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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1986-02-26 PRC Regular Meeting Agenda Packet *Noe vas, AGENDA PALM DESERT PARKS AND RECREATION COMMISSION WEDNESDAY - FEBRUARY 26, 1986 8:30 A.M. COMMUNITY SERVICES CONFERENCE ROOM 73-510 FRED WARING DRIVE I. CALL TO ORDER II. CONSIDERATION OF MINUTES Review of the minutes of the November 27, 1985 meeting. III. DISCUSSION ITEMS I. INTRODUCTION OF JOHN WOHLMUTH & NEW PARKS & RECREATION MANAGER 2. HAYSTACK LINEAR PARK 3. BIKEWAYS 4. JUNIOR GOLF COURSE 5. COMMUNITY PARK RESTROOMS IV. MISCELLANEOUS V. ADJOURNMENT /dlg INTEROFFICE MEMORANDUM TO: City Manager and City Council FROM: Richard J. Folkers, Director of Public Works/City Engineer SUBJECT: INVESTIGATION INTO PALM DESERT COMMUNITY PARK REST ROOMS DATE: February 27, 1986 In response to the city council 's concerns regarding the difference between the Palm Desert Community Park rest rooms and the Rancho Mirage Whitewater Park rest rooms, here is a compared summary of our findings: PALM DESERT RANCHO MIRAGE COMMUNITY PARK WHITEWATER PARK 1 ) Rest room closed style; high vandalism, open air; low vandalism, Style no air flow very good air flow, very good drainage. 2) Rest room 15 feet by 15 feet 25 feet long, 12 feet wide 3) Men's one toilet, one urinal one toilet, two urinals, Rest room one sink. no doors, no two sinks, toilet door Facilities mirrors, only a toilet door currently broken 4) Park maintenance crews, approx. one maintenance worker Maintenance 30 hours per week full time - 40 hours per week 5) Clientele adjacent to elementary and family and picnic secondary school oriented, two picnic area pavilions 6) Usage volume (Dec 1984 Weekdays no study data 100 people Weeknights 11 If25 people Weekend 200 people 7) Facilities tables, baseball field, tables, rest rooms, and equipment rest rooms, playground handball court , four in park equipment tennis courts, one basketball full-court, sand volleyball court, two picnic pavilions, playground equipment -2- PALM DESERT RANCHO MIRAGE COMMUNITY PARK WHITEWATER PARK 8) Park hours not specified, sprinklers 6 am to 10 pm now come on at 10:30 pm City Ordinance posted 9) Approximate 13 - 15 years old 3 - 4 years old Age of Facilities BACKGROUND: We believe that there are two main factors that contribute to the unsatisfactory rest room conditions at the Community Park in Palm Desert. First, the design of the rest rooms seem to perpetuate vandalism. These are closed facilities, half sunken, covered with a mound of earth, which prohibits decent air flow through the rest rooms. Moreover, this style promotes hiding in and around the rest rooms. The entrance doors are constantly broken, then removed. Subsequently, without the doors there is a clear view inside the facilities. Secondly, we believe the Palm Desert Community Park has a different clientele, at least during the weekdays, than the Rancho Mirage Whitewater Park. The community park is located adjacent to both an elementary and secondary school , where unsupervised youths frequent the park after school . The Whitewater Park seems to aim at the family and picnic crowds, looking for nice tables, picnic-oriented recreation facilities and clean rest rooms. Robert Greer stated that Rancho Mirage, before building this park, investigated numerous parks in Southern California. They ordered the best equipment, designed the most efficient rest rooms and spent the money up front. Rancho Mirage carefully studied rest room design and determined that their design incorporated the best features of the best facilities observed. He stated the majority of the expenses for this park, and all parks, come from yearly maintenance, not from the initial equipment and engineering service purchases. For Palm Desert to furnish the kind of rest rooms, from our existing rest rooms, at our Community Park comparable to those at the Whitewater Park, is physically impossible. The design of our rest room does not promote clean situations. Currently the Public Works Department is in the process of installing new and stronger stall doors in both the men's and women's rest rooms. Also, a front or main door to the women's rest room will be installed in order to restrict visibility from outside the women's rest room. This door will not be completely sealed at the top and bottom of the door. This will allow some air flow to circulate when the main door is closed. Steve Hudson a welder from Palm Desert and active youth sports leader, is doing the custom work. -3- Concerning the request from the Girl Scouts to provide clean rest room facilities for their meeting on the 23rd of February, we provided Marsha Masone, one of the Girl Scout leaders, ample toiletries for their group. On February 21st our maintenance crews will fully clean the rest rooms and hopefully our rest room improvements will be completed at that time. Yet, their picnic/meeting on Sunday February 23rd will host approximately 300 visitors. This size of group puts excessive burden on our small rest room facilities. It is our concern in the Public Works Department that this size of group might be too large to accommodate and ultimately add to the detrimental overuse of our existing park facilities. RECOMMENDATIONS: I . Consider putting steel doors and locks on the rest rooms after the improvements are made. The rest rooms can be opened during the daytime and closed in the evening to halt vandalism at night. 2. Keep the rest rooms opened, but enforce a park curfew. 3. Consider the possibility of building a better designed rest room facility on the opposite end of the Community Park. The current rest rooms could be potentially used for the adjacent baseball diamond, and opened when that facility is in use. Limiting the use of the unsatisfactory rest rooms by building better designed rest rooms, would bring Palm Desert citizens a Community Park more apt to satisfy family and picnic-oriented visitors. The staff does not have any cost information at this time. However, such information could be developed for inclusion in next years budget package. 4. Encourage the usage of a volunteer program to monitor and maintain the park, with emphasis on weekend and after school hour control . Potential volunteer corps can come from senior citizens, Retired Seniors Volunteer Program or youth recreation groups, such as the Desert Youth Sports Organization. 5. Provide additional funds for a full time employee from 8:00 am to 5:00 pm to maintain the park. This person provides daytime supervision and constant repairs and clean-up. CONCLUSION: The considerations enumerated under the recommendation are possibilities that can assist in improving the Palm Desert Community Park rest room facilities. These considerations are not exclusive, one or more of these recommendations might be adopted to provide a nicer park with less destructive vandalism. Moreover, looking into these considerations at this time, will add to our knowledge and backgr d when planning for future park facilities in Palm Desert. Richard J. F ers, P.E.