to be considered minutes later.

The meeting will start after a reception for incoming council members and a tribute to outgoing Councilwoman Cheryl Cook-Kallio, who is termed out. She also will lead off the start of the council meeting at 7 p.m. with time for a farewell message before the new council is seated.

Superior Court Judge Steve Pulido will give the oath of office to Mayor Jerry Thorne, who was re-elected to a second two-year term on Nov. 4. He will be followed by City Clerk Karen Diaz administering the oath to Councilwoman Kathy Narum, who was re-elected to serve a full four-year term. The retired Judge Ron Hyde will swear in newly-elected Councilman Arne Olson, a former Planning Commissioner.

Then it’s on to the council dais where actions on Chick-fil-A, the Bernal Community Park and a wrap-up of the 2013-2014 budget will be considered.

The Planning Commission has already approved the bid by Chick-fil-A open a restaurant with inside eating and drive-through service across from the Larkspur Hotel in a shopping center that also includes In-N-Out and Denny’s restaurants. Because it will be a new use of the site, the council must also give its approval, which is expected.

Chick-fil-A is a national restaurant chain known for its lineup of grilled chicken entrees. The company plans to build a 5,399-square-foot restaurant with a double drive-through, to be located on a half-acre parcel that can be reached off Johnson Drive near Hopyard Road its interchange with I-580.

The restaurant would be open from 6 a.m. to midnight six days a week and, like all Chick-fil-A operations, would be closed on Sundays.

Bending to Pleasanton planning staff’s requests, the Chick-fil-A here would feature Craftsman style architecture without the sometimes garish colors the restaurant and its promotion signs feature in other locations.

If approved by the council, construction of the new Chick-fil-A will begin early next year.

Then the council will be asked to approve an initial funding plan to add more sports fields and create a wooded area to be called Oak Woodland on Bernal Community Park, a 318-acre mostly barren parcel where a lighted baseball field was built several years ago.

The project, when completed, will cost an estimated $15.8 million and is the first major capital improvement program since a city freeze went into effect after the Firehouse Arts Center was completed.

Part of the funding will come from a Bernal Community Park Reserve that the city government has maintained during the recent recession when sales and property tax revenue tapered off. Another $810,000 would be available from a Capital Improvement Program reserve, also maintained by the city.

City Manager Nelson Fialho said he expects to receive another $3.2 million from the East Bay Regional Park District through funds approved by voters when they passed the district’s Measure W bond issue.

The remaining funding gap of about $5 million will be raised through a combination of fee assessments for users of the sports fields, contributions from sports organizations, corporate sponsors and a community fundraiser similar to the one that raised more than $1 million for the Firehouse Arts Center

Tuesday’s action would allow city staff to seek bids for creating the woodland and constructing three synthetic turf athletic fields.

With regard to the woodland and accompanying trails, the park’s design will refrain from any use of potable water during the current drought.

“Since it will take at least two years to give the trees a chance to grow, the contractor who wins the landscape bid will have to water the trees by hand with trucks and recycled water,” City Manager Nelson Fialho said.

All of the other planned decorative landscaping in the Oak Woodland area will get deferred, although it will be part of the council’s overall funding approval.

“Since we’re not able to bring recycled water to this part of Pleasanton at this time, much of the Oak Woodland will be without landscaping for a time,” Fialho said.

The planned funding of the athletic fields will follow the public contribution procedures used in financing a part of the Fire House Arts Center construction.

Pleasanton sports groups have agreed to raise $2 million over a 10-year period towards the construction of new fields and amenities. As funds are raised, the city will be repaid for its costs in getting the fields built and open.

“This is exciting because the users of the fields, which are the active sports organizations fielding baseball, lacrosse, football, soccer and rugby in our community, will be making a financial commitment,” Fialho said. “Each of these clubs will decide on their own how they raise their money, whether through food sales, player assessments or by getting sponsors to chip in.”

Fialho said that installing synthetic turf on Bernal will provide good playable fields even during periods of drought.

The biggest complaint the city is getting now is over the increasingly poor quality of its athletic fields. To reduce the beating fields in the Mercer Sorts Park have been taking during the summer months, club football have been moved to fields at Pleasanton Middle School and lacrosse practice and games are now at Hart Middle School.

Also, because the new synthetic fields also will be lighted, sports teams will have more flexibility in scheduling games.

If the council authorizes the start of the bidding process Tuesday, as expected, contractors could be chosen early next year to start the 18-month construction and installation projects.