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HomeMy WebLinkAboutAGENDA REPORT 2023 0215 CCSA REG ITEM 09ACITY OF MOORPARK, CALIFORNIA City Council Meeting of February 15, 2023 ACTION APPROVED STAFF RECOMMENDATION. (VOICE VOTE: UNANIMOUS) BY A. Hurtado. A. Consider Name for Inclusive Playground at Tierra Rejada Park. Staff Recommendation: Select "Enchanted Playground at Tierra Rejada Park" as the name of the inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park. (Staff: Jeremy Laurentowski, Parks and Recreation Director) Item: 9.A. MOORPARK CITY COUNCIL AGENDA REPORT TO: Honorable City Council FROM: Jeremy Laurentowski, Parks and Recreation Director BY: Chris Ball, Senior Management Analyst DATE: 02/15/2023 Regular Meeting SUBJECT: Consider Name for Inclusive Playground at Tierra Rejada Park SUMMARY The City Council is being asked to consider the finalists in the City’s inclusive playground naming contest and select a name for the inclusive playground that will be constructed at Tierra Rejada Park. BACKGROUND On January 15, 2020, the City Council approved the design for an inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park and authorized staff to submit a Land and Water Conservation Fund (LWCF) grant application to the California State Parks, Office of Grants and Local Services (OGALS) for the project. In June of 2020, the City Council adopted the Operating and Capital Improvement Budget for Fiscal Year (FY) 2020/21 which established a new Capital Improvement Project (CIP) for the Inclusive Playground at Tierra Rejada Park (CIP #C0063), noting that the project was contingent on receipt of the LWCF grant funding. In July 2021, the City was notified that the LWCF grant application was being recommended to the National Park Service (NPS) for funding in the amount of $775,750. Grant awards were delayed due to the COVID-19 pandemic, however in March of 2022 the LWCF grant for the inclusive playground was officially approved by NPS. Additionally, in 2021 the City was also awarded $177,952 through the OGALS Per Capita Program to help fund the inclusive playground project. The inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park will be a significant addition to the City’s recreation facilities for a number of reasons. Unlike the City’s other playgrounds, many Item: 9.A. 604 Honorable City Council 02/15/2023 Regular Meeting Page 2 of which contain individual accessible elements, the inclusive playground will be fully accessible, allowing individuals of all abilities, including those with mobility, cognitive, developmental, sight, and hearing impairments to access the entire playground and its amenities. Site layout, design elements, and play features are carefully thought out and selected to create a safe, engaging space that is developmentally appropriate for all children. For example, a child in a wheelchair or with mobility issues will be able to get to the top platform of the play structure, or be able to swing and ride the merry-go-round alongside their able-bodied peers. Sight impaired children will have appropriately designed play elements to explore. Hearing-impaired children with cochlear implants, who are not able to use plastic slides due to static electricity, will have a slide they can use with their peers that will not interfere with their implants. Site design also enables parents and caregivers with disabilities to access and engage with their children throughout the playground. At a community level, the inclusive playground will provide an educational benefit by highlighting the importance of inclusion in everyday activities, regardless of ability level, and by showing that children of all abilities enjoy exploring, interacting, learning and having fun together. The inclusive playground will have regional significance as well. Currently, the nearest fully inclusive playgrounds are in Ventura and Calabasas. The inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park, therefore, will fill a recreational need in the east county, serving not only the Moorpark community, but the surrounding region as well. During design development of the inclusive playground, a “whimsical” theme was selected based on input from the Moorpark community. This theme will be expressed as a fun twist on natural and architectural elements throughout the playground design. For example, the central “tree house” feature incorporates an aged wizard-like face in its design while its roots sprout fanciful mushrooms, vines and other natural elements that populate the custom sensory wall. Play elements and functional elements (benches, walls, etc.) will be embellished with stylized natural imagery (flowers, trees, mushrooms, forest animals, insects, boulders, logs, etc.) to infuse a sense of whimsy and nature throughout the site. Preliminary conceptual designs and artwork are included in attachment 1 for reference. Another idea raised early in the design process was to give the inclusive playground a unique name. Historically playgrounds in Moorpark have not been specifically named and are generally identified by the park name. However, it is not unusual for unique playgrounds to have a separate name in order to identify them. For example, the inclusive playground at Gates Canyon Park in Calabasas is named “Brandon’s Village at Gates Canyon Park”. Naming the inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park will help to highlight its unique nature, acknowledge its significance, and distinguish it within the region. It should be noted that although the City Council has a policy regarding naming a park (City Council Policies Resolution No. 2022-4097, Policy 6.2), no policy exists for naming a playground or other City facility. The City Council has requested the creation of a facility naming policy at a later date. 605 Honorable City Council 02/15/2023 Regular Meeting Page 3 During the January 15, 2020, City Council meeting, staff noted that they would evaluate naming the playground with the Parks and Recreation Commission and provide the City Council with a recommendation at a future date. During the May 2, 2022, Parks and Recreation Commission meeting, the Commission suggested staff reach out to the Moorpark community for name ideas. To facilitate this outreach, staff developed an inclusive playground naming contest to engage the community and solicit name suggestions. DISCUSSION The inclusive playground naming contest was conducted in two stages. The first stage collected name suggestions from Moorpark residents and had the Parks and Recreation Commission identify three “finalists” for consideration. The second stage had the community vote on their favorite “finalist”, with the results of that voting to be presented to the City Council for consideration and selection of a winning entry. The first stage of the contest launched on October 1st during the County Days Celebration and was subsequently promoted to the Moorpark community on the City’s website and social media, by direct e-mail to Moorpark residents, and in a front-page feature in the Moorpark Acorn. Posters were also placed at Tierra Rejada Park advertising the contest with QR codes that connected directly to the contest submission form. Name suggestions were collected in person at Country Days and through an online submission form on the City website. A total of 90 valid entries were received before the October 30th submittal deadline. The complete list of valid entries is included as attachment 2. On November 7, 2022, the Parks and Recreation Commission considered all of the naming options and selected “Apricot Acres”, “Enchanted Playground”, and “Whimsical Woods” as the “finalists” to be voted on by the community. “Enchanted Playground” was submitted twice by different residents (once at the Country Days booth and once online), while “Whimsical Woods” was submitted once online. The Parks and Recreation Commission also recommended “Apricot Acres”, which was one of the originally proposed names, and directed staff to include it for consideration. All three residents who submitted finalist entries were offered free tickets to the City’s Breakfast with Santa event on December 10th and 11th of 2022. To allow the community to vote for their favorite of the three finalists, an online survey was created and posted to the City website. The survey allowed participants to select their favorite name and asked whether or not they were City residents. As with the earlier stage, the survey was promoted on the City’s website and social media, by direct e-mail to Moorpark residents, and on posters at Tierra Rejada Park containing QR codes that connected directly to the voting form. Voting opened on November 16th and closed on December 31st. A total of 367 votes were received. The results are shown in Table 1 below. 606 Honorable City Council 02/15/2023 Regular Meeting Page 4 Table 1: Voting Results – All Submissions Playground Name Votes Received Percent of Vote Enchanted Playground 210 57% Whimsical Woods 86 23% Apricot Acres 71 19% Total Votes: 367 In the overall voting “Enchanted Playground” received a clear majority of the votes. However, when only the votes from those who identified themselves as Moorpark residents are considered, the results are much closer, with “Enchanted Playground” and “Whimsical Woods” tied for the most votes, as shown in Table 2 below. Table 2: Voting Results – Moorpark Residents* Playground Name Votes Received Percent of Vote Enchanted Playground 79 35% Whimsical Woods 79 35% Apricot Acres 69 30% Total Votes: 227 *Resident status self-reported on voting form. Given that there is no current policy for naming a playground, the naming decision for the inclusive playground is at the sole discretion of the City Council. The contest guidelines noted that the survey results were not the only factor being considered and that the City Council would make the final decision regarding the playground name selection. As noted earlier, all of the residents who submitted one of the “finalist” names were offered tickets to the Breakfast with Santa event. The resident(s) that submitted the name that is selected by the City Council will also be invited to participate in the inclusive playground grand opening ceremony. To avoid any confusion that might be caused by assigning the playground a name that is independent of the park name, staff recommends adding “at Tierra Rejada Park” to the end of whichever name is selected. Thus, the complete name for each of the options under consideration would be as follows: • Enchanted Playground at Tierra Rejada Park • Whimsical Woods at Tierra Rejada Park • Apricot Acres at Tierra Rejada Park 607 Honorable City Council 02/15/2023 Regular Meeting Page 5 The City Council is now being asked to select the name for the inclusive playground from one of these options. Given that “Enchanted Playground” was tied for the top choice among Moorpark voters and received the most votes overall, staff’s recommendation is to select “Enchanted Playground at Tierra Rejada Park” as the name for the inclusive playground. ENVIRONMENTAL DETERMINATION The California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) does not apply to activities that will not result in a direct or reasonably foreseeable indirect physical change in the environment or is otherwise not considered a project as defined by CEQA Statute §21065 and CEQA State Guidelines §15060(c)(3) and §15378. The selection of a name for the inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park meets the above criteria and is not subject to CEQA. No additional environmental review is required. FISCAL IMPACT There is no fiscal impact from naming the inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park. The selected name will be incorporated into the design of playground’s entrance gateway, for which $150,000 has been appropriated from the Art In Public Places Fund (Fund 2007) as part of the Inclusive Playground at Tierra Rejada Park project (CIP Project #C0063). COUNCIL GOAL COMPLIANCE This action is consistent with the following City Council Goal for 2021-2023: • Goal 2, Objective 2.12: “Upon receipt of grant funding, construct an inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park.” STAFF RECOMMENDATION Select “Enchanted Playground at Tierra Rejada Park” as the name of the inclusive playground at Tierra Rejada Park. Attachment 1: Inclusive Playground Preliminary Design Attachment 2: Inclusive Playground Naming Contest Submissions 608 ATTACHMENT 1 Inclusive Playground Preliminary Conceptual Design 609 ATTACHMENT 1 (continued) “Whimsical” Sensory Wall Concept Art 610 ATTACHMENT 2 Inclusive Playground Naming Contest Submissions Ability Playground Abrazo Park 1 Adaptable Adventurers adventure forest Adventure Park Aim for the Sky All Children’s Playground Amore 2 Ãrbol de Milagros 3 Awesome Land Big Dreams Sky High Park Brian's playground Campus park Community Park Discover Me Park Dream Tree Park Easter Island Enchanted Explorers' Playground Enchanted Fairyland Park Enchanted Playground enchanted playground Enchanted Treehouse Everyone Park Fairy Tale Park Fairy Wonderland Park Fantasy Forest Park Forest Friends Park Forrest Bridges Park Friendship Circle Park Friendship Park Friendship Park Friendship Park Harmony Harmony Dream Harmony Haven Park Harmony Park Hawild Street Inquisitive Inclusion Park Jungle gym Park Kefi Playground 4 Liberty Park Los Milagros Park 5 Magical Forest Magical Treehouse Misty Meadow Playground moorpark magiical playground Moorpark Magnificent Park Moorpark Playground for Kids Moorpark's Mystical Hideaway MP TRP Grounds! Mystical Mountain Neverland Nexus People's Park Pinwheel Park Pixie Village Playground Pleasant Park Possibility Park Rainbow Rainbow Forest 611 ATTACHMENT 2 Inclusive Playground Naming Contest Submissions Rainbow Ranch Recless park Rocket Ship Park rocket ship park Rocket ship park - RSP Rocket-ship Park Sunkern Cavern the disneyland of moorpark The impossible becomes possible The Magic(al) Hideout The Playground in Moorpark The Willows the wonderland park Tree Top Park Treebeard Playground Treetop park Unity Park Utmost Park Wheeee Are Family Whimsical Wonderers Park Whimsical Woods Playground Whimsy Forrest Park Whimsyland Whispering Winds Park Wishing Tree Park Wonder Park Wonder Trails Park Wonderland Park wonderland park Wonderwood Playground Notes: Names presented as submitted. 1 Translation: Hug Park (source: https://translate.google.com/) 2 Note included with submission: “For love - it’s also a play off the word MOORpark, thought about spelling it with 2 Os” 3 Translation: Miracle Tree (source: https://translate.google.com/) 4 Note included with submission: “Kefi is a Greek word that can be roughly translated as ‘finding joy, especially in trying times and difficult circumstances.’ The thing about kefi is it's ‘free joy,’ meaning it's something available to anyone, any time, any place.” 5 Translation: The Miracles Park (source: https://translate.google.com/) 612