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03/03/2022 - Minutes PARKS,NATURAL LANDS, URBAN FORESTRY AND TRAILS ADVISORY BOARD of SALT LAKE CITY Formal Meeting Thursday,March 3,2022 5:00 p.m.—7:00 p.m. Join Via Webex(Encouraged): https://saltla kecity.webex.c om/saltlakecity/j.php?MTID=macff7eeaebd063 c896883d73a7da cacl Or Join at the Public Lands Administrative Building:1965 W.500 S.Salt Lake City,UT 84104 Upstairs Parks Training Room-MASKS REQUIRED Join by phone 1-408-418-9388 Access code:24813481765 Minutes (Approved) 1-Convening the Meeting 5:00PM Call to Order - Polly Hart - Brianna Binnebose - Samantha Finch - Jenny Hewson - Melanie Pehrson - Phil Carroll - CJ Whittaker - Ginger Cannon - Clayton Scrivner Chair Comments 2—Approval of Minutes 5:03PM Approve February 3,2022 Meeting Minutes Jenny Hewson motioned to approve the meeting minutes. Ginger Cannon seconded the motion. All PNUT Board members voted in favor of approving the February 3, 2022 meeting minutes. 3—Public Comment Period 5:05PM Verbal comments are limited to no more than 3 minutes;15 minutes total.Written comments are welcome. Eric Edelman Eric Edelman,a resident of District 7, stated that no long-term maintenance plan has been put in place for the Foothills. With the Foothills seeing erosion in Lower City Creek Canyon, Mr. Edelman was hoping that the City would have a long-term maintenance plan implemented. Mr. Edelman requests that the PNUT board reaches out to the Cityabout development of a long-term maintenance plan for existing trails in the Foothills. Ian Muccubbin Ian Muccubbin, a District 3 resident from the Upper Avenues,expressed concerns regarding the Foothills Trails expansion.As a result of phase one of the Foothills Trails masterplan completion, the Upper Avenues have seen challenges associated with traffic, high speed drivers and parking in the 18th Avenue and Terrace Hills areas.After these concerns were brought to Public Lands during a masterplan engagement exercise,the Bonneville Shoreline, Morris Meadows and Terrace Hills have seen a large increase in activity and associated parking and traffic issues. 18th Avenue is designed for 15 MPH and is seeing drivers going 50-60 MPH. Mr. Muccubbin has been in conversation with Tyler Fonarow and Public Utilities regarding these issues. Mr. Muccubbin also expressed concerns with the I Street Bike Park.The area is seeing many park users actively building jumps, smoking and drinking alcohol. Mr. Muccubbin reached his 3-minute time limit. Mr. Muccubbin was encouraged to email Public Lands staff or Polly Hart the rest of his comments so that they can be addressed in the next Trails Subcommittee meeting. 4—Staff Discussion and Agenda Items 5:20PM Park Ranger Program Update—Carmen Bailey 15 mins Public Lands Deputy Director Carmen Baileygave the PNUT Board an update on the Park Ranger Program. Public Lands received approval to move forward with building the program.Currently, Public Lands is trying to hire a program manager and supervisor.Once these positions are hired Public Lands will move ahead with hiring 16 park rangers. Park Rangers will be an educational, uniformed presence in parks who support the positive use of downtown parks, promote voluntary compliance through education and deter negative activity. The Park Rangers team of 16 will operate in pairs of two,with mobile office stations located at the Fisher Carriage House, Pioneer Park, Liberty Park and Fairmont Park. Park Rangers will have access to trucks, mountain bikes and e bikes when working. The Park Rangers are not able to enforce municipal code with citations or arrests, rather they will promote voluntary compliance through educating the public on the code and park rules. The Rangers will also not engage in any physical conduct or argumentative confrontation. They will be trained on de-escalation, basic medical and radio and dispatch. Rangers will also be connected to dispatch to call homeless services, medical services or SLCPD. Ms. Bailey solicited questions about the Park Ranger Program from the PNUT Board. Ms. Hewson asked if Public Lands is familiar with any other cities that have a similar Park Ranger Program? Ms. Bailey responded yes; the department has talked to a few cities with similar programs.Specifically, Public Lands has connected with Seattle and Boise.Seattle has an amazing operational procedure manual that Salt Lake City modeled the Park Ranger program on. Boise has as similar but smaller Park Ranger program in comparison to Salt Lake City. Ms. Riker has also spoke with Denver Park Rangers at a conference. Like Salt Lake City's Park Rangers, Denver Rangers do not carry firearms. Instead,they are equipped with radios that can call law enforcement if needed. Phil Carroll asked what the Park Rangers mobile office stations will consist of? Mr. Carroll also suggested that Public Lands has a Park Ranger presence in the Foothills high impact areas. Ms. Bailey responded that the mobile office stations will be a home base where rangers will store their computers and bikes. Park Rangers will be spending most of their time out in the field patrolling parks. Fisher Carriage House, Pioneer Park, Liberty Park and Fairmont Park were chosen as strategic home base locations because of their proximity to other parks. The Foothills are not an intention in the Park Ranger Program.With incidents happening in the Foothills related to guns, drinking and other issues it would be difficult for Park Rangers to manage these instances without police support. The Rangers will have the capacityto visit areas such as Morris Meadows and I Street Bike Park but will not have capacityto patrol the Foothills. Ms.Cannon asked if Ms. Bailey could give more information about what's been shared about the Ranger Program and if there's any established coordination procedures with SLCPD? Ms. Bailey stated that Public Lands has been coordinating with SLCPD. SLCPD's main concern with the program is ensuring the Park Rangers safety.SLCPD will work with rangers to facilitate a dispatch training and are supportive of rangers receiving a de- escalation training. Salt Lake City also currently has a SLCPD Parks Squad consisting of five officers and one Sargent who patrol the parks Monday through Sunday from 2-midnight. The Parks Squad will be getting to know the Park Rangers and will be in contact with them. Ms. Binnebose asked if Public Lands knows any information about how Draper City's ranger program is going? Ms. Bailey responded that Draper City has one ranger who is a law enforcement officer. She has been trying to get in contact with him but has not been successful. Ms. Riker said that the last time council talked about the Park Ranger program they were strongly opposed to Park Rangers carrying guns and wants to find a solution to not having police officer presence in the parks. If Park Rangers were to carry guns,they would need to be law enforcement officers. Over the past two years,it has been difficult for police to manage the parks because they are pulled away from parks when they are needed elsewhere,and they are not able to patrol when doing paperwork. Salt Lake City and Public Lands are pushing for the Park Rangers program to work by focusing on voluntary compliance through education.The Rangers will be trained and qualified to decide whether police presence is needed in a situation.The Rangers will not be armed. Ms. Binnebose asked if Park Rangers would be able to write citations for things such as off-leash dogs,speeding or vandalism? Ms. Riker responded that Public Lands hoped that Rangers would be able to, but after conversations with civil enforcement they realized there would be difficulty with this. Since Rangers are not law enforcement officers,they do not have the authority to request identification and other information. Information can only be given voluntarily to them. Ms. Pehrson commented that it is important for the City to consider how police officer presence could deter park use in certain communities. It is important to be cognizant of how presence can become threatening to people rather than inviting. Miller Park Update—Tyler Murdock 10 mins Tyler Murdock presented a response and update to the public comment received at last month's meeting.The public comment addressed relates specifically to vegetation management at Miller Park. Public Lands is working on a coordinated response in how to move forward with solutions to the presented concerns. Public Lands uses several management documents that date back to 2010 and 2013 for vegetation management practices in Miller Park. One of the documents that Public Lands utilizes is a noxious invasive weed species management plan created by SWCA Environmental Consultants in 2013.This document guides all invasive species management across open spaces and makes specific recommendations.This document specifically details vegetation removal, vegetation practices and chemical herbicide use. Another document that's utilized for specific management recommendations in Miller Park is from the Red Butte Creek Corridor study completed by Bio West Inc in 2010. This plan looks at the Red Butte Creek Corridor while also making specific recommendations for Miller Park. To address management concerns,the following approach will be shared with the Yalecrest Community Council. Public Lands plans to first increase vegetation data collection in the park. This has been a priority for the past couple of years with Public Lands recently hired botanist. Public Lands has also hired an on-call consultant to increase the amount of vegetation monitoring to better understand what vegetation is present in the park and how to best move forward.This year, Public Lands will be focusing on the spread of invasive species,vegetation makeup and the vegetation impact of off leash dogs in the park. The second action Public Lands plans to take is revisiting specific sections of the management plans regarding invasive species removal and chemical and herbicide application. Public Lands will bring on an outside consultant to evaluate sections of the plan and park and make specific recommendations that are in line with best practices. We anticipate this work to take 3-6 months. The third action is to develop vegetation metrics,targets,goals and objectives for what the vegetation makeup of Miller Park would ideally consist of.This has been a challenging aspect for Public Lands and the community due to a lack of clear goals. Public lands will utilize an outside consultant to help formulate vegetation targets and end goals. At this time, Public Lands plans to pause vegetation removal and chemical herbicide application. Currently,the department only uses chemicals on stump cut treatments for woody species removal.This practice will be paused for analysis with the outside consultant. Mr. Murdock will share the following information in a formal letter to the constituent providing the public comment and the Yalecrest Community Council. CJ Whittaker expressed that he has heard concerns from residents regarding what's considered to be an invasive species and what is not.Some of the trees that Salt Lake City claims are invasive are not claimed as invasive by other botanists. Residents are concerned that removal of these trees will result in erosion of soil into the gulley. Mr. Murdock responded that there is debate among the scientific community regarding invasive species,specifically the Black Lotus tree. Public Lands is focused on end outcomes through analyzing if invasive species are outcompeting native species in the park.To focus on these end outcomes, Public Lands will be utilizing the knowledge of an outside consultant to identify what plants and vegetation are best suited. Mr.Whittaker asked if the outside consultant will also be looking at riverbank stability? Community members are concerned that when removing existing vegetation,the soil will not hold together resulting in erosion. Mr. Murdock responded that one area that is underdeveloped in Miller Park is the understory. Public Lands will be getting recommendations on creating a layered understory and caring for the overstory as this is critical to soil stability in Miller Park. Vegetation will play a role in these recommendations. Mr.Whittaker asked how Public Lands plans to mitigate the erosion processes causing walls and infrastructure in the park to fail? Mr. Whittaker has received concerns from community members regarding the historic walls and structures in the park being undercut by trail alignments in 2014. Community members have brought their concerns to Public Lands but have been told they are overreacting.This has created lots of distrust between community members and Salt Lake City. Mr. Murdock responded that there is an entire conversation around the historic walls in the Miller Park CCI P project. Public Lands is working on an approach to these concerns. Public Lands will have more information when they brief the board on the CCIP project. Ms. Binnebose asked if Public Lands makes invasive species distinctions based on NRCS Utah specific guide for invasive species? Mr. Murdock responded yes.The city goes off what species are recognized as invasive by the state. KABOOM! Donation Proposal—Kat Maus(Action Item) 5 mins KABOOM! is a nonprofit organization that facilitates the installation of playgrounds nationwide to close the gap in potential play space inequities in communities. KABOOM! coordinates with major funding partners to contribute to a community build playground. Public Lands was approached by KABOOM! late last year and was encouraged to apply for funding for a playground replacement as one of their funding partners is specifically interested in Salt Lake City. Public Lands applied for a playground replacement at Miami Park. For full disclosure, Public Lands hasn't received official confirmation that the donation has been received yet but wanted to solicit the board for a recommendation as soon as possible to be on track to complete the build by July or August of this year. Miami Park was selected by the department because it is first on the list for an asset replacement this year. The park also has the lowest playground condition index score in the city and has one of the earliest install dates. If approved, the city is obligated to contribute$8,500 to the project with the rest of the cost covered by KABOOM!and their funding partners. For perspective, if the city paid for the build in its entirety,the playground would cost$125,00 to$200,000. The playground's design will be selected by Public Lands based on thorough public engagement jointly conducted by KABOOM! and Public Lands.The Westpointe Community Council has been briefed on this project and is excited for the build. Volunteers from the community and KABOOM! representatives will assemble the playground in a 4 day build period. Public Lands finds no reason to reject this proposal and solicits a recommendation from the board to move forward with the donation less the$8,500. Ms. Hart asked what the maintenance budget will look like in the future for the playground? Ms. Maus responded that since a playground already exists in the space, there won't be much of a change in the current maintenance budget. New assets also require less maintenance than older assets,creatinga minimal obligation. Public Lands also included Miami Park for ClPfunding so the playground donation will open up additional funds that can be utilized for an additional playground replacement in the city. Ms.Cannon asked what the timeline for community engagement and installation looks like? Ms. Maus responded that Public Lands hopes to have the build scheduled for late July or August of this year. KABOOM!commits a community organizer to facilitate community engagement with a selected community organization. Public Lands has decided to facilitate community engagement through the Westpointe Community Council and community members. If officially approved, community engagement will start immediately,going through April to early May. Mr.Carroll motioned to approve the proposed donation. Ms. Finch seconded the motion. The donation proposal was unanimously approved. 5—Board Discussion and Action Items 5:50PM Board Discussion about Engaging with Constituents 10 mins Melanie Pehrson asked the PNUT Board about their best practices in engaging with their communities. Mr.Whittaker responded that he gives people is his community his phone number and talks with them at events to gain insights. Ms.Cannon will wear a vest that says"ask me anything"when she is out in the parks. This allows for people to approach her with questions about what is happening within Public Lands. Ms. Hewson will write blurbs in the Greater Avenues Community Council Newsletter. Ms. Hewson will also provide community members with a copy of the PNUT Monthly Updates packet. Mr.Carroll has been involved with the Greater Avenues Community Council for 40 years. Many community members know him from his involvement and have his contact information. Mr.Carroll will also write updates for the Greater Avenues Community Council Newsletter. Ms. Finch partners with groups within her community council and friends of groups in her local parks. Ms. Binnebose asked if the board could work with Luke Allen to put together a board meet and greet for social media and if the board could receive official email addresses that will allow for continual communication and conversation. Board Review and Discuss Draft Letter Regarding Reimagine Nature Master Plan 10 mins (Action Item) Ms.Cannon wrote a letter of approval for the Reimagine Nature Master Plan on behalf of the PNUT Board.The letter indicates to the mayor and city council that the board supports the plan and asks how the city council, staff and leadership can be advocates for the plan. The board decided that all member's names will be signed on the letter. Mr.Carroll motioned that the board supports the letter with the individual signings of board member's names. Ms. Finch seconded the motion. The board voted unanimously to approve the letter. Continued Board Discussion on Public Lands FY2023 Budget Initiatives& Ranking Letter 30 mins (Action Item) Ms. Riker presented the board with some updates regarding the FY2023 budget initiatives. Public Lands received budget direction from the mayor's office. Public Lands will be presenting the budget initiatives tothe mayor on March 14th or March 215t This year,the mayor would like each department to share their top five priorities. Public Lands currently has S budget initiatives and the housekeeping initiative which covers inflationary increases and a living wage increase for part time and seasonal employees.The housekeeping initiative is the priority initiative for Public Lands. The mayor is also asking each department to provide a 3-year budget forecast. Public Lands proposes moving the Parks Division District 5 staffing initiative under the new properties and amenities initiative. Combining these two initiatives together would allow for the ranking of the other initiatives to go up. Ms. Hart solicited discussion from the board about if board members would like to add the living wage increase initiative to their recommendation and if they would like to combine the District 5 staffing initiative with the new properties and amenities initiative. Mr.Carroll agrees with adding the living wage increase to the board's recommendations. Ms.Cannon agrees with Mr.Carroll and thanks Ms. Riker and Public Lands staff for their transparency in sharing process updates and being timely in their responses to board member's questions. Ms. Finch also agrees with combining the two budget initiatives and accepting the living wage increase as the number one priority. Ms. Finch motioned to approve the letter with the addition of the living wage increase as priority and the combining of the District 5 staffing initiative with the new properties and amenities initiative. Ms. Hewson seconded the motion. The board unanimously passed the motion. Ms. Hart asked Ms. Riker to send her the official name of the living wage increase initiative so it can be properly noted in the letter. Ms. Finch asked if the board could receive a copy of the recommendation. 6—Confirmation of Next Meeting,Board Comments&Future Agenda Items 6:40PM Board Subcommittee updates as needed • Trails Subcommittee The Trails subcommittee is working on setting up a meeting with Tyler Fona row and Ashley Cleveland. • Bylaws Subcommittee The Bylaws subcommittee has been working to get a draft together and has met with Ms. Riker to incorporate her feedback.The subcommittee will be following up with Ms. Riker and the City attorneyto discuss final changes.Then,the subcommittee will present the changes tothe board for discussion and possible adoption in April. Ms. Riker asked if the board has thought about any ordinance changes? If so, Ms. Riker would be happy to work with the board to do so. • Communication Subcommittee The Communications subcommittee has no updates. Board Comment and Question Period Ms. Finch had two community members contact her regarding a change in ordinance about special event permits of less than 21 days being permitted being changed to special events of less than 31 days being permitted.This will amend two parts of SLC Code,2.58.04 and 2.90,which are related to the sale of significant parcels of property and removal of land from the open space lands inventory. Ms. Finch asked if any staff members could comment on this change? Ms. Bailey commented that Salt Lake City had an ordinance that states ifa special event lasts longer than 21 days,the event encumbers the property. Salt Lake City was approached to host a two-week rock-climbing event that would happen in Pioneer Park this summer.The event would take one week to set up, two weeks to facilitate and one week to take down. This causes the event to be in violation of the ordinance. The mayor is being asked to extend the length of special events to max out at 31 days instead of 21 days. Long events would only be approved in special circumstances by permission of the mayor. This change could allow Salt Lake Cityto attract cool special events in the future.The ordinance change was likely alarming for the community members because the change takes place in two sections talking about disposable open lands. Ms. Bailey has a description of the ordinance change that she will send to the board. Ms. Pehrson asked if the board could discuss the I Street Bike Park and surrounding concerns.The board asked that staff come back with some information about the public comment received regarding the park and that staff provides an update on the park in the April board packet. If needed, an I Street Bike Park discussion can be added in the May agenda. Next Meeting:April 7, 2022 Mr.Allen asked the board for their thoughts on in-person board meetings?Before the pandemic, the board would meet at the parks building and dinner would be provided. With the Mayor reversing the mask mandate for city buildings, the PNUT Board would be able to meet in person again. Ms. Riker asked that the board gives a count of who would like to attend in person and if they have any dietary needs. Request for Future Agenda Item Ms. Hart asked the board to email her any agenda items for next month's meeting. Upcoming Involvement Opportunities Public Lands has many upcoming involvement opportunities in 2022. Luke Allen listed the following upcoming opportunities • Glendale WaterparkSite Community Engagement • Analyzing survey results for Pioneer Park • Numerous Grand Opening Events • Hidden Hollow Landscaping Improvements Presentation to Sugarhouse POST Subcommittee Rocio Torres Mora provided the board with an update on the Love Your Block program.The Love Your Block program is a grant through Cities of Service and the Bloomberg Institute.Salt Lake City is one of eight cities awarded with funds to conduct small improvement projects along the Jordan River Corridor.Salt Lake City has hired a fellow and has one AmeriCrops VISTA working on the initiative.The Love Your Block Program is housed under Public Lands and is managed by Ms.Torres Mora.The Love Your Block Program hopes to have a community lead project that connects with people living around Bend in the River and Modesto Park throughout the course of the two-year grant. Mr.Carroll invited the PNUT Board to participate in the annual Memory Grove cleanup on Saturday, May 14th from 8:00 am—12:00 pm. Lunch will be provided for volunteers. 7—Adjourn 7:00PM Ms. Hart motioned to close the meeting. Ms. Finch seconded the motion. All voted in favor of ending the meeting. from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 5:08 PM Kristin &Carmen-is the parking and speeding issue something that can be addressed collaboratively with the SLCPD and Transportation Department? from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 5:10 PM PD is the only Dept.with authority to enforce speeds,Transportation manages traffic calming. from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 5:23 PM Ryan Clegg is the Draper officer. from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 5:24 PM This is what I remember reading about the Draper program,years ago: htt ps://www.dra perjourna I.com/2017/10/02/156456/dra per-police-officer-ta kes-on-new-role-as-city-s-park-ranger to Ian Mccubbin (privately): 5:29 PM Sorry Ian, I had to lower your hand.The public comment portion of the meeting is over. If you want to make additional comments,you can email me. luke.allen@slcgov.com from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 5:29 PM Kristin,could you please add an update on the program for late Fall or early winter of this year? Excited to see how things go for the Park Rangers this first year. from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 5:30 PM We can do that. I will defer to Luke to remember to put this on the agenda. from Samantha Finch to everyone: 5:30 PM any applicants? from Melanie to everyone: 5:31 PM Congrats on the new position, Tyler! from Bailey,Carmen to everyone: 5:42 PM We are currently conducting interviews for the Manager and Supervisor. Once we have those two hired, we will start on hiring the Rangers. As far as applicants for the Manager and Supervisor, we have several strong candidate we are looking at. from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 5:43 PM Tyler-are the invasive species distinctions by the city made by consulting the NRCS UT I nvasive Species List,as a baseline? from Jenny Hewson to everyone: 5:47 PM What CJ conveyed re neighbor concerns and then listening to Tyler's responses, if conveyed to citizens,could perhaps help with community awareness and building trust/transparency from Jenny Hewson to everyone: 5:54 PM Kat,thank you. Same question re longterm sustainability/maintenance(whcih was answered);do you know who KABOOMS!donors are,and are there future opportunities? from Tony Gliot to everyone: 5:56 PM That's AWESOME Ginger! from Murdock, Tyler to everyone: 5:56 PM I love this Ginger! from polly hart to everyone: 5:56 PM Can we have some vests made? from Melanie to everyone: 6:01 PM Oh that's a great idea. from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 6:01 PM Fantastic idea Bri. I would appreciate that if all are comfortable. from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 6:02 PM I love that idea Bri. from Melanie to everyone: 6:02 PM How would we get something like that up and running? from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 6:03 PM Maybe the communication subcmte could work with Luke on these items. from Allen, Luke to everyone: 6:04 PM Great idea Ginger. I'd love to work with that committee on efforts like this. from Jenny Hewson to everyone: 6:08 PM thank you, Ginger from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 6:08 PM Great job Ginger! from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 6:15 PM Thanks everyone! Great job :) from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 6:19 PM We also tried to use a bullet list instead of the chart,which you can probably see if you are in the document right now. However,it is still longer than a page so we kept the table in for visual effect. from Jenny Hewson to everyone: 6:19 PM please can i have edit permission to the initiatives letter? from Bri Binnebose to everyone: 6:20 PM Permission updated Jenny from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 6:27 PM Thank you Bri and Polly for all your work on this process! from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 6:27 PM Thank you all from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 6:27 PM Living Wage Adjustment from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 6:28 PM New Properties and Amenities title will staythe same,we'll just add, District 5 needs to this request. from Melanie to everyone: 6:39 PM it was beautiful! from Riker, Kristin to everyone: 6:40 PM Thanks to Luke for his work on the Annual Report! from Melanie to everyone: 6:42 PM I would love in person meetings. from Ginger Cannon to everyone: 6:44 PM Glad to hear we can meet again in person. Looking forward to it!