Title
Amendment to the City Council Policy for Naming City Property, Facilities and Streets - Citywide - Applicant: City of Alameda. Public hearing to review and comment on the City Council-initiated revisions to the Policy for Naming City Property, Facilities and Streets. CEQA Determination: The proposed amendment is not a project under CEQA pursuant to CEQA Guidelines Section 15378 and Public Resources Code Section 21065. No further environmental review is needed
Body
To: Honorable President and
Members of the Planning Board
From: Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Allen Tai, City Planner
BACKGROUND
Naming public spaces such as parks and city streets is meaningful and powerful. This was evident during 2020 in the discussion of removing monuments of people with histories of racism and discrimination as well as through the City of Alameda’s (City) renaming of Jackson Park to Chochenyo Park.
The existing City Council Policy for Naming City Property, Facility and Streets (Naming Policy), addresses naming new City facilities and renaming existing facilities (Exhibit 1). It was last updated and adopted by City Council on May 17, 2016, to include procedures for naming streets after business entities. Otherwise, the current Naming Policy dates back to the 1990s with a focus on historical themes.
During the process concerning the renaming of Jackson Park, the Recreation and Parks Commission and community-led Park Renaming Committee discussed the need to update the Naming Policy to reflect better current standards and values.
On February 16, 2021, the City Council discussed changes to the Naming Policy and directed staff to revise the Naming Policy and bring a draft to various City Boards and Commissions for review and comment. On April 8, 2021, the Recreation and Parks Commission reviewed high level concepts for the Naming Policy and requested that the draft Naming Policy be brought back for review. Comments from the Historical Advisory Board (HAB), Planning Board and Recreation and Parks Commission are being compiled in September and brought back to the City Council in October.
DISCUSSION
City Facility and Street Naming Criteria
The existing Naming Policy was developed with a narrow focus on historical themes. The City Council’s direction is to broaden the naming criteria to allow greater diversity, equity and inclusion as well as broader community input at public Brown Act meetings. With that direction, staff has developed the general naming criteria following these principles:
• Names that reflect the values of diversity, equity and inclusion. It’s important that City facilities reflect everyone in the Alameda community. New names should intentionally broaden the representation of people in our community.
• Maintain the requirement that if naming after a person they must be deceased for at least three years.
• Focus on local Alameda significance but leave an option for names that reflect California or a national lens when appropriate.
• Require consultation of any affected group of the name and include research on names.
Summary of Proposed Changes
With the direction provided by the City Council, staff revised the Naming Policy to broaden naming criteria and outline a new public process. The following lists what has changed and not changed from the previous Naming Policy:
What Has Not Changed:
• Planning Board will review street names from developers for new streets as part of subdivision plans which are ultimately approved by City Council.
• Requirement that a person be deceased for at least three years to be considered for a facility or street name.
• Corporate naming criteria to name a street after a corporation.
• Alameda Point streets will reflect WWII naval themes to be consistent with the area’s historic district designation.
Proposed Changes:
• There is an overall focus on facility and street names that value inclusivity and diversity. Names should intentionally broad the representation of people in the Alameda community.
• Names should focus on local Alameda significance but may reflect California or a national lens as appropriate.
• Revised HAB’s role as keeper of an overall approved name list and instead HAB only recommends names for historic properties. A pre-approved name list will no longer be utilized.
• Greater public participation for naming and renaming facilities involving a four-step process with Boards/Commissions and final approval by City Council.
• Creates an application process for renaming facilities and streets and requires that the City Council first approve whether a facility/street will or will not be renamed.
The remainder of this report describes the proposed changes in greater detail.
Current Naming Policy
The current Naming Policy identifies specific Boards and Commissions to make a recommendation to the City Council for various facility types, as follows:
• Recreation and Parks Commission - Parks and recreation facilities
• Golf Commission - Golf facilities
• Public Utilities Board - Alameda Municipal Power facilities
• Library Board - Library facilities
• Housing Authority Board of Commissioners - Housing Authority facilities
• Planning Board - Streets and other city facilities not listed above
The Historical Advisory Board keeps a list of eligible names to be used for naming purposes. The City Council has final authority regarding the naming of City facilities.
Draft Policy and Procedures for Naming New City Facilities
A key element of the revised Naming Policy requested by the City Council is a broader public outreach/input process. The draft Naming Policy requires a four-step public process with three meetings of the appropriate City Commission or Board before City Council approval. Each meeting and its purpose would be broadly noticed through print, social media, and email to encourage residents to attend and provide input, reflecting outreach efforts that exceed the minimum meeting notification requirements in the Sunshine Ordinance in an effort to engage a diverse group of stakeholders, including residents who are historically underrepresented in City public discussions.
Commission/Board Meeting #1: Initial presentation on the City facility and confirm naming criteria
• Present the City facility to be named, its location and any identifying features.
• Discuss and finalize naming criteria for the facility. Examples could include a maritime or naval reference if the facility is located at Alameda Point, a community value, a natural or other theme.
• After the criteria are confirmed, staff would conduct an outreach campaign to solicit name ideas.
Commission/Board Meeting #2: Review a list of names that meet the criteria
• Staff provides the full list of available names including the existing names list and new names generated from outreach.
• Staff recommends a shorter list of names that meets the criteria for commission/board review. The names on this list will be previously researched and vetted, particularly names of people.
• Commission/board discusses and narrows down to short list of names.
Commission/Board Meeting #3: Final name choice to recommend to City Council
• Commission/board discusses a short list of names and recommends a name to City Council for final approval.
Draft Policy and Procedures for Naming New Streets
The draft Policy would require the Planning Board to continue reviewing proposed names for new streets as part of the development entitlement process. A new development with new streets requires a subdivision map, which as standard practice under the Subdivision Map Act that the Planning Board reviews and recommends to the City Council for final approval. Staff recommends keeping this process the same. As part of the Planning Board public hearings on a development project, the Planning Board can consider the merits of proposed street name(s) and make a recommendation to the City Council. Staff also recommends no changes to the technical requirements for street names, such as meeting 911/emergency system standards, or to the Corporate Naming Policy previously approved by the City Council.
Application Process for Renaming a City Facility or City Street
The City Council directed staff to develop and refine the process for initiating and reviewing requests for renaming existing facilities and streets. Staff recommends an application process for renaming as described below.
• An Application to rename a City facility would be initiated by one or more City resident(s), business owner(s), or property owner(s) using a City Facility Renaming Request Application (Application), which would be submitted to the City Manager. The Application would include reasons and/or justifications on why the name should be changed as well as letters of support, articles, documents, and other evidence demonstrating broad-based community support for the Application.
• The Application for renaming a City facility must include a petition with at least 500 Alameda resident signatories.
• The Application for renaming a City Street must include a petition of at least 50% plus one signatories of the property owners on that street.
• City Manager reviews the Application to ensure it is complete.
• City Council reviews and determines whether the City facility will be renamed.
• The appropriate Commission or Board then utilizes the naming procedure as outlined in the approved Naming Policy and, following that procedure, recommends a new name to City Council. City Council has final authority on City facility names.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from this recommendation.
CLIMATE CHANGE
The proposed revisions to the Naming Policy do not generate climate impacts and do not conflict with the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed revisions to the City Council Facility and Street Naming Policy is not a project under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) Guidelines Section 15378 and Public Resources Code Section 21065 and no further environmental review is required.
RECOMMENDATION
Review and comment on revisions to the City Council Facility and Street Naming Policy.
Respectfully Submitted by:
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Allen Tai, City Planner
Reviewed By:
Andrew Thomas, Planning, Building and Transportation Director
Exhibits:
1. City Council Policy for Naming City Property, Facility and Streets
2. Draft City Facilities and Street Naming Policy