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III COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT SUMMARY
<br />Redwood
<br />City �a
<br />4W
<br />Redwood City Parks, Recreation and Community Service Department
<br />Downtown arks Site Assessment and Feasibility Study
<br />Community Outreach and Engagement Summary
<br />The Downtown Parks Site Assessment and Feasibility Study is a report, prepared by SERA
<br />Architecture & Design Inc. and the Parks, Recreation and Community Services Department
<br />(PRCS), to identify potential and existing conditions, concerns, liabilities, and possibilities of a
<br />future park located in downtown Redwood City. The study was divided into three phases. The
<br />first phase focused on the site assessment of six (6) City -awned sites in the downtown. In
<br />addition to presenting the site assessment findings the to the Paries and Recreation
<br />Commission, the Planning Commission and City Council, PRCS held various department staff
<br />meetings, a Stakeholder Advisory Group meeting, and also gave several presentations to the
<br />downtown business community. The completlon of the first phase of the study led to (a) the
<br />selection of two sites (put of the six) including further study of the Redwood Creek corridor and
<br />(b) the directive for community engagement and outreach by the City Council.
<br />As part of the subsequent outreach and second phase, PRCS worked with the City Manager's
<br />Office to develop an online Clty-wide Survey, in English and Spanish that was released on
<br />Monday, May 7, 2018, The fifteen (15) question inquiry was developed for the general
<br />community to indicate preferences related to programming and amenities in a Downtown Park.
<br />Questions included ranking amenities and programming, a few open-ended questions, and
<br />other questions to indicate curent habits and use of downtown facilities such as parking.
<br />A ten (10) question survey, in English and Spanish, was also developed specifically for the
<br />downtown business community; and included questions about employee parking. A letter and
<br />hard copies of the surveys were also mailed out to immediately adjacent neighbors of the
<br />proposed park locations who also had the option to fill out the survey online. Below are the
<br />dates for the release and close of each survey:
<br />City-wide Survey
<br />Opened: 50118
<br />Closed 7(1611 S
<br />Business Survey
<br />Opened: 5r7118
<br />Closed: 7116118
<br />Immediate Neighbor Survey
<br />Opened: 7117118
<br />Closed: 816)18
<br />In addition to the surveys, a Stakeholder Advisory Group was formed to discuss ideas for
<br />community outreach. Among many ideas and suggestions, the idea for a temporary "pop-up"
<br />APPENDIX
<br />park was generated during this discussion as was the idea to introduce a business employee
<br />parking program to downtown to offset parking impacts. While generally supportive of a new
<br />park downtown, the Stakeholder Group, like the downtown business community, expressed
<br />concern about the loss of parking, particularly the Main Street parking lot. Site preferences and
<br />trade-offs were also discussed including how a new park could generate more foot traffic for
<br />businesses in the downtown, how the existing large trees between Middlefield Road and Roselli
<br />Garden block visibility into the park and significantly contribute to the problematic behavior in
<br />the park, and how a public trail on either side of Redwood Creek could positively contribute to
<br />the City's overall connectivity. In fact, throughout the community engagement process, residents
<br />have articulated a substantial interest in investing in Redwood Creek for many reasons. The
<br />most common have been connectivity between downtown and the neighborhoods along the
<br />bay's shoreline, habitat restoration and the creek as a recreational amenity, and the presence of
<br />a healthy, cared -for creek contributing to the aesthetic of downtown.
<br />The third phase considers the existing conditions, findings, costs, survey results and community
<br />preferences, and makes a recommendations to consider for future park development in the
<br />downtown.
<br />Phase One
<br />During the first phase of the study, PRCS and the consultant presented the study at several
<br />community meetings such as the Parks and Recreation Commission, Planning Commission,
<br />and City Council. PRCS and the consultant also met with City Staff across several departments
<br />such as Library, Fire, Police, Planning and Engineering to discuss the intent of the study and to
<br />gather input from the different divisions including Transportation and Planning. The
<br />comprehensive assessment of the current sites, such as Roselli Garden (aka Roselli Park), an
<br />underutilized and obscured public space, clearly indicated the importance of aspects such as
<br />`Eyes an the Park" and Crime Prevention through Environmental Design (CPTED) princlples for
<br />a future park to create a safe, welcoming space that could potentially encourage more visitors to
<br />the downtown and improve foot traffic for downtown businesses.
<br />PRCS also met with several business organizations such as the Chamber of Commerce,
<br />Redwood City Improvement Association (RCIA) and the Downtown Business Group (DBG).
<br />PRCS and DBG also initiated door-to-door visits to business surrounding the proposed park
<br />locations as well as correspondence to the DBG about the study and the associated event.
<br />Despite the general support for a downtown park, the downtown business community expressed
<br />concern about the loss of parking, in particular convenient surface lot parking during the day.
<br />The discussions, notably thoughtful and informative, led to ideas for mitigative measures
<br />regarding parking and significant considerations for site selection, including the exclusion of
<br />Main Street lot as a future park_ The Site Assessment findings were presented to Council by
<br />SERA where staff requested Council to select the sites to proceed on to the subsequent phase
<br />of Site Planning and Site Improvements. and the related cost analysis.
<br />24 SEPTEMBER 2018 91
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