Minutes of General Meeting
March 22, 2006
 
The meeting, held in the City of Concord’s Permit Center Conference Room, was called to order by Chair Phil Schafer at 7:05 p.m. Copies of the agenda were distributed.

Phil introduced the guests and DENA officers to the assembly. The scheduled guests were Dr. Richard Nicoll, Assistant Superintendent, Mt. Diablo Unified School District; Brian Holt, Senior Planner, East Bay Regional Park District; and Leslye Asera, Community Relations Manager, City of Concord. Additional guests included Phillip Wood, Principal Planner, Planning and Economic Development, City of Concord; Dr. M. Ronald Miller, Principal, Concord High School; Don Paulson, Vice Principal, Concord High School; Larry Tong, Interagency Planning Manager, East Bay Regional Park District; and Laura Hoffmeister, Councilmember, City of Concord. Jerry Curtis and Bruce McManus were absent. 		 
 
  1. Reading of Minutes – Francie Price, Secretary
    An overview of the December 2005 general meeting was given. Copies of the minutes were provided.
  2. Dana Estates Web Page – Suzi Peek, Webmaster
    The 2005 newsletters and minutes from the general meetings have been added to the web page.
  3. Community Emergency Response Team – Suzi Peek
    A class has been tentatively scheduled for June. The class is six weeks long, 20 hours, and will be either on Monday or Tuesday nights.
  4. Non-Profit Application – Phil Schafer, Chairman
    The IRS granted DENA non-profit status, 501(C)(3). We may now be in line for grants from businesses. The City has discussed providing DENA with the second half of its graduation grant.
  5. Neighborhood Clean-Up Days – Phil Schafer
    Dana Estates will have two clean up days this summer, August 5 and 12. According to the City, we now need to have two dumpster monitors at each dumpster, between 16 and 20 volunteers for the event. Please let us know if you are interested in volunteering to help!
  6. Treasurer’s Report – Ken Weis, Treasurer
    The ending balance as of Wednesday morning was $2084.12. Ken gave an overview of DENA’s 2005 finances:
    • Expenses were approximately $1,100 for last year, mostly for newsletters and signs
    • Resident donations were approximately $535 for last year
  7. Concord High School Stadium Lights – Dr. Nicoll, Mt. Diablo Unified School District
    Dr. Nicoll informed us that thanks to the voter approved Measure C in 2002, money has been provided for the installation of four stadium lights on the football field of Concord High School. These lights will be parallel to the Naval Weapons Station, and are very directional, so there will be little spill over lighting bothering neighbors. The stadium lights would be used for a maximum of 40 events per year. The events would include, and be limited to, junior varsity and varsity football practice and games, soccer and band performances. Concern was expressed concerning additional events being held at the stadium with the lights on, as well as noise, glare and parking on Lynwood Drive and surrounding streets. Dr. Nicoll stated that the documentation for the lights will list the events that may use the lights, and the time that the lights must be turned off by. CHS is considering placing a security guard at the end of the field to prevent fans from walking through to Lynwood Drive and surrounding streets. A traffic engineer has studied various games and feels that there is ample parking at the high school which should prevent any spill over parking. A draft Environmental Impact Report will be published and placed in the local library as well as at CHS. There will be a 45 day response period, as well as a public hearing at the Board of Education. A contractor will take comments to the DEIR, and report them to the Board of Education. Dr. Nicoll will try to get a copy of it posted on their web site. The school hopes to have all work completed by September. The lights will save the school money as they will not have to pay rent for using other facilities.
  8. East Bay Regional Park District on the Concord Naval Weapons Station – Brian Holt
    The East Bay Regional Park District is interested in acquiring 50% of the inland portion of the CNWS east of the Mt. Diablo Creek. This land could be used for recreational purposes as well as protecting freshwater wetlands, habitats for rare and threatened species, scenic hillsides and ridgelines, riparian corridors and regional trail corridors. EBRPD was founded over 70 years ago, and has more than 60 years experience managing large tracts of parkland, which cities do not have. EBRPD currently manages more than 96,000 acres in Contra Costa County and Alameda counties, including Briones Regional Park, Diablo Foothill Park and Black Diamond Mine, to name just a few. The park could fund the maintenance of the area by various means. The City’s General Plan calls for 47% parkland; EBRPD prefers to obtain a large block of land, rather than small pieces here and there, especially for biological maintenance. Not only are there endangered species residing here, but CNWS is home to golden eagles and many migratory birds as well.
  9. Mt Diablo Unified School District on the Concord Naval Weapons Station – Dr. Nicoll
    Dr. Nicoll stated that the school district has a formula for estimating the number of children that would attend elementary, middle and high schools for a given amount of houses built in a new subdivision. All the City needs to do is inform the school district of the number of houses being built, and the school district can estimate the number of students there would be, using this formula. This in turn would let the school district know how many additional schools would need to be built to support the additional student load. Money to build additional schools would come from a tax per square foot on new houses.
  10. City of Concord on the Concord Naval Weapons Station – Leslye Asera
    There is a difference between the General Plan and the Reuse Plan. The City of Concord always needs a General Plan, and it needs to be updated every 10 years. The maps on the City’s web site were placed there for traffic analysis, and not necessarily where streets will really go once development begins.

    There are three phases for the Reuse Plan: Phase 1 is for broad goals of what we want to see, and what we don’t want to see. This phase should take about 6 months. Phase 2 will start the mapping of the area, placing shopping centers and roads, for example. Phase 3 is the detailed plan, which includes zoning.

    Concern was expressed by residents regarding traffic, noise, home resale values, pollution, wildlife protection and open space preservation. Concern over eminent domain with regards to houses on Denkinger was also expressed, if that street is widened into a four lane street. According to Laura, no one wants to invoke eminent domain. One possibility is to use some high school land for streets, and give the high school some NWS land in exchange.
  11. Miscellaneous
    Dr. Nicoll announced that there will be an emergency response exercise conducted at Concord High, El Dorado Middle and Westwood Elementary schools on April 12, starting around 9 a.m. The exercise is planned to test the preparedness of the schools in a real emergency.
  12. Next General Meeting
    The next general meeting will be held in June. Topic suggestions were requested.
 
  Adjournment – Meeting was adjourned at 9:35 p.m.

Respectfully submitted,

Francie Price
Secretary