The park on First Street now belongs to Seal Beach. The City Council formally accepted the park Monday, Sept. 13. The fence surrounding the park may come down this week. (It may have come down by the time you read these words.)
This was part of the Consent Calendar. Consent Calendar items are voted on collectively and not discussed unless pulled for individual consideration.
Nothing on this week’s Consent Calendar was pulled for separate discussion or voting.
This doesn’t mean work on the park will stop. Work at the Ocean Avenue and First Street intersection was scheduled to start on Sept. 13. Shea Homes will need access to the park water basin until the plants in the basin have established themselves. (The details are below.)
But the park, now officially called River’s End Park, according to a staff report, basically belongs to Seal Beach.
Shea Homes began building the project in January 2019, according to the staff report by Public Works Director Steve Myrter.
(In February 2020, the Sun quoted a Shea Homes representative as saying the park project was on track for completion by that summer. The park was built at the same time houses were being built. For details, visit sunnews.org and look up “Shea Homes says park ‘on track’ for summer completion.”)
“The maintenance cost for the Rivers End Park is $1,333.75 monthly, which amounts to $16,005 annually and has been included in the FY 2021-2022 budget adoption,” Myrter wrote.
“Construction of the Ocean Place Development required extensive construction of public infrastructure that will ultimately be owned and maintained in perpetuity by the City,” Myrter wrote.
“These public facilities include a 6.2 acre public park, streets/alleys, street frontage improvements, water lines, sewer lines, and a storm drainage system which included a storm water quality detention basin. This public infrastructure is now complete and accepted by the City with the exception of the Ocean Place Development Water Quality Detention Basin,” Myrter wrote.
According to Myrter’s report, for the basin to work, plants in the basin must be thriving as they are part of the water treatment process.
“Currently, the plants within the WQ [water quality] Basin have yet to fully establish,” Myrter wrote.
Shea Homes has agreed to continue maintaining the basin until plants have established themselves and the basin is working, according to Myrter’s report.
But to allow Shea Homes to do that, Shea Homes needed an easement. So the City Council also approved an easement on the property.
Strictly speaking, there is still some work to be done on the park.
“The Rivers End Park features a paved pedestrian/biking recreational trail that meanders through the park connecting the San Gabriel River Bike Trail to the First Street/Ocean Avenue intersection at the First Street Beach Parking Lot entrance,” Myrter wrote.
“Staff determined that additional First Street and Ocean intersection enhancements were needed at the bike trail’s First Street terminus to improve overall park trail accessibility at this intersection,” Myrter wrote.
According Public Works Director Myrter’s report, the intersection improvements will cost an estimated $25,000.
According to the report, there is enough money in the capital improvement program to fund the improvements.
“Enhancements include: adjustment of the trail and trail ramp, and reconstruction of the First Street southwest corner ADA [Americans with Disabilities Act] curb ramp,” Myrter wrote.
To be technical, the council did four things on Monday:
• Formally accepted the dedication of the property and the grant deed from Shea Homes Limited Partnership.
• Gave Shea Homes an easement to access a water detention basin that is part of storm drainage for the Ocean Place housing development next door to the park.
• Authorized the city manager to execute the required documents and accept the deed.
• Passed a resolution to make the above take place.
