St. Helena council approves parks and recreation master plan process, using park impact fees

The St. Helena City Council on a unanimous roll call vote approved hiring a consultant to develop a 10‑year parks and recreation services and facilities master plan and trails study, using remaining park impact fees to pay for the planning work.

Community Development Director Dave Jans told the council the master plan is intended as “a guiding document, a road map” for parks and community facilities and recreation programming, and will evaluate maintenance standards, program coordination with the library, and creative funding strategies. Jans said the plan’s timeline is about nine to 10 months.

The plan’s scope includes a trails master plan and a financial forecast to show the cost of bringing parks to the condition the community wants and to provide a community‑driven prioritization process. Jans said the consultant will produce short‑term (years 1–3), midterm (3–5) and long‑term (5–10) implementation steps so the city can stage work to match finances.

Councilmember Deasy moved to “approve staff recommendations”; Councilmember Summers seconded. The motion passed on a roll call vote of 5–0 (Deasy, Summers, Barrick, Spatarotto and Mayor Doreen voting yes).

Staff said the work would be funded from the city’s park impact fee fund, which is restricted to acquisition, enhancement, construction or reconstruction of park and recreation facilities and related capital purposes. Jans said the current balance will decline as Jacob Miley Park’s drainage and field rehabilitation is completed; staff estimated roughly $946,000 would remain after that project and that proceeding with the master plan would leave about $821,000 in the park impact fund.

Jans said the consultant selected, Bluepoint Planning, was chosen from seven proposals after interviews and scored well for community engagement, environmental and climate lenses, and producing actionable recommendations rather than a “boilerplate plan.” Jans told the council he had asked Bluepoint to deliver an actionable first‑year slate of implementable items.

Council members debated timing and optics of spending consultant funds while the city is analyzing its structural budget shortfall. Several council members said the park impact fees are earmarked and that delaying the planning work would risk losing momentum for trails and other community priorities; others suggested staff and the parks commission could pursue low‑cost, high‑value repairs in the interim.

Director Jans and Deputy City Manager Lehi Milton answered questions about allowable uses for park impact fees, annual fee receipts (staff cited an eight‑year average of roughly $88,000 and an expected $75,000 this fiscal year), and the risk of paying for consultant work that might sit unimplemented. Jans said the plan is intended to avoid that outcome by producing prioritized, staged actions with grant and funding strategies.

The council vote authorizes staff to move forward with the consultant contract and the public engagement timeline; staff will return with contract details and a finalized schedule.