Pollock Pines
aCCESSIBLE ~ ACTIVE ~ INCLuSIVE ~ fun
Playground
What's New?
FOREBAY COMMUNITY PARK AUGUST 2024 UPDATE
On August 21, 6:00 pm, the County held a meeting at the Pollock Pines-Camino Community Center to update our residents about the progress being made on the Forebay Park upgrades.
Representing the County was our 5th District Supervisor, Brooke Laine; Jennifer Franich, Deputy CAO; Zach Perras, Parks Manager; Shannon McDonald, Administrative Analyst; and three Parks and Recreation Commission Members: Wayne Lowery, Vice Chair; Faye-Marie Pekar (District 5), and Donna Mullens-Beckar (District 2).
Zach Perras, Parks Manager, shared a presentation, along with a revised conceptual map, detailing the currently proposed changes coming to the 12 acre site.
Community members then provided a detailed recap of the history that community members have been working towards these past ten years, focusing primarily on the desire for an all inclusive, all abilities playground with an area for 2 - 5 year olds and one for 6 - 12 year olds.
It was emphasized that the playground has always been intended to be an all inclusive, all abilities playground…not merely an apparatus, or two so that EVERY CHILD, no matter his/her ability, can participate and engage fully with their peers, and not feel left out. After a full discussion regarding the reasoning for this, Mr. Perras and Ms. McDonald stated that they fully understood and that they would explain that to the architect.
When the playground equipment goes out to bid, the specifications provided by the County will determine the type of apparatuses to be included. To ensure that the County understands how the renderings that were provided to the community members involved in this project by the six vendors contacted, the specifications that were provided to them have been sent to the County representatives. Hopefully, they will give these specifications serious consideration.
The latest conceptual plan was discussed as well as the missing features from the previous County plan. Mr. Perras stated that this was nothing more than a first draft conceptual drawing and the omissions on this drawing would be dealt with in future phases of the project. The reasoning for a multi phase approach comes down to money, or the possible lack thereof.
The changes shown on the latest drawing is what is considered Phase l. Until projected engineer estimates, and ultimately actual contractor bids, are received, this is what the County believes can be paid for with the $3,443,000 dollars available, some of which has already been expended on the architect fees, various required studies, such as EIR (Environmental Impact Studies and Reports), CEQA (California Environmental Quality Act), which is required inform government decision makers about the potential environmental effects of proposed activities and to prevent significant, avoidable environmental damage, etc.
The majority of Phase 1's cost will certainly go towards the grading and paving of the new parking area but it is the County's opinion that funding will be available for the new bathroom facilities, septic requirements, under grounding of existing utilities, the disc golf equipment, playground apparatuses and the installation of the community donated fitness equipment.
There was also a discussion about the possible installation of Eagle Scout Luna's project detailing the history of Pollock Pines, along with other educational walking trail placards depicting the flora and fauna of the area, which will be provided by the community. This proposal was well received by Mr. Perras.
The meeting adjourned at 7:20 pm.