Advisory committee weighs three public-engagement options to rename Creekside Park

Erica presented three possible processes to rename Creekside Park and asked the Recreation and Parks Advisory Committee for a recommendation to take to city council. She said the council had asked staff for options after members noted public confusion between Creekside Park and Cawley Creek Park and to consider whether the existing name fits the town-center identity.

The three options: an open public call (option 1a with staff screening and possible shortlist), an RPAC charrette to produce a committee shortlist (option 2), and a public naming charrette or open-house with online participation and word-cloud prompts (option 3). "We would then, staff, call through those names and, you know, take out any that shouldn't be there, and identify commonalities," Erica said describing option 1.

Committee views diverged on outreach breadth and manageability. Several members urged the committee to open the process to the public and to include schools; one committee member who teaches said inviting schools could be a strong outreach and education opportunity. "As a school teacher, I'll...invite our local schools to participate," the school teacher said.

Other members cautioned that a fully open charrette could become unwieldy; those members favored option 1a (open call with staff screening) or option 2 (committee charrette followed by public vetting) to keep the workload and vetting manageable. The committee discussed using QR codes, signs at parks and social channels to solicit suggestions and said staff time is the main cost.

Outcome and next steps: staff heard sufficient input and recorded a preference for option 1a as the likely approach to present to council with the committee's recommendations; staff will prepare the outreach plan and return recommendations to RPAC and then to city council for final direction.