AgdaPkt 2007-02-05 - Laserfiche WebLink

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Attachment 1 98 Page 2 Overview of Redwood City's Proposed Park Standard and Development In-Lieu Fee Ordinance Why establish a park standard for the City? The Park and Recreation Commission recommended that Redwood City establish a standard to set the community expectation for parks and attempt to at least maintain our current ratio of active community parkland to residents as future development occurs. Redwood City is one of very few cities on the Peninsula where such a standard and fee is not in place. The creation of a standard would provide clear direction to staff as to the community's desire for parks as expressed by this Council policy. The Commission felt that the recommendation was also responsive to the Council priority to increase the number and quality of playing fields in the community. Consideration of a park standard and in.lieu fee is particularly timely as Redwood City contemplates substantial amounts of new residential development. What is the Recommended Standard? A 3 acres/1000 residents standard is recommended based on the existing level of "active community parkland". Our definition of active community parkland has three components: land that is within the City limits of Redwood City; owned by a public agency; and land with active recreational value. By selecting active community parkland acreage the Commission made a conscience choice about the type of space they felt was most needed in the City. Their choices for what is included in the inventory of active community parkland reflect a belief that we need a variety of spaces hence school fields are included as were places that are pedestrian friendly and promote community building, and more traditional parks. We realized that particularly school fields, which we coordinate organized use of, made up a large piece of what is available for active recreation. You will note that we also included areas that have very little turf such as Courthouse Square and the City Hall Plaza that meet the pedestrian friendly, community building character of active community space. Areas such as Edgewood Park and Don Edwards Preserve are not included because the vast majority of the land is held to preserve open space rather than provide active recreational value. What are the Consequences of the Current Park to Resident Ratio Eroding? There are several ways to look at the consequences of not establishing and maintaining our current standard. First, using the active parkland definition, Redwood City currently has 2.99 acres/1000 residents (225.5 acresl75,402 residents x1000). Growth estimates, through the year 2020, suggest the creation of 4,329 new residential units or new additions which are expected to add 7,845 new residents. That means that to simply stay at the same relative level we are at today we would need to add 23.5 acres of new parkland. Hoover, Marlin, Stafford and Maddux Parks total 23.5 acres.