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MEMORANDUM July 2, 1992 TO: Citizen Involvement Committee FROM: John Etter, Public Works/Parks Planning Section SUBJECT: Morse Ranch Park Master Plan Process Having a chance to review the letter from John Replinger that is in your packet, I felt the need to provide some additional background on this matter. It is my hope that you have read it first; my comments and additional back- ground are in the context of that letter. Hiring or contracting for outside help, practicum students or otherwise, has been standard practice in the parks planning operation. We have had several large parks that need master or development plans updated, but no regular staff time to pursue them. I recommended accepting the offer of the corpora- tion as a way of getting action on one of these parks. The process has been unusual as we took advantage of shared funding and vol- unteers. The city share of the cost was $500.00. Normally we start with public fora, announced by appropriate means, in which we ascertain the public sentiment about the whats, whys, hows, etc. , and at the same time provide information to the public about any limitations than are known. Recent exam- ples include the general development plan for the city's portion of Alton Baker Park, the improvement program for Maurie Jacobs Park, and the modifica- tions to Scobert Park. I have advised all people who have expressed an interest, including members of the Wayne Morse Historical Park Corporation (WMHPC), that the city cannot consider a plan adopted without allowing all interested parties to have in- put. That did not happen while the draft plan was being prepared, and so we are now going out for the broader public input that should have come during the work by the student. Corporation members that I have talked to under- stand that the plan that was developed under part of their guidance could substantially change, depending on comment received in the broader public process. The fact that the dog off-leash program became a controversial issue after the proposal to prepare a master plan was received is cause for hindsight. We have never run site specific plans through the entire flow chart culminat- ing in a City Council hearing/action. Instead, we have worked with interest- ed parties, refining and mediating designs or different points of view, until we can sdy that either consensus has been achieved, or an acceptable compro- mise/equii�brium has been achieved. At such point, divergent interests un- derstand and -(reluctantly sometimes) accept the compromise plan, and feel no need for a new forum before other commissions or the City Council . Part of the unusual process stems from the fact that the main issue surround- ing the park and the plan has been the dog off-leash program. A public eval-