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Home My WebLink AboutLANDSCAPE BEAUTFCN CMTE - 03/19/08 CITY OF PALM DESERT ��T-� � � MINUTES - LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE ADJOURNED REGULAR MEETING '-- , . . Wednesday, March 19, 2008 - 11:30 a.m. Public Works Conference Room - Palm Desert Civic Center 73-510 Fred Waring Drive, Palm Desert, California 92260 I. Call to Order 11:31 a.m. II. Roll Call Present: Absent: U Chairman H. Spencer Knight Member Carlos Orteg �, Vice-Chairman Lauri Aylaian `'� � o Member Martin Alvarez � Member Homer Croy � � Member Mark Greenwood � a� Member Richard S. Kelly � Member Connor Limont Member Bob Spiegel W W � Mem ber Janis S tee le W � c.� Ao � �' L.� Also Present: ;� �' .� Steve Aryan, Assistant to the City Manager � ,� � � Diane Hollinger, Landscape Specialist U � Cora Salas, CIP Technician � � w Bertha A. Gonzalez, Recording Secretary � � Q � � � �� o w III. Oral Communications � A Q� � �, . A ,� U � � ��E•+ rZ-� H � O � r-a .. .. one �+ ac� � �nvawNH �v� �+ at� �aa� � �, cnx •� IV. Consent Calendar H �+ � � �+ o a� aa w � t�� t� _. � � z � � � o A. MINUTES of the Regular Landscape Beautification Committee Meeting of February 20, 2008. Approve as presented. Upon a motion by H. Spencer Knight, second by Member Kelly, and 9-0 vote of the Committee Board, the Consent Calendar was approved as presented. POSTED AGENDA LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE March 19, 2008 V. Consent Items Held Over None VI. New Business A. Canine Waste Concerns City staff has received a significant number of calls requesting the installation of signs that will ask residents to pick up after their pets in public areas. City staff will be installing signs on Fairhaven, south of Fred Waring, and Sandcastle Lane befinreen Carlotta and EI Dorado for a trial period of six months. Member Greenwood presented an example of the recycled plastic sign that addresses the municipal code section in order to assist code compliance incase a citation is issued. City staff had previously installed signs on Haystack with no major affect; therefore, if no noticeable improvements are made with the new signs, no other signs of this nature will be installed. Suggestions made by the Committee included: 1. Informing residents of the new signs and the importance of picking up after their pets through an article in the Brightside 2. Keeping the names and numbers of the residents that had requested the signs in order to follow up and inquire whether or not they have seen improvements Upon a motion from Member Kelly, second by Member Limont and a 9-0 vote of the Committee Board, staff was directed to move forward with the installation of the signs. B. Palm Desert Greens Association Reauest City staff is in receipt of a letter from Palm Desert Greens Associations requesting financial assistance in the installation of trees on their parkways. Member Greenwood informed the Committee that the original agreement between Palm Desert Greens and the City of Palm Desert was that the City would be responsible of the sidewalk installation and Palm Desert Greens will be responsible of the landscape installation. Staff believes that because the landscape was more expensive than anticipated, Palm Desert Greens is now requesting for financial assistance. Member Knight noted that Palm Desert Greens removed the date palms that were considered hazardous as requested by the City and that he had discovered $12,000 in a trust fund that was specially designed for the installation of trees on private property. 2 POSTED AGENDA LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE March 19, 2008 Following a brief discussion, the Committee agreed to financially assist Palm Desert Greens with the installation of trees with a reminder to them of the original agreement and the City's willingness to help. Upon a motion by Member Kelly, second by Member Spiegel and a 9-0 vote of the Committee Board, staff was directed to financially assist Palm Desert Greens Association with the installation of the trees with 25% of the trust fund, not to exceed $3,000. C. Landscape Maintenance on Citv Arterial Parkways Member Knight gave a PowerPoint presentation that illustrated the great decline in landscape maintenance of three Assessment Districts that do not have enough money in the current budget for a complete general cleanup. The areas included: 1. Hovley West Frontage South along Monterey to Monterey Country Club 2. Hovley Collection on Hovley Lane West between Portola and Monterey 3. Palm Gate on Deep Canyon between Magnesia Falls and Fred Waring At the time that all the assessment districts were surveyed, these three districts chose not to support a full level of service from the City. Member Knight informed the Committee that many of the residents that had originally refused to pay for maintenance have since moved; therefore, he believes that if the districts were again surveyed, the outcome would be different. Upon a motion by Member Kelly, second by Member Spiegel and a 9-0 vote from the Committee Board, staff was directed to survey all three districts as soon as possible. D. Current Drouqht and Water Crisis Presentation Member Knight presented an overview of the current water crisis and gave a brief explanation of what has lead to it. The Coachella Valley gets most of its water from snow on Sierra Nevada Mountain range and northwestern states. The west has been in drought conditions since the year 2000, as a result, the Colorado River supply system has been placed at 50% of capacity with no expectation of recovery in the near future. If the water levels drop any lower, electrical power generation at Hoover Dam may be curtailed. 3 POSTED AGENDA LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE March 19, 2008 In October of last year, a federal court ruling limited the pumping of water by 30% during certain seasons of the year from the San Joaquin River Delta by the State and Federal water systems. This was prompted by the near extinction of the native Smelt population. As a result, a number of agricultural areas in the state have had their water supplies decreased correspondingly. The existing state water system's stability is based on a recovery cycle of ten years: three years of drought, four years of normal and three years of excess rainfall. In the past, the system has been able to store water for recovery during the wet and normal years; however, with the aforementioned 30°/a decrease in supply, the system now has only three years of recovery. This situation does not allow for adequate refill of water storage facilities. Suggestions by the Committee included: 1. Removing the Tamarisk trees on San Pablo and Magnesia Falls and installing a parking lot 2. Weighing the consequences against the benefits of planting large numbers of trees Upon a motion from Member Kelly, second by Member Spiegel and a 9-0 vote by the Committee Board, staff was directed to take to Council a recommendation to remove the tamarisk trees on San Pablo and consider the area for parking. VII. Continued Business A. Portola Avenue Wall Aesthetic Treatment Cora Salas presented a review of the project, addressed the concerns of the Committee from a previous meeting and asked the Committee to give its approval to move forward. Concerns from the previous meeting included: 1. Railings — Should railing be installed and if so, what kind? Two 25ft long sections of the sidewalk will require handrails due to safety reasons. The railings will be similar to the Portola Bridge rails to present a uniform appearance. 2. Scheduling — In order to avoid school traffic, City staff will make an effort to begin the project in the summer of 2009. 3. Budget — City staff predicts using all of the $1.2 million in current CIP budget. 4 POSTED AGENDA LANDSCAPE BEAUTIFICATION COMMITTEE March 19, 2008 Upon a motion by Member Kelly, second by Member Spiegel and a 9-0 vote from the Committee Board, the Portola Avenue Wall Aesthetic Treatment project was approved as presented. VIII. Old Business None IX. Reports and Remarks On April 17, 2008, the Coachella Valley Water District (CVWD) will be hosting a tour of the Imperial Damn beginning at the CVWD Coachella office. Staff will meet in front of City Hall at 6:00 a.m. and carpool to Coachella. Anyone interested in going needs to contact Member Greenwood. The landscape of the median on Fred Waring Drive between Washington and California has been approved and at the Committee's request, Member Knight will present the project at the next meeting for the Committee's review. Civic center parking lot planter project is on hold until the Fred Waring project is completed. The Committee requested the project to be moved up the list and suggested the installation of flagstone paths. Member Knight will do a scope of work and present it to the Committee at a next meeting. Diane Hollinger informed the Committee that Palm Desert Middle School will be sending the Committee Members a formal invitation to attend Arbor Day on April 8, 2008. X. Adjournment With no further business or discussion, and Landscape Beautification Committee Board concurrence, the meeting was adjourned at 12:33 p.m. H. S ncer ni t, Landscape Manager ATTEST: > �. ertha A. G zale ecord' g Secretary Landscape Beautification Committee 5