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- The meeting was held at 7:00 at the Flames Restaurant as the upper
clubhouse was unavailable. Mike Boulland was presiding. Ron Horii was the
recording secretary. Minutes from last meeting were reviewed.
- Attending: Mike Boulland, Kitty Monahan, Jim O'Connor, Steve Crockett.
- There was a question about whether donations can be made to the
Silicon Valley Parks Foundation and earmark them for specific purposes. The
foundation charges a 10% fee for projects that require managment. Jim will
check if the organization is ready to accept donations now.
- The cross-country meet at Santa Teresa Park will be in May. Participants
will park by the Flames Restaurant, and buses will take them to the park.
Mike pointed out that setting up a permanent cross-country trail in Santa
Teresa Park has advantages: They will have a consistent course and will
be able to keep track time records. Racers won't go to other park and mark
up their trails. (See November's minutes
about what happened at Mt. Madonna.)
- Jim reported on the park status:
- A low fence has been put in around the hill by the Wright Center
to keep out 4WD vehicles.
- There has been no significant vandalism in the park.
- There have been problems with littering at the Countryview Drive
back entrance, which is vehicle-accessible.
- The plans for the Norred Ranch have been completed.
- We discussed some ideas and observations of mine [discussion is
in brackets];
- There are no signs indicating the start of the westbound Ohlone
Trail where it branches off of the Coyote Peak Trail above the golf course.
There's also nothing indicating that there are no bikes allowed on it.
[Signs will be posted.]
- I've seen bikes come down the Coyote Peak Trail, then I
wonder where they are going to go. They can't ride through the golf course.
They can't take the Ohlone Trail. They can take the service road, but it
dead ends. The only thing they can do is go back up, either on the Coyote
Peak Trail, Boundary Line Trail, or Ridge Trail. I think there needs to
be a legal lower-level escape for bikes: either allow them to ride through
the golf course or create a new trail along the canal. [The trail usage
will be changed so that bikes can't come down that far.]
- If the city goes ahead with its plan to open the Coyote Alamitos
Canal as a trail, what going to happen with the canal route through
the Santa Teresa Golf Course and the archery center?
- The PG&E service roads that branch off from the Joice Trail
could easily be turned into legal trails. They could form a loop that runs
to the edge of park property above Cottle Road, then rejoins the Joice
trail below the Vista Loop Trail on Bernal Hill. [Talk to Jane Marks about
new trail routes, applies to other trail ideas below.]
- The real Rocky Ridge has several illegal, unofficial, and unmarked
trails. Since Rocky Ridge is right above the picnic areas, people are always
climbing up these trails. There should be safe, legal trails over Rocky Ridge.
There's a wide firebreak (I think that's what it is) that runs alongside
of Rocky Ridge from the horse corral to the creek below the Hidden Springs
Trail. With a little work, that could be turned into a nice trail. Some switchback
trails should be built to replace the straight-up and down illegal trails
that run over the top of Rocky Ridge to Big Oak Valley.
- That little triangle of private property on Rocky Ridge (Lagatutta's?):
if the owners won't sell the whole piece, would they be willing to sell
or grant a trail easement, like IBM did with the Stile Ranch Trail? The
trail is already there. People have been using it illegally for years.
It would just make it legal. [They don't want to sell.]
- Other potential easements that the county could try to secure:
- The Coyote Peak Trail all the way to Schillingsburg.
- A trail along the border of IBM's Santa Teresa Lab property to
Bailey Avenue.
- A trail along the hills east of the archery center to Tulare Hill.
- The ultimate dream: a trail along the ridgetop all the way to
Lake Almaden.
- They've started painting the buildings at the Joice-Bernal Rancho,
and installed a restroom. It looks like they've finished the retaining wall
above the barn. There's a rusting old upside down truck frame on the hill
above the wall. I wonder if they're going to remove it or put an historical
sign on it.
- If the county really wants to charge for parking, they should
put parking meters that charge by the hour. That way, you could pay 25 cents
per hour, instead of $4, since most people probably don't stay at the park
for much longer than an hour. $4 for an hour is more expensive than downtown
San Francisco. Nobody is crazy enough to pay that. The ony other way they
can justify that fee is to put a lake in the middle of the park. Hellyer,
Vasona, Lexington, and Anderson can justify the fees because they have water
that people can sit and fish at or boat in for hours. [Mike asked Jim if
he could find out how much in receipts the ticket machines have collected.]
- A crazy idea: instead of spending all that effort to tear out
the corral by the restrooms at the Pueblo area, why not turn it into a group
campsite for organized groups, like the Boy Scouts or Eath Core? That would
have several advantages: local kids could have a place to go camping close
to home, there would be people effecively guarding the upper park area at
night, and the county could make some money off the camping fees, maybe
enough so they can get rid of the parking meters. [Equestrians use the
corral. The cross country teams use it as a finish line. Is it in good
shape? Is it cheaper to tear it down than repair it? Kitty will see if the
horsemen might want to repair it or improve it.]
- Mike talked to Robin Schaut about the Joice Bernal Ranch Interpretive
Project. She wants to know when we should have the dedication of the Rancho.
It could be the same time as Pioneer Day. The interpretive exhibits may not
be done until fall or spring of next year. We need people or volunteers.
The scouts want to help out. We can wait until the entire project is done
to have a dedication event or have an open house earlier to solicit help
gathering historical info and artifacts. Mike will talk to Robin.
- There are two cement pillars installed by Santa Teresa Springs,
but the lights were not there yet.
- We started talking about future activities, but didn't make any
decisions. Chris Orr came up with a list of potential work items that he
gave to Mike (shown below). We need to decide which ones to do and get volunteers
to organize these events:
F.O.S.T. PROJECT CALENDAR ( List of proposed projects from Chris Orr)
Jan 01 Remove scotch broom, coyote brush, around Santa Teresa Springs
and along walkways and retaining wall. Sweep and clean stairs and deck.
Feb 01 Remove weeds between fence and walkway across from Bernal
Middle School. Contact City to remove weeds in
sidewalk. Remove cardboard and litter from hillside.
Mar 01 Plant and maintain native ornamentals around Archery Range
sign. Contact Ed Tanaka regarding plant selection.
Contact Black Mountain Bowmen for assistance. Possible archery range clean
up day.
Apr 01 Improve around Santa Teresa Park sign at Bernal & Heaton
Moore. Remove star thistle. Plant and maintain native
ornamentals around sign.
May 01 Trail maintenance on Ohlone trail. Pruning and tread work.
Jun 01 Trail maintenance on trail to waterfall. Pruning and tread
work. Clean up around waterfall.
Jul 01 Fence off volunteer trails at Coyote Peak and Coyote Peak/
Rocky Ridge junction. Install signs.
Aug 01 Install/repair new benches at Coyote Peak.
Sep 01 Clean drainage ditch at Buck Norred.
Oct 01 Paint buildings at Buck Norred
Nov 01 remove arena at Santa Teresa Park.
Dec 01 Clean up along Bayliss road fence line.
TBA/Continuous
Assist with new trail sign installation at Santa Teresa Park. Spread
wood chips in various areas. Paint the new wood fence at Joice/Bernal ***
Mark Fredrick suggestion.
Ronald Horii,
Secretary, Friends of Santa Teresa Park
1/29/01
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