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HomeMy WebLinkAbout5.1 PARKS, RECREATION AND ARTS COMMISSION STAFF REPORT 5.1 TO: Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission December 13, 2023 SUBJECT: Consider adoption of Resolution No. 01-2023, Adopting a Negative Declaration of Environmental Significance and Approving the addition of Six New Pickleball Courts with Associated Seating at Osage Station Park BACKGROUND The Town of Danville adopted its Parks, Recreation & Arts Strategic Plan Update (Plan) in 2017. The Plan “establishes a long-range vision and course of action for creating and sustaining a high quality, interconnected system of parks, recreation and arts facilities, services and programs.” The Plan contains several overall recommendations for ways of keeping the Town’s park system as relevant as possible. One recommendation is to “Increase the multi-functionality and recreation value of existing parks and facilities through capital improvements that incorporate new recreation facilities and features.” A second recommendation is to “Support emerging recreation activities to address trends and add variety to the recreation options in Danville.” The plan also specifically “identifies outdoor recreation facilities to consider for Danville’s parks system to augment and diversify the existing inventory of sports fields, courts, and playgrounds.” Examples identified included a skatepark, disc golf, pickleball, outdoor fitness area, and a destination play area (universally accessible).” The Plan contains some specific recommendations regarding Osage Station Park, including investigating “the possibility of installing a skate park where bocce courts were planned in the park’s 30-year Master Plan.” In 2020, the Town Council concluded that a skate park should be located at Diablo Vista Park rather than Osage. The Town’s Osage Station Park Master Plan (prepared in 2011) envisioned several possible new uses for the area of the park near the tennis courts. The options identified ranged from the addition of more tennis courts to adding bocce courts to adding a snack shack/community room. As of today, none of those improvements have been added, with bocce being switched fully to Sycamore Valley Park. The Plan includes several strategic recommendations for providing inclusive recreational opportunities for users of all ages and supporting emerging recreation activities to address trends and increase the variety of recreational opportunities available to the community. Pickleball is an example of one such activity. Pickleball was a recommendation brought through the Plan development based on community input and was determined to be a priority recommendation for the Parks, Recreation and Arts Commission (Commission). Pickleball programming was introduced in Danville through several pop-up events presented by the Recreation, Arts, and Community Services staff at a variety of park locations in the Town. Events were held indoors at the Los Cerros Gym, outdoors at the basketball courts at Danville South and Sycamore Valley Parks, and at the tennis courts at both Osage Station and Diablo Vista Parks. The goal was to introduce the sport and show the versatility of locations where it can be played. At the January 13, 2021, Commission meeting, Town staff provided a report that included information regarding tennis court reservation usage in the Town and the feasibility of options for adding outdoor pickleball courts in Danville. After discussing tennis court usage and pickleball options and hearing public comments, the Commission recommended that staff move forward with Option 2 at Osage Station Park by converting one tennis court into four dedicated pickleball courts by the spring or summer of 2021. They also recommended Option 1 as a backup if timing and funding were not lining up to be executed in a timely fashion (Attachment A). Although four courts were approved, two were ultimately added due to insufficient space to accommodate more within the current court configuration. At its February 10, 2021, meeting, the Commission provided its final approval to move forward with the conversion project, which was completed in April 2021 (Attachment B). This resulted in the Town’s first two pickleball courts at Osage Station Park. As expected, the courts have proven to be extremely popular, particularly during the morning hours, and there appears to be more than enough demand to warrant adding additional courts. In June 2022, based on the apparent demand for additional pickleball courts, the Town Council approved the 2022/2023 Operating Budget and Capital Improvement Program, which included CIP Project B-637 Pickleball Courts, to expand the number of courts available at Town parks. The funding is not tied to a particular location within the Town. At its July 13, 2022, meeting, the Commission, based on its priority recommendation of additional pickleball courts and the substantial use of the two courts at Osage Station Park, received and reviewed a preliminary site analysis to determine where adding courts may be feasible (Attachment C). After a discussion of the site analysis, the Commission determined Osage Station Park to be the optimal location for additional courts. The recommendation was to potentially increase the number of pickleball courts from two to up to 14 courts and the addition of another tennis court to bring the total number back to four tennis courts. At its November 9 and November 30, 2022, meetings, the Commission conducted public hearings to review options for additional courts at Osage Station Park, including increasing the number of pickleball courts to up to eight courts, the number of tennis courts, hours of use, precise siting within the park, seating options, etc. (Attachment D) The Commission received extensive public input on the proposal directly from residents, both in favor of and in opposition to the addition of courts. The Commission unanimously directed staff to conduct an Initial Study pursuant to the California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”), to include an acoustical consultant, which would look at the potential environmental impacts of creating a project with a maximum of eight pickleball courts and up to four tennis courts, along with seating area. DISCUSSION Given the Commission’s direction provided at the November 2022 meetings, the Town has been working through completing the CEQA process to study the potential environmental impacts of the proposed project. The two prime areas of study were noise and traffic/parking. Each is addressed here. Noise In order to address noise/acoustics, the Town selected Rincon Consultants, Inc. (Rincon). Rincon had previously prepared CEQA work for proposed pickleball courts in Martinez. The study prepared by Rincon assumed a total of eight pickleball courts plus four tennis courts and looked at impacts on surrounding residences (Attachment E). To categorize ambient noise levels surrounding the proposed project, noise reading measurements were taken at the following five locations surrounding the current courts: • At the end of the parking lot to capture noise generated from surrounding park activity • Near the parking lot to capture noise levels at the backyard of 882 Orange Blossom Way • Approximately 50 feet east of the existing pickleball courts while games were underway • At the southern boundary of Osage Station Park to capture noise levels at the backyard of 535 El Capitan Drive • Near the west end of the basketball courts at Charlotte Wood Middle School As explained in the study, assuming all pickleball and tennis courts were in use at the same time, the highest noise level at the closest residence would be below the Town’s General Plan standards. On this basis, the Negative Declaration concludes that noise from the project would not create a significant environmental impact, and no mitigation is required. Traffic and Parking The Town retained Kimley Horn and Associates (KHA) to study the potential traffic and parking impacts of the project through a Transportation Impact Analysis (TIA) (Attachment E). While the TIA includes an analysis of vehicle miles traveled (VMT) impacts (which is the required standard under CEQA), the primary focus is on roadway capacity analysis for the four roadway segments shown below, as well as a parking occupancy and demand analysis to determine the proposed project's effects. The TIA looked at the impacts of up to a total of eight pickleball courts and the three existing tennis courts. Roadway segments analyzed were: • Orange Blossom Way (south of Osage Station Park, south parking lot entry) • Orange Blossom Way (north of Osage Station Park, south parking lot entry) • Osage Station Park Driveway (east of Orange Blossom Way) • El Capitan Drive (west of Orange Blossom Way) For purposes of both traffic and parking analysis, any such study will rely on parking and trip generation rates developed by the Institute of Transportation Engineers (ITE). As discussed during the Commission hearings in November 2022, the ITE has not yet developed trip and parking generation rates for pickleball, so the default is to use those for tennis courts. However, in an effort to be conservative and to recognize the concerns raised by members of the public, KHA was instructed to adjust the ITE tennis court rates by a factor of 1.5, in other words, a 50% increase. For both parking and traffic, the projected increased demand is added to measured peak usage numbers to determine potential impacts. The KHA study concludes that with respect to parking, there is adequate parking available to accommodate the proposed project. For traffic, even with the additional trips generated, the overall traffic is within the identified capacity for all roadway segments. It should be noted that the TIA only studied three tennis courts to go along with either six or eight pickleball courts. Town staff followed up to determine whether the TIA’s conclusions would be the same with four tennis courts. The answer is that there would still be adequate parking, but for traffic, there would be a slight exceedance of the vehicle trips per day on the segment of Orange Blossom between the south parking lot and El Capitan during school pick-up and drop-off periods. In order to avoid this, the project would need to be limited to eight pickleball and three tennis courts or six pickleball and four tennis courts. Conclusions of the CEQA Process As shown through these studies and the rest of the items reviewed in the Initial Study, the conclusion is that the addition of six pickleball courts would not create any significant environmental impacts and that no environmental mitigation is necessary. On that basis, it is recommended that the Commission adopt the draft Negative Declaration of Environmental Significance based on the findings contained in the attached resolution (Attachment F). Consideration of Conditions of Approval Although the CEQA process revealed no significant environmental impacts requiring mitigation, the Commission may wish to add conditions to the project to address concerns raised by neighbors and/or to ensure compatibility with other activities in the park. Some potential conditions are included in the draft resolution, but the Commission can modify those or add others. Potential conditions of approval include: Limiting hours of use. During the November 2022 meetings, it was proposed that hours could be limited from 8:00 am until dusk, seven days per week. Currently, play is allowed for the two courts in use starting at 7:30 am on weekdays, when Town maintenance activities begin, and 8:00 am on weekends, when other sports activities begin. Priority of use. Town-run leagues, classes, and camps would have first priority for the use of the courts. The courts would be open for drop-in community use. No commercial use, league play, or tournaments other than those offered by the Town’s Recreation, Arts, and Community Services Department will be allowed. All of these would limit large gatherings, as the court's intent is to primarily serve residents and provide Town-run classes for those wishing to learn the game. Addition of sound barriers. While not necessary for CEQA purposes, sound barriers have been shown to reduce further noise generated by the activity. The number of courts. Reduce the maximum number of pickleball/tennis courts. Consistent with the Commission’s direction, all of the environmental analysis studied a total of eight pickleball and four tennis courts. During the November 2022 meetings, the Commission discussed potentially reducing the number of courts. NEXT STEPS As indicated below in the Recommendation, Town staff is recommending that the Commission adopt the resolution adopting the Negative Declaration of Environmental Significance and approving one of the project options of adding up to six new pickleball courts, as shown in Attachment D. The resolution should reflect any conditions of approval that the Commission would like to add to the project. If approved by the Commission, the project and the Negative Declaration could be appealed to the Town Council for their consideration. If there is no appeal or the Council also approves the project, staff would move forward into a design phase. Timing of design and construction would need to be coordinated with all of the other capital improvements currently in process for the Town. FISCAL IMPACT Sufficient funding has been appropriated for pickleball expansion as part of the 2022/23 Capital Improvement Program. RECOMMENDATION Adopt Resolution No. 01-2023, Adopting a Negative Declaration of Environmental Significance and Approving the Addition of Six New Pickleball Courts with Associated Seating at Osage Station Park. Prepared and Reviewed by: Henry Perezalonso Recreation, Arts & Community Services Director Attachments: A – January 2021 Staff Report and Summary of Actions B – February 2021 Staff Report and Summary of Actions C – July 2022 Staff Report and Summary of Actions D – November 2022 Staff Report and Summary of Actions E – Negative Declaration and Supporting Studies F – Resolution