DeForest Park Neighborhood Association
Executive Board Meeting
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 via Zoom Meeting (recorded)
Present: Dan Pressburg (President); Joni Ricks-Oddie (Vice President); Keith Oddie (Treasurer); Ryan Blazer; Darlene Broom; &
Absent: Corazon Lomeli.
Guests: CampFire Deforest (Georgia Stewart & Phil Hester); RiverPark Coalition (Laurie Angel, Juan Ovalle, Ian Patton, Kimberly Walters)
Meeting was called to order by Dan Pressburg at 6:37 PM.
Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, the February 23, 2021 Executive Board Meeting Minutes were adopted with one change to add: “We received an appreciation award from the US Census Bureau for our work promoting Census Up on August 22, 2020.” after “Meeting was called to order by Dan Pressburg at 6:44 PM.”
Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, the Board postponed Treasury Report to the next April Executive Board Meeting.Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, the Executive Board went into closed session at 6:40 PM.
Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, the Executive Board left closed session at 6:54 PM.
The action items from the closed session is a letter to City Management regarding pocket park renaming South Street Parkway.
Old Business:
- Accounting / Treasury Report
- New SMS Texting System Options
- Future Speakers
- RiverPark Coalition to present at March Board Meeting
- 3701 Park Place Developer
- Welcome Wagon for Commercial Property Businesses
- Plan for follow up with commercial property owner at 300 – 320 South St.
- Offer & parameters to activate LAB Holding lot adjacent to library
New Business:
Georgia Stewart & Phil Hester presented updates on CampFire DeForest. The floor contains asbestos in the Community Center and went into repairs at the beginning of March, 2020. CampFire took up the expense of the asbestos mitigation efforts. The new flooring is very light and bright. A new roof has been installed along with windows. A glass door was installed to replace one of the fire doors. Georgia will send pictures to post. Roofing was done in end of September. Stephanie Blaser is the new director for CampFire DeForest. She was the assistant director at the other facility over the summer day camp. The roof over the breezeway was not fixed, but will have changes. Phil added The Corp was going to building a building down by the Wetlands area. There is a lot of issues with underground with pipes and drainage. That building will be moved up to the existing restroom facility. The Corp got funding from Rivers & Conservancy. The building is going to be 1,200 – 1,400 sq ft. Additional issues are near the new location with pipes as well. The plan is to open the area between the two buildings. Anticipated to have 20-25 children every day. Staff will be overseeing that area as well. The design has gone through the process with the City and Parks & Recreation – both have approved it. The Corp. is going to bid with contractors. Hopefully to have construction started in early summer with completion by the end of the year. CampFire hopes to develop an environmental center in conjunction with The Corp. Activity should be seen by the end of the spring. The Conservation Corp. & CampFire are working out how they can work together during construction. The Discovery Trail is a big project for CampFire, and a plan was approved by The Port. The architect on the Discovery Trail has finished a design and almost ready to submit to the City for approval. There is not anything of major concerns from Parks & Rec. Conservation Corp. & City Council approved a long-term lease to remain in the park for many years. Just the same CampFire is working on a long-term lease agreement with the City for approval to remain in DeForest Park for many years. CampFire would like to start construction after summer programming. CampFire is looking to do other things like extending the Discovery Trail to the Wetlands. There is some renderings subject to change depending on terrain for drainage purposes. Some areas are being carved out for additional programming. The small groups would be 8-15 children with 2 staff members. The area will not be fenced in, so there will not be any proprietary things in place. Adding a trail at the other facility changed the program for the better at that facility and made it a destination program. CampFire is having to work in phases because there are not the funds to do everything they want on the frontend. The Wetlands would be the “coastal area” and the higher end of the park would be the “higher elevations.” The existing conifer trees help amplify this. There is discussion of fence from the north end to the community center. Safety as it relates to children is a high priority. There will be a spring & summer day camp. Hoping to have long term lease in the next couple of months.
Tentative April Agenda
7:00 PM – Flag Salute Video / Approval of March, 2021 Minutes
7:05 PM – North Station (10 minutes)
7:15 PM – District 9 Update (7 minutes)
7:22 PM – Old Business: Ideas for vacant lot next to library
New Business:
7:27 PM – Guest Speaker (RiverPark Coalition & Insight Developer) (10 mins / Q&A)
8:12 PM – Public comment (up to 3 minutes per speaker)
8:30 PM – Adjourn
Guests (RiverPark Coalition – Laurie Angel, Juan Ovalle, Ian Patton, Kimberly Walters):
Several board member disclosures and a recusal were made because of conflicts with of interest with RiverPark Coalition. RiverPark Coalition made a presentation on converting the lot at 3701 N. Pacific Pl. to open space as opposed an RV storage unit with self-storage units. Kim had technical difficulties in audio, so she shared her screen but could not speak. The presentation covered a spectrum of green space and equity in Long Beach and past promises that the city made but changed in 2018 after the Land Use Element. RiverPark Coalition asked DPNA to write a letter in support of their organization and personal letters to the City Council.
Several questions were asked after the presentation (including via chat – transcript attached) including remediation funding and private property ownership rights. As a 501(c)(3), DPNA chose not to side with either RiverPark Coalition or Insite on this issue. RiverPark Coalition asked that Insite present before their presentation for rebuttal purposes.
Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, RiverPark Coalition was approved to present to the April 15 DPNA meeting following Insight (developer) – both allotted 10 minutes followed by a Q&A.
Upon motion made, seconded, & approved, the Executive Board meeting was adjourned at 8:21 PM.
