BY NICK DIAMANTIDES
Staff Writer
Last week, the City of Signal Hill moved one step closer to producing a master plan detailing park development for the next decade. On Wednesday evening (November 5) the Signal Hill Parks Commission unanimously approved the findings and recommendations of a consulting firm that was commissioned by the city to conduct a park needs assessment. The commission also voted to send the report to the Signal Hill City Council, which will likely consider it during its December 9 meeting.
MIG, a landscape architectural firm based in Fullerton, initiated the assessment last spring. Company principal Jim Pickel and project manager Mark Sillings outlined what the study entailed as well as their conclusions and recommendations at the planning commission meeting. Sillings explained that MIG staff began by familiarizing themselves with existing Signal Hill parks and facilities and reviewing the previous needs assessment study, which were followed by meetings with the city’s needs assessment advisory committee, as well as 10 individual interviews and group discussions with elected city officials and community leaders in April.
Early in the study, according to Sillings, city officials and community leaders expressed ideas that became part of the MIG’s focus. Those ideas included avoiding duplication of services offered by Long Beach and other nearby park and recreation programs to Signal Hill residents and assessing the implications of major new sports and recreational facilities now in the planning stages (such as the Kroc Center proposed near the intersection of Walnut Avenue and Pacific Coast Highway).
As the study progressed, MIG distributed questionnaires, conducted telephone surveys and organized two public workshops to get input from Signal Hill residents.
Sillings noted that MIG’s outreach to Signal Hill residents produced eight distinct findings. “There is a strong interest in expanding and improving library services and using the footprint of the old police building as the site for the new library,” he said. (Signal Hill is now in the planning phase of constructing a new police department headquarters at the 2700 block of Walnut Avenue, and city officials had asked MIG to determine what residents would like to see at the site of the existing police station on Hill Street.)
Sillings added that most of the residents who participated in the study expressed a desire to see the north slope of the hill preserved as natural open space. City officials have been cautiously moving toward doing so for several years and are currently exploring funding options for the purchase of the 32-ace site, which is owned by Signal Hill Petroleum.
Continuing with his summary of findings, Sillings noted that Signal Hill residents had expressed a high degree of satisfaction with the existing parks and recreation system. Pickel added, “Signal Hill residents gave your park and recreation system a higher rating than any ratings I have ever seen during many years of conducting similar assessments for other cities.”
Residents, however, did express a desire to have access to a recreational swimming pool closer to where they live as well as an expanded walk/trail system.
According to Sillings, the most popular recreational programs are concerts, festivals and other special programs overseen by the city’s community services department. Most residents participating in the study also consider Signal Hill Park to be the city’s best opportunity to address perceived shortcomings in the park and recreation system. Those residents said the city needs more green open space, a community gathering place and more arts and culture.
Sillings explained that MIG found that the city’s 11,402 residents have access to 28.9 parkland acres contained in nine parks and 3.3 miles of trails, which amounts to 2.5 acres of parks for every 1,000 residents and a park within half a mile of every residence. He noted, however, that the city’s General Plan has a goal of four acres per 1,000 residents, which means the city needs to acquire 14.6 more acres of park space. By 2025, when the city has a projected population of 12,527, the city will need a total of 50 acres of park space in order to meet the General Plan’s goal.
In addition to preserving the north slope as open space and acquiring more land for parks, MIG’s recommendations included building a 15.000-square-foot, $6.3-million library/multimedia center, and a 10,000-square-foot, $4.1-million multi-generational community center. Pickel and Sillings also recommended developing a Signal Hill Park specific site plan and spending $16.8 million to improve that park. Those recommendations and a long list of others will likely be presented to the city council during its first meeting in December.
