City Council moves ahead with play equipment, parks

By Kara Chalmers

The city is moving forward with the Parks and Recreation Commission projects recently approved by City Council, especially the play equipment at Kevin Moran and Gardiner parks, the commission's first priority.

"Everything is being actively followed up on," said Cary Bloomquist, city staff liaison to the commission.

At the City Council's joint meeting with the commission on Oct. 26, council members unanimously approved five of the commission's six projects and the commission's recommendations on how to spend the $2.4 million in park development funds. Bloomquist gave updates on the projects at the Parks and Recreation Commission meeting on Nov. 15.

The new play equipment at Kevin Moran and Gardiner parks will probably be installed in June, in time for the school's picnics at the end of the year, Bloomquist said. Land surveyor Gerald L. Arana has completed a topography map for each park to show the condition of the land so construction can begin. Ross Recreation was chosen this fall to supply the play equipment, and now the city must accept bids for a company to install it.

The other park projects on which the city is working include improvements to playfields at Congress Springs Park and renovation to restrooms at Wildwood, Congress Springs and El Quito parks. The council will decide in January how much to spend on renovating the community center, another project recommended by the commission.

Work on a precarious segment of the Parker Ranch Trail system, the water tank trail, which commissioners in October voted to shut down for safety reasons, has yet to begin. The city will temporarily close the trail, possibly Nov. 24, now that the city attorney has approved the wording for the closing signs, Bloomquist said.

According to Commissioner Marianne Swan, a landslide in 1994 caused damage to this portion of the pedestrian and equestrian trail, which has eroded further because of mountain bicycle use since then.

A general engineering contractor with Steven's Creek Quarry estimated that it would cost $20,000 to regrade the portion and fill it in with dirt, according to Teri Baron, coordinator and founder of the volunteer organization Saratoga Trail Enthusiasts. Baron spoke at the Nov. 15 commission meeting. Putting up a retaining wall would bring the cost up to $46,000. Baron decided the cost was too high because the contractor could not guarantee that the problem could be solved. She mentioned a bridge as one alternative.

"There are other avenues we can look at to fix it so we don't have to spend so much money," she said.

"Unfortunately, it's not an easy fix-it," Bloomquist said later in an interview. "It's an area prone to slope failure."

Commission members decided that, in the future, they will assign commissioners to a specific park or project, so the public knows whom to go to with questions or suggestions.

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