Council backing RFQ to create parks master plan for Pastime Park and former Ranco site

Staff (S1) presented a proposed RFQ to secure designer and engineering services for a parks master plan covering Pastime Park and the site formerly known as Ranco. S1 said the goal is not another broad public-opinion exercise but a professional effort to translate existing plans and data into implementable options: "We really wanna say, we have all that data and now where can we put it?" S1 added the RFQ will require consultants familiar with site survey and environmental standards because the Ranco site has existing asphalt/concrete pads and "8 more water wells that can't be removed quite yet."

S1 described Pastime Park as 43 acres with disc golf, volleyball, basketball, pickleball, a walking trail, baseball fields, a youth building, shower houses and a campground, and said some facilities (Kaiser Field, aquatic center, youth building, basketball courts) are likely to remain in their current positions while other spaces could be rethought or relocated. The RFQ timeline S1 outlined: open in January, submissions due in February, interviews and scoring in February, council decision in March and community engagement beginning in April.

Council members pressed for guardrails and programmatic direction up front so consultants do not produce options the council will reject. Several members emphasized athletic fields and multiuse grass surfaces so local youth organizations would not need to rent outside facilities. One committee member said the primary focus for TBD Park should be athletic fields and suggested making that explicit in the RFQ so proposals align with council expectations.

Why it matters: the RFQ launches planning for a major parks build-out and a potentially complex redevelopment of a site with environmental constraints; the procurement timeline places selection decisions within the council's March meeting window, with community engagement to follow soon after.