Special Notice / Hearing: None__
Vote Required: Majority
To: Honorable Board of Supervisors
From: Michael Callagy, County Manager/Clerk of the Board
Subject: Stanford Recreation Mitigation Funding Proposal
RECOMMENDATION:
title
Adopt a resolution authorizing the County Manager, or the County Manager’s designee, to:
A) Submit a comprehensive coordinated application package for Stanford Recreation Mitigation Funding to the County of Santa Clara that includes $1,300,000 to support recreation improvements identified in the Flood Park Landscape Plan and additional proposals from the Town of Atherton, City of East Palo Alto, City of Menlo Park, City of Redwood City, and the Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District, in a total amount of $5,242,711, and
B) Enter into a Project Agreement with the County of Santa Clara to receive Stanford Recreation Mitigation Funding, after the County of Santa Clara makes a formal commitment to allocate funding for recreation improvements.
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BACKGROUND:
The County of Santa Clara has made $5,242,711 available for projects that mitigate the loss of recreational opportunities for existing or new Stanford residents and facility users due to development on the Stanford University campus resulting from the approval of the 2000 Stanford General Use Permit (GUP). To alleviate the loss of recreational opportunities, mitigation measures were adopted in the 2000 GUP Environmental Impact Report (EIR) that require Stanford to improve parks and dedicate trail easements.
The current funding available is from prior projects for which the County of Santa Clara previously declared its intent to fund; however, some of those projects were either not implemented or were implemented without the promised funding being used. The County of Santa Clara, at its January 28, 2020 meeting, directed that the remainder of the Stanford Recreation Mitigation funding be allocated to projects in the southern part of San Mateo County most impacted by development undertaken by Stanford University (see attached Exhibit 1: Stanford Recreational and Open Space Facilities Boundary Map).
This funding must be expended for projects dedicated to new or expanded recreational opportunities and that serve existing or new Stanford residents and Stanford facility users. In order to be considered for funding, sponsors must also demonstrate support for their projects from their governing bodies.
DISCUSSION:
County of Santa Clara staff reached out to County of San Mateo staff to coordinate with local jurisdictions in southern San Mateo County and develop a list of projects, within the amount of available funding, to be submitted for funding consideration. The County of Santa Clara has established a two-step process for awarding Stanford Recreation Mitigation Funding to applicants of qualified projects. The first step in the County of Santa Clara’s funding process is to declare its intent to fund a project. The deadline to submit an application package by the County of San Mateo on behalf of all local jurisdictions in southern San Mateo County for the first step in the process is April 10, 2020. When projects are ready to proceed into construction, the County of Santa Clara will make subsequent funding commitments and enter into Project Agreements with the applicants (see attached Exhibit 2: Project Agreement Template).
The Office of Sustainability (OOS), in coordination with the County Manager’s Office (CMO), led a collaborative effort with southern San Mateo County agencies within proximity to Stanford to develop a list of bicycle and pedestrian projects and park improvement projects as follows for this funding opportunity:
|
Applicant |
Project |
Funding Request |
Total Cost |
|
County of San Mateo |
Reimagine Flood Park (Phase I) |
$1,300,000 |
$15,300,000 |
|
Town of Atherton |
Holbrook Palmer Park Access and Circulation Improvements |
$300,000 |
$650,000 |
|
City of East Palo Alto |
Martin Luther King Park Lighting |
$570,000 |
$570,000 |
|
City of East Palo Alto |
US 101/University Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Overcrossing |
$1,000,000 |
$12,200,000 |
|
City of Menlo Park |
Middle Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Undercrossing |
$1,000,000 |
$20,000,000 |
|
Midpeninsula Regional Open Space District |
Alpine Trail |
$272,711 |
2,300,000 |
|
City of Redwood City |
Library Lot A Park Conversion |
$800,000 |
$2,828,770 |
|
|
TOTAL: |
$5,242,711 |
|
The following is a description of each project.
Reimagine Flood Park: Construction of new park amenities as part of planned Phase I improvements in conformance with the Park Landscape Plan. The requested funding will pay for the construction of a new baseball field with a multi-use field in the outfield, a second separate multi-use field and a pump track (mountain/dirt bike course). The funding application for Flood Park is attached in Exhibit 3.
Holbrook Palmer Park Access and Circulation Improvements: Construction of new accessible pathways along the park entry and exit drives to access park recreation amenities as identified in the Park Master Plan. Currently, pedestrians must walk in the park entry and exit drives to access the park from Watkins Avenue.
Martin Luther King Park Lighting: Installation of fixed lighting to allow for night time sports activity at Martin Luther King Park. Mobile lights are included as part of this proposal that will allow East Palo Alto to light other city parks with active sports facilities.
US 101/University Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Overcrossing: Construction of a new pedestrian/bicycle overcrossing at the US 101/University Avenue Interchange that completes a critical missing gap in the existing bikeway network on University Avenue.
Middle Avenue Pedestrian/Bicycle Undercrossing: Construction of a tunnel to provide safe pedestrian and bicycle access underneath the Caltrain railroad tracks, providing a direct connection between Burgess Park on the east side of the tracks with Middle Avenue on the west side of the tracks at El Camino Real in the City of Menlo Park.
Alpine Trail: Conversion of a closed portion of Alpine Road to a multi-use trail, south of Skyline Boulevard with the repair of washouts from major storm events and shoring up of other stream crossings that are at risk of failing. This trail will directly link with other Midpeninsula Open Space regional trails in the Coal Creek and Monte Bello Open Space Preserves, including the Bay Area Ridge Trail.
Library Parking Lot A Conversion: Construction of a new public park adjacent to the Downtown Redwood City Public Library, across from City of Redwood City Hall, converting an existing 0.45 acre 51-space parking lot with park amenities immediately adjacent to Rosselli Garden. This will result in the creation of a new larger 1.65 acre park that will include features such as a plaza, children’s play area, water feature, public art, turf and a garden area.
Although the towns of Portola Valley and Woodside are within proximity to Stanford and staff from these agencies were included in discussions regarding this funding opportunity, they chose not to pursue it.
FISCAL IMPACT:
The County of San Mateo’s adopted FY 2020-21 Budget includes $14,000,000 for improvements at Flood Park. The County’s proposed funding request would supplement existing budgeted funding sources for this project. There is no fiscal impact to the County from the proposed funding requests that the County is packaging on behalf of the other applicants.