FAIR OAKS, CA (MPG) - To make the best use of the Measure J funds, the Fair Oaks Recreation and Park District plans to leverage the bond monies to increase other funding opportunities. State Proposition 68 (Prop. 68) provides grant funding for park and facility expansion to parks that are undersized for the population served. Improvements at Village and Plaza parks are eligible for Prop. 68 funding, and Measure J funds could be used to meet the matching funds requirement.

If the District is able to secure Prop. 68 funding for those projects, then more Measure J funds will be available for other projects in the District. The District also hopes to use Prop. 68 funding for improvements to Veterans Memorial Amphitheatre.

The District is asking for $4 million in Prop. 68 funding, and the application is due this summer. To be eligible for Prop. 68 funds, the District must conduct five public outreach meetings before the end of July. The District is also required to hold public outreach events for the Measure J projects, and they are now planning to accelerate the schedule for those events so that Measure J and Prop. 68 outreach can be done simultaneously.

Combining the outreach events will save money on outreach costs and will get Measure J projects underway even sooner.

Callander Associates, a landscape architecture firm in Gold River, has been hired to facilitate the community outreach events. They will also be responsible for project management, scheduling, budgeting, and refining the District’s master plan as needed. Staff from Callander Associates will meet with the Measure J Bond Oversight Committee (BOC) before each outreach event, and BOC members will participate at the events, explaining the projects and receiving feedback from community members.

The first outreach event was a site walk on May 21. Attendees were able to tour the proposed project area for an integrated walkway connecting Village Park, Plaza Park, the Community Clubhouse, and the Theatre.

The next outreach events will be held on June 6, with a kids’ event at Village Hall at 3:30 PM and an informational open-house discussion at Fair Oaks Brew Pub at 6:30 PM.

There was discussion at the BOC meeting on May 7 about how to best publicize the community outreach events. Some members felt that posting information online wasn’t enough to inform residents about the events because only people who visit the District website or follow the District’s social media pages would be notified. BOC Vice Chair Adria Walker suggested posting flyers at the locations where the events will be held in order to reach people who already visit that location.

Members of the Fair Oaks Racquet Club spoke to the BOC at the May 7 meeting, requesting that the committee consider using some Measure J funds on tennis court improvements at Miller Park. The club suggested the following improvements:

Paving the dirt road between the tennis courts and Earl LeGette Elementary School; installing covered breezeways between the courts; replacing the existing stadium lights with new LED tennis court lighting; and establishing a fund for future tennis court resurfacing.

Fair Oaks Recreation and Parks District administrator Mike Aho explained that the BOC doesn’t have the authority to make any final decisions about how Measure J funds will be spent. The District Board is responsible for choosing which projects to fund, while the purpose of the BOC is to oversee the process and ensure the District is spending the funds appropriately.

Aho listed the three major projects that will be funded by Measure J: renovations and improvements at Village Park, Plaza Park, and the Community Clubhouse; new softball fields and additional parking at Phoenix Park; and replacing McMillan Center with a brand-new recreation center.

There is a fourth-tier project that Aho described as a “catch-all” for improved recreation opportunities. Improvements to the tennis courts would be eligible for Measure J funds under that fourth tier. But at this time, there is no way to reliably predict how much money will be available for the fourth-tier projects.

The District will be focusing on their three top-priority projects first, so Aho estimates it will be three to four years before they will start work on the fourth-tier projects. “It’s hard to say yes until we know how much funding will be available at that time,” said Aho.

The next meeting of the BOC is scheduled for June 4 at 6:30 PM in the Old Fair Oaks Library, 4200 Temescal St. Meetings are open to the public.