Interesting Information About Carmel-by-the-Sea Parks

Figure 7.1
Parks, Open Space, Recreation and Community Facilities
General Plan/Coastal Land Use Plan Open Space, Conservation and Scenic Highways Element

ABSTRACT: Information about Carmel-by-the-Sea Parks, including locations, acreages, facilities/uses and zoning designations are presented. Comments and Questions are made in the context of the recent City Council vote to prohibit smoking in city parks.

Herewith are the Parks of the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea, including locations, acreages, facilities/uses and zoning designations, as follows:

Carmel Beach Park
W/s Scenic Rd & N. San Antonio Av., between Northern (Pebble Beach Gate) & Southern (Carmel Point) City Limits
21.5 acres
Swimming, picnicking, other beach related activities
Zoned P-1

Mission Trail Nature Preserve (Flanders Mansion and Lester Rowntree Arboretum)
Entrances at Rio Rd (across from Carmel Mission), 11th Avenue east of Torres Street, Mountain View Av. & Crespi Av., and 25800 Hatton Road.
35.0 Acres
Nature walks, jogging, picnicking, bicycling
Zoned P-1

Devendorf Park
Ocean Av./6th Av. & Junipero Av./Mission St.
0.6 Acre
Picnic
Zoned P-2

Forest Hill Park
Junipero Av. between Camino Del Monte/1st Av.
2.4 Acres
Natural area, shuffleboard, clubhouse, horseshoe pits, par course physical fitness trail, children’s playground, tennis courts, restrooms
Zoned P-2

Forest Theater
Mt. View Av. between Santa Rita St./Guadalupe St.
Zoned P-2

Picadilly Park
W/s Dolores St. between Ocean Av./7th Av.
.09 Acre
Open space, benches
Zoned CC

Vista Lobos
Third AV. between Junipero Av./Torres St.
1.24 Acres
Meeting room, observation deck, mini park, public parking
Zoned R-4

Carmelita Park
Dolores St. & 5th Av., N.W. Corner
Mini Park, hides entrance to a 100-car underground parking garage

Rio Park
Lasuen/Dolores St. between Carmel Mission/Carmel River
6.24 Acres
Open space, trails, ball field
Zoned MDR (County Zoning)

First Murphy Park
W/s Lincoln St. between 5th Av./6th Av.

Pescadero Park
North of 2nd Av. between N. Camino Real & N. Casanova (discontinuous)

Notes:
P-1 = To preserve publicly owned park and beach lands for the benefit and enjoyment of present and future generations, and to prevent the destruction of natural open spaces.

P-2 = To provide appropriately located areas for recreation and recreational facilities.
Source: Carmel LCP, 1981 Table 8; “Guide to Management of Carmel’s Forests, Parks and Beaches”, 1981.

NOTE: “Carmel presently owns 10.67% of the total area of the City.”

References: General Plan/Coastal Land Use Plan Open Space, Conservation & Scenic Highways Element, Sights, http://www.ci.carmel.ca.us/


COMMENTS & QUESTIONS:
• Prior to the City Council’s unanimous vote to prohibit smoking in the city’s parks, including Devendorf Park, First Murphy Park, Forest Hill Park, Mission Trail Nature Preserve, Piccadilly Park, Vista Lobos Park, Pescadero Park, Rio Park and Forest Theater at their 6 November 2007 meeting, a past City Council voted 4-1 (first reading), Bethel dissenting and 3-1 (second reading), Cunningham dissenting, Bethel absent, to prohibit smoking at Carmel Beach in October/November 2005.

Question: Why didn’t the City Council have the foresight to consider a prohibition of smoking in all city parks in October/November 2005, and not allow the situation to reach “crisis” proportions as City Councilman Gerard Rose contended at the 7 November 2007 City Council meeting?

• In Public Safety Director George Rawson’s Staff Report, he cites the study, “Real-Time Measurement of Outdoor Smoke,” by N. Klepeis, et al, at Stanford University to justify the smoking ban in city parks. Rawson wrote, Researchers concluded that an individual “being within a few feet of a smoker outdoors may expose you to air pollution levels that are comparable, on average, to indoor levels that we have measured in previous studies of homes and taverns.”

First, there are very few published studies on outdoor levels of secondhand smoke (SHS). In fact, the Klepeis et al. paper is the first study on outdoor smoking to be published in a peer-reviewed scientific journal.

Secondly, the Keipeis, et al. study (2004) referenced by Public Safety Director George Rawson demonstrated that SHS particle concentrations in outdoor settings in some cases can be comparable to those in indoor setting “However, mean outdoor SHS concentration appear more variable than indoors, because outdoor SHS does not accumulate and outdoor transient peaks are more sensitive to source-receptor proximity and wind conditions.”

Therefore, since there are an absence of studies corroborating the findings and conclusions of Klepseis et al., it would have been better if Public Safety Director George E. Rawson had omitted public exposure to secondhand smoke as a reason for the smoking ban in city parks in his staff report.

• In November 2005, dissenter Mike Cunningham cited litter, specifically “papers, cups, cans, bottles, discarded clothing, dog feces, rusted coat hangers used for roasting hot dogs” as a “far greater problem” than cigarette butts based on his experiences at Carmel Beach cleanups.

Question: Since October/November 2005, what has the City Council done to proactively address the problem of litter in the City of Carmel-by-the-Sea?