Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting Minutes for 10/3/02


  • Attendees: Mike Boulland, Ronald Horii, Holly Davis, Rick Leonard, John Patterson, Mario Blaum, Kitty Monahan
  • Mike said he would pay for more space on the Websitet. For $4.95 per month, plus a one-time $10 setup fee, we can get 25 MB and no pop-up ads. This will probably be sufficient. There are other plans that cost more and offer more. See http://geocities.yahoo.com/
  • There have been no complaints about Buck Norred's. The neighbors like the mounted rangers being there. The kids try to feed the horses. The rangers were feeding the horses 5 times a day, which didn't leave them much time for patrolling. They changed it to twice a day. 
  • The Rosetto House is being occupied by one of the parks maintenance staff who works at Anderson.
  • The Bonetti (Pedro Bernal) House across from Bernal School will go to another ranger.
  • The portable kitchen at the BFJ Ranch was built by an Eagle Scout and will be used for projects.
  • Mike gave a plaque of appreciation to Jim McGrath.
  • Mike got a letter from the city saying we can use the city event center for community events. They can provide fire and police equipment for display. They have a trailer with brochures.
  • Ranger report - John Patterson
    • A motion-sensing sprinkler has been installed behind the barn at the mounted ranger facility at Buck Norred's to scare mountain lions away. The rangers turn it on in the evening when they go home.
    • Holly mentioned that the pavement on the steep start of the Mine Trail is slippery and hazardous to equestrians in wet weather. John will meet with a paving engineer on 10/10 to discuss it.
    • There are tower parts lying around the antenna tower on Coyote Peak. They will ask if American Tower can pull them out.
    • The concrete water bars on the Coyote Peak Trail have been pulled out and replaced with rolling swales. They must be deep enough to channel water in the rain.
    • The corral at the Pueblo Area: someone called Joe Schultz and volunteered to help restore it. They need to come up with a plan. The trail will be realigned around the corral. It now goes straight through it.
    • We can't use the fire road above the Pueblo Area as a  trail. There is a federally-protected flower on the hill. 
    • They will be putting signs on the volunteer trails off the main trails to discourage their use. 
    • Rob Robertson is designing the Ohlone Trail bridge by the archery range. It has high priority. There's no signage there now. After the bridge comes back, we recommend they put a trail sign there.
    • Greg Bringelson, who's in charge of trails, is very busy now, so he doesn't have much time now to work on new trails. He's working on cutting back poison oak on the New Almaden Trail in Almaden Quicksilver, then going to Stevens Creek, the California Trails Conference, then fall grading. They will be redoing the trails when the rain softens the ground.
    • For new trails (like from Buck Norred to the BGJ Ranch), Greg has to do a feasibility study. Kelly Gibson is the trail designer. They must do an environmental impact report. 
    • There's a new drinking faucet at the BGJ Ranch.
    • The maps are ready to go for the signboards at the BGJ Ranch.
  • Trails
    • The  neighbors by Buck Norred's complained to the Water District about people using the Coyote Alamitos Canal behind their houses, so the District fenced the canal off. People started using a volunteer trail on the hill behind the canal. 
    • The city of San Jose is doing a study of the Coyote Alamitos Canal Trail. The county may be able to get some information from the study that could help with trail designs around the canal on county park land.
    • Holly said that several people at her barn said it would be good to remove the barbed wire along the Fortini Trail. It is an old cattle fence and is not needed anymore. It's also a hazard to trail users.
  • Santa Teresa Springs
    • The open gate on the Manila Drive fence below the springs needs to be closed. It is too convenient for kids to go there at night.
    • People are partying at the springs. Mario suggests putting a sign on the fence along Manila Drive saying that the park is closed at night.
  • Mike:
    • Mike brought his class to clean up at the waterfall last Friday at the Laurel Springs Nature Trail. They picked up a lot of trash, which included whiskey bottles. There are gang tags on the rocks by the redwood tree. This needs to be cleaned up. 
  • 4H - Holly:
    • They had their first 4H meeting yesterday the BGJ Ranch. They had about 8 kids.
  • Volunteer hours: 
    • Mike Boulland: 30
    • Ron Horii: 10
    • Kitty Monahan: 3
    • Rick Leonard: 15
    • Holly Davis: 12
    • Mikes class: 120 hours at Laurel springs (3 hours for 6 adults and 34 kids).
  • Treasurer's Report - Holly
    • Balance: $919.65 as of August.
  • Parks Commission
    • The county is still in negotiations with Pyzak. Pyzak gave notice to his boarders that they need to be out by 10/15.
    • Lisa Killough is the new director of the parks department. Lisa was a planner.
  • Paul Bernal wants to rebuild the 2-story Rancho Santa Teresa adobe on the Bear Tree site.
  • Activities
    • Saturday 9/21: John Dorrance and Rick Leonard led a night star walk. The moon was too bright to see the stars, but they could see the trail. About 25 people came.
    • The Santa Teresa Community Fest  was on 9/21. Rick was there all day. The model of Rancho Santa Teresa drew a lot of interest. They gave out literature about the BGJ Ranch and handed out 75 flyers on FOSTP. They gave out gold coins as Changara's treasure. There was a lot of people and interest.
    • St. Julie's Church will have a celebration of St. Teresa of Avila on 10/13. A procession will walk from the springs to the church. The Father at St. Julie's put out a flyer about St. Teresa. They want to make it more special next year. 
    • October 26: VCC lunch at the Pueblo Area [Re-scheduled for 12/7 at 11:00 am at the New Almaden Community Center.]
    • October 26: Whoppers walk at 9:00 am at Baldwin School. Meet by the flagpole. Mike will see if he can get a van. They will drive from Santa Teresa to New Almaden and back to the Pueblo Area for the picnic. Mike will tell ghost stories of Santa Teresa and New Almaden. 
Ronald Horii, 
Secretary, Friends of Santa Teresa Park 
10/22/02, updated 111/7/02

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Created 10/22/2002 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park