Council discusses early redesign concepts for Delucchi, Lions Wayside parks

The Pleasanton City Council reviewed early layouts for proposed renovations of Delucchi and Lions Wayside parks on Tuesday, advancing three design concepts for further consideration by the Parks and Recreation Commission.

The project, in the planning phase for several years to enhance and better unify the adjacent downtown parks, was back before the council for direction after the city’s original idea to underground the drainage swale in Lions Wayside Park was unacceptable to regional water agencies.

“With our proposal to fill what we call a ‘ditch’ but they call a ‘waters of the United States,’ we are never going to get those permits to implement the plan that was (previously) adopted,” assistant city manager Brian Dolan told the council during Tuesday night’s regular meeting at the Pleasanton Civic Center.

As a result, the city’s staff and consultants went back to the drawing board and created four conceptual layouts that incorporated the drainage swale — which city leaders had hoped to put under ground as a culvert to improve usability and safety at Lions Wayside.

The layouts, which would provide the basis for more detailed designs for future approval, featured varying locations for the Chan Henderson Bandstand, lawn spaces, trees and other planting locations, as well as options for adjusting the above-ground course of the swale.

Neal Street, which separates the two parks, would be repaved with special pavement markings and holes would installed at its First Street and Railroad Avenue intersections to allow bollards to be put up so Neal could be closed to traffic during special events, under the proposals.

The council members were being asked to whittle down the layout list by removing any options they didn’t think were worth pursuing further.

They all opposed a layout that centered around a portable bandstand that could be placed near the Neal-Railroad intersection.

Several council members also initially disliked a version that would put a permanent bandstand in Lions Wayside with its back to Neal Street and Delucchi Park, but they decided to leave that option in the cards for further staff and commission review.

The other two options, for which the council was more receptive, placed the bandstand in the back part of Lions Wayside closer to the Firehouse Arts Center.

The project now returns to Parks and Recreation Commission to work on a final design that meets the goals outlined in the city’s 2014 Lions Wayside and Delucchi Parks Master Plan. It would then return to the council for final consideration in the months ahead.

In other business

* The council approved of making the city’s first downtown bicycle corral permanent and adding a second location, on St. Mary Street.

The city installed the initial bike corral on West Angela Street, in place of a parking spot near the Main Street intersection, next to Peet’s Coffee in July 2017 with the intent of testing how the new public amenity would be received by the community.

The pilot program went well during the year-plus, with cyclists using the corral to park their bikes especially during weekday lunches and special events like the farmers market, according to city staff. Public survey results also commended the corral.

With the positive reviews, city staff recommended keeping the West Angela Street corral in place and adding a second one elsewhere in downtown.

Most council members supported staff’s suggestion to place the second corral on St. Mary Street in place of a parking spot between Rita’s Italian Ice and Beer Baron, but Councilman Jerry Pentin, who is an avid cyclist, said he preferred an alternate location on Main Street in front of Inklings Coffee & Tea.

The council majority, which opposed taking away a parking spot on Main Street, voted 4-1 in favor of the St. Mary Street location. Pentin dissented.

The second bike corral is estimated to cost $4,050, paid for by Measure B county transportation sales tax funds. An installation timeline has not been announced.

City officials plan to speak with the council in the weeks ahead about the other downtown amenity pilot program — the temporary parklet that was placed overtop two parking spots on West Angela Street across from the bike corral but was removed in April after being damaged by a car crash.

* Council members received a presentation from StopWaste, an Alameda County joint powers authority focused on waste, recycling, energy conservation and smart water use.

The informational presentation — which centered on food service packaging, litter and plastic pollution as well as waste and recycling issues regionally, nationally and internationally — was held ahead of StopWaste’s priority-setting meetings later this fall.

The agency heads into those internal discussions envisioning their priorities will focus on waste reduction, proper recycling and toxics reductions. Pentin is the city’s representative on the StopWaste board.

* The council held a reception to recognize new and reappointed commission and committee members, who then took their oath of office for their upcoming terms.

They included Planning Commission with Nancy Allen (reappointed) and Justin Brown (promoted to regular member from alternate); Library Commission with Michaela Hertle (reappointed), Sonia Rai (moved from alternate), Cindi Sabatini (alternate) and Santana Parikh (youth); and Human Services Commission with Susan Hayes (reappointed), Janeen Rubino-Brumm (moved from alternate) and Joe Carlucci (alternate).

With single appointments were Gokul Deep to Committee on Energy and the Environment (youth), Harshkumar Gohil to Economic Vitality Committee (medical services rep), Anthony Soby to Housing Commission (reappointed) and Kate Inman to Youth Commission (reappointed).

* As part of its seven-item consent calendar, the council held the second reading and final adoption of an ordinance introduced Sept. 18 to formally rescind the Johnson Drive Economic Development Zone in favor of more environmental review for the project.