Recommendation to receive and file a report on the Hamilton Loop Vision Plan; and, accept Statutory Exemption SE-20-126.  (District 9)
All right. Wishing Karis. Thank you. Will have 21 please. Item 21 is a report from Parks Recreation Submarine recommendation to receive and file a report on the Hamilton Loop Vision Plan District nine. Thank you. Will have a brief staff report. Thank you, Mr. Vice Mayor. Brendan Dennis and Meredith Reynolds are we get the staff report for staff. Thank you, city manager Monica. Good evening, Vice Mayor Richard and members of Council. It's always an exciting moment in the life of a vibrant park system. When. We can bring together community through engagement. And and really for tonight's presentation show you, I think, a really exciting shared vision. So I'd like to introduce Meredith Reynolds, who's our bureau manager for Urban Planning and Partnerships. Meredith. Thank you, Brian. Good evening, ma'am. Mayor and members of city council. I'm here this evening to walk you through the Hamilton vision plan. And that will include. Sorry about that. That will include the overview of the vision plan. Existing conditions are include the process of community engagement, the vision plan concepts and next steps. The Hamilton loop is a greenbelt connector that includes the embankment on the north and south sides of the 91 Freeway and provide an opportunity for this area to be connected through this greenbelt on those two neighborhoods on the north and south. This community driven effort was really a creative way to attempt to use landscape to re-envision the very infrastructure that has long divided and isolated these communities. And in particular, this area of North Long Beach has approximately 8.9 acres of open space per 1000 residents, comparatively to the 5.6 average acres per thousand city wide. This is a project that was derived from the Uptown Open Space Vision Plan, which was previously presented to the City Council in 2018. It is a part of that project. The Hamilton Group was the top prioritized project that came out of that effort, and that effort was predominantly driven by the Coalition for Helping to Reform Beach, which we thank for their participation in prioritizing this project and was also the recipient of a Health Department Kaiser Healing Zone grant that funded this vision plan. So with the boundaries of the full project would take you on the West from Atlantic East all the way to cherry. And the first phase of this project is focused on Myrtle to Walnut on the north and south side of the 91 Freeway. A lot of existing conditions here that we're taking into consideration and a park assessment. Some include some of the demonstration projects that the neighborhood groups and the Coalition for Helping on Beach have installed. And so this concept is to further build out some of that open space that is walkable, that provides carbon sequestering plants and trees, and really provides that connection. The opportunities and constraints were identified through this community process and certainly this is able area to improve with open space. However, the property is owned by California Department of Transportation and has some limitations as to what you can do there. So as you will see as we get through the presentation, this vision planners is really focused on what neighborhoods serving moneys could be walked to from the adjacent neighborhood to get sort of free, healthy outdoor access. Here's the timeline from when we started the project in November of 2019 and went through a series of site analysis, multiple workshops producing the final the final vision plan, and having some discussions and negotiation with Caltrans and Metro. I related to access to the property and the project was all our vision plan was also presented to the Parks and Recreation Commission in November of 2020 as it was forwarded to you all this evening. I'm going to go through a lot of these slides very quickly, but just to demonstrate sort of the effort that the community went through on this and look at the existing conditions analysis from a variety of other plans, including L.A. County needs assessment and park score. And the park need map is directly from the Los Angeles County Parks Needs Assessment from 2016. We take a look at demographics when we do these mission plans as well from population age as a vehicle access, language, isolation and diversity. And we go through a series of co-created, community led, inclusive engagements. We had eight public workshops and stakeholder meetings. We received 62 community surveys, and the project generated 12 ideas for park elements, which we will show you here today. We prototyped this project with the Uptown Open Space Vision Plan, with the color block walk. For those who remember, this was sort of a mashup of a community planning charrette and a color run. So this is a very interesting way to get the community out and about. That is sort of more more creative than your typical park planning charrette. We had a community survey that we started off our process that asked about desired amenities and the look and feel of the space and the community. Survey results really helped guide the final vision plan from where the amenities should be distributed, what kind of walkway and pathway and landscaping. Folks wanted to see what the primary goals were for the freeway underpasses in terms of making them safe and welcoming, as well as rethinking the public right of way adjacent to the embankment, including bike lanes and traffic configurations. TV as well as smaller and larger amenities folks wanted to see. There's an open space activity which then allowed people to design their own kind of loop connector and use precedent images to display people's desires in terms of amenities and look and feel of the space. Here you will see the cross-section of what the community proposed for the roadway configuration to generate some additional space for amenities. So we took a look at the actual six feet of embankment, the four feet that would be dedicated for some form of ADA compliant sidewalk. The other additional square footage of or linear feet of the right of way resulted in the community wanting to see the roadway going one way with an adjacent bike lane that connected to the existing orange and proposed bike lanes in North Long Beach. They the community was able then to see everyone's proposal and refine those ideas. And those refined ideas were presented as part of one of the evening events at the Michelle Obama Library. We had 58 participants come out and share their information with us, and that really helped us to refine the final idea. We had a lot of participation from community members and we asked for some of their quotes. And you can even see one here from one of the leaders from the Hamilton Neighborhood Association. Here is the list of the community amenities as desired and located even by the community being very cognizant of adjacent neighbors and the age groups and abilities of the different community members. Even placing things like picnics, picnic areas in areas where families congregate. Playgrounds next to multifamily buildings where there's not a lot of open space for children. And being really cognizant about the connection, the North and South connection under Myrtle, Orange and Walnut in a way that is safe and welcoming and accessible and did include all of the design plans from public works for the Orange Avenue Bikeway. Here is a rendering of some of the baseline elements in the larger image on your right, and the smaller images on your left are precedent images from a similar space along the 91 freeway in other cities to the west of Long Beach and to the east of Long Beach. So there is a precedent for Caltrans and Metro allowing and even helping with these types of projects in those areas, which is helpful for us. Here's another rendering as well, which shows a different view of what could be possible. And so you see in the larger image on the left hand side of the drive aisle, a parking lane, a one way traffic aisle, a buffered bikeway, a bilingual parkway, as well as then trees, carbon sequestering trees, drought tolerant landscape, and a little neighborhood plaza. If you look at across all of the project elements, there are a variety of things here that can be phased in over time. And so we are estimating all in this project that over the years could cost upwards of $9 million, but certainly something that would be eligible for county state funding for parks and open space, as well as some potential opportunities from the Port of Long Beach Community Grants Program and other sources like Measure County, Measure W, local measure A or cultural philanthropy and foundation funding. Finally, for next steps. The first thing we need to do to get permission to access the property is to apply for a Caltrans permit as we work through design and seek funding for construction for the project. Project funding is going to be critical. We don't have any funding at the moment, but as I mentioned, this is likely eligible and competitive for a variety of grant grant dollars moving forward. And we have already begun those discussions with Caltrans and Metro related to what would be needed for that access permit to make the project successful in their engineering and design, would make the project shovel ready and be able to go out to bid with the associated project funding. And then finally constructing the Hamilton Loop project itself would be the final step. So with that, I conclude the presentation and myself and director Brant Dennis are available for any questions. Thank you. Thank you for the presentation, Meredith. I don't have any questions or some brief comments. First, thank you for acknowledging the community's work on this. You know, it started with the conversation about how in part that expanded to a larger conversation about the lack of open space in the north lobbies area. And then that turned into a vision plan. And from that vision plan, multiple efforts have spun off to the force vision plan we just brought to council the Hamilton Loop, and we'll look forward to continue with those. The plan sets the stage for the funding and to members of the council. I've seen, you know, different areas of town do the very same thing. Drake Park, the Drake Chavez expansion started with the vision plan still has to work out and he was there and that ultimately turned to that grand vision. And we need to continue to do these things. One note I know there's a I know there's a discussion about freeway modernization on 91. We know that that may create opportunities here, but that is separate and distinct from this. We're going to move forward and pursue funding for this project, whether there's a freeway modernization or not. That's an important point for me to for me to raise. And so I'm excited for this. I look forward to the future of this project, and I'm happy to make make the motion on this item. Is there a second? Second sorrow. Thank you. Second sorrow. Does any council comment on this? Councilwoman Sandy has. Yes. Thank you, madam. Madam, quick. I just wanted to say how excited I am for this. And thank you to Meredith for that great presentation and for Director Denis. I think that it's very important, like we said, vice mayor, to have these kind of visions and it's very important to bring this kind of open and green space to our communities. So I wholeheartedly support this item. Thank you. Any other any additional comment that Councilman Austin. Yeah, I'm. Unfortunately, I wasn't able to see the presentation. Because my phone. WebEx is. The app is acting up. But I did read the item and and this is good work by. Parks and Rec Department. Meredith Windsor is the best. She's going through park planning processes. With us in the North Long Beach area, Davenport Park, which was screen another seven acres, as well as our 51st Street greenbelt that is along the lower L.A. River. I had a question for. Parks regarding the. Point. Nine parks per 100,000 residents. Wasn't that that number? Part of a. Study in. 2005? Is that the most recent update in terms of acreage per resident? Councilmember Alston, this is Meredith. The point nine acres per thousand is the number that comes from the uptown open space vision plan. That number varies by the type of land area that we include, whether it's by a district or a census tract. So if there is a more specific neighborhood or census tract you would like to look into, we're happy to provide that. But the point nine acres is from the uptown open space mission. Okay. So I know that that was a number that was quoted quite, quite frequently recently. And so I'm just I want some clarity on that because I know we've added quite a bit of open space within the last few years. Well, actually, last ten years or so, since a lot of that, when was the uptown open space plan developed? Can remind me. Yes. The Uptown Open Space Vision Plan was presented to the Council in 2018, summer of 2018. And so the number that number is several years old, but likely wouldn't have increased significantly given the landmass and the amount of park acreage added. So for instance, that already included the forest wetlands. In that particular district. What if you if we wanted to do another number citywide, if we look to update that every year in the winter when we provide our updated numbers to the trust for public land for their park score study. Okay. And do we know our citywide number yet? Whereas our. City wide. Sure. Citywide average as of last last calendar year. Report for test for public lands which was 2019 was 5.6 acres on average per 1000 residents. That's a city wide number. And then just as a reminder, our open space element has a goal of eight acres per thousand. All right. Thank you. And in terms of this this project, this is great visioning. There's a plan in place, and. We know we've done it during a lot of planning. Is there any idea as to what this will cost, to what it's actually developed? And the reason I ask. Is because. I know that there there are a number of competing projects along the L.A. River. Right. Consistent with the lower L.A. River Task Force plan. And now we have the L.A. County River Master. Plan, and we have our own North Long Beach plan in place. What what what what does it what. Would it cost to to to. Develop a site like this? And where would we get the resources? Councilmember Alston. The proposed anticipated cost of the full project for the Hamilton loop at buildout is approximately $9.3 million in today's dollars. The multiple sources that could potentially be available for a project like this that would be eligible and competitive include a local measure, a county measure, a county measure W, which is a stormwater measure along with state parks funding under Prop 68. That includes a variety of parks and open space funding in addition to any other agency that receives funding for elements of the L.A. River Master Plan, such as the Rivers and Mountains Conservancy, California Coastal Conservancy, etc.. So this is one project on the list with many others that we prioritize and evaluate for what would be most eligible and competitive and what is timely and shovel ready as those opportunities come forward. Thank you so much, data that answers my questions for now. Appreciate it. Good work. In addition, any additional comments from the Council? No council comment. Thank you. How about public comment? Yes. We have Hilda Gaytan. Hi. Can you hear me? Yes. Please begin. Good evening, ladies and gentlemen. Council member and TV staff. My name is Hubert, very bent. And Hamid, resident. And the chair of the Coalition for General on this. Five years ago, as a. Member of the coalition and as a president of the. Coming from Mubarak reconciliation. I presented for the first time the coming from Leucadia I the on of this idea. I want to think by. Reach out from serious stuff and to. Actually what I cannot be more pleased. With the defense. Document you are receiving today. My concern, our building was included in the third paragraph. On the second page. From the Civil Report. And the. Comments from previous staff. And a board member from the Hamilton. Neighborhood Association. During an interview with The Longest Path on January 15th. That is my understanding. Imply. That. The. Hamilton goal is tied to the 91. Freeway expansion project. I have seen a copy of a petition. Signed by many of the Huntington. Residents providing that Richardson City clear. And on their. Behalf. I'm here to ensure, you know, our position. On this item. There is no coming from neighborhood support. The homicidal passive acidification project. The project will provide a sense of happiness. And feel good about their environment. It will promote pride. And sense of love and sense of well-being. For the residents. Of the area. We oppose the 91 city rate expansion. Expanding the freeway will bring more health problems to a. Community that is already suffering for its high levels of obesity, asthma and heart problem. We are plus four. Because that's where they come from. Besides, so the Navy wants. To be where you spend here. We are asking the council to approve the Hamilton law. I sent along. Projects with. No ties to the Navy. One year. Suspension because no. Determination has been made about. The. Expansion and the. Alternate possibility of a no deal option. That concludes my comment, and thank you very much. Think your next speaker is Kirk Davis. Good evening, Vice Mayor Richardson. City Council, City Staff. My name's Kurt Davis. I'm a ninth District resident. I'm also a past co-chair of the Coalition for Healthy North Long Beach. I've been in conversations with Meredith today, and I'm very happy for the replies she sent back to me. But my concerns will always lean towards the health and welfare of the community. I've been in. Favor of the loop since it was proposed successfully at the L.A. County Parks Assessment over five years ago. But I'm also concerned with the second page, paragraph three, that's being set to be filed today, accepted and filed because of the language in it, talking about the freeway expansion. And also, as Hilda brought up the article in the Long Beach Post on the 16th where where we're net mesa from Hamilton Labor Association and Meredith Reynolds noted that Caltrans upcoming plan to expand the 91 freeway could benefit the development of the park. And Mesa also said that while there is some pushback from nearby residents against the freeway expansion, she believes the benefits are worth it. Although no one. Wants to see the freeway expansion, the tradeoff is worth it. Well, I don't agree that the tradeoff is worth it. And I know that Councilmember Richardson also brought up the fact that this park space will not be tied in to the expansion. But on a letter we received dated December 11th, 2020 from Caltrans, it's a notice of availability of a draft, initial study, environmental assessment, not some attempt to adopt a mitigated negative declaration, which I guess they want to seek exemption to do this project. On the 91 freeway. There are two alternatives under consideration, and I know that they have to have these two alternatives, but there is a no build alternative. And a one build alternative. And we're hoping when it comes down. To it that the city can support the Hamilton neighborhood for a no build alternative for this project and. Also the ability to get this part done in our neighborhood. Thank you. Thank you. That concludes public comment for this item. Thank you. So just address a few of these things, then we'll go to the boat. So first, the 91 freeway modernization project has been in the works for for for over a decade. And this project was proposed as a part of the Uptown Open Space Plan. Two separate efforts. And the reason why there was an open space plan is because of the statistic that was just debated, whether it's 0.9% or 1.1% for 10,000 residents. The fact is there's no open space, particularly in that area, is bisected by freeways dividing the community. It's been the freeway has been there for four decades and the community has already. The Hamilton neighborhood has already began doing guerrilla sort of guerilla modernization and, you know, doing pocket parks themselves on this embankment. If we have to live with the freeway, we might as well take ownership over the landscaping and the walkability of there. And so this was presented there. Now, that outreach around the 91 freeway modernization is led by Caltrans. The city is not formed. A decision on where we stand on that, that's a separate project. What we're voting on today is simply on the city council received filing this presentation from the Parks and Rec Commission on the Vision Plan , and I think there will be more conversation about the 91 freeway modernization. The reference in the report is to early action. That is very different. There's funding set aside for early action. This project cannot be unlinked from the freeway. It is a part of the freeway embankment and therefore is eligible for lots of funding, including 91 modernization. That's important to say. The second thing I'll say is whether the park space is 0.9% or 1.1%. The last message I would want to send out to the public is to discourage conducting these visioning plans simply because of budgetary concerns. One of the reasons why we don't have very much open space in these areas is because budget is a barrier. But what we found is by conducting these vision plans and engaging the community in getting projects shovel ready, it makes us more competitive to change the name, change the narrative. And these approaches have been successful in North Long Beach. They've been successful downtown. And we will hope to see a more comprehensive plan that ties the West Side livability plan to the L.A. River, to the Uptown Open Space Plan, so we can think more comprehensively about the plan. And so that's it. We'll go ahead and go to a roll call vote on this. Councilwoman Zendaya's. Councilwoman Ellen. I. Councilwoman Price. I. Councilman Sabrina. I. Councilwoman Mongo. My. Councilwoman Sara. I. Councilmember Muranga. Councilman Austin. Vice Mayor Richardson. All right. Motion carries. Thank you. I think we have one more item, Madam Clerk. Um. We have two more items.