Title
Recommendation to Adopt the City Facilities and Street Naming Policy. (Recreation & Parks 10051400/Planning 20962710)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
Naming public spaces is meaningful and is impactful to individuals. This was evident during 2020 in the discussion of removing monuments of people with histories of racism and discrimination. The Policy for Naming City Property Facilities (Naming Policy) was last reviewed by City Council in 2016. This recommended updated and replacement Naming Policy incorporates feedback from the City Council, Historical Advisory Board, Planning Board and Recreation and Parks Commission. The goal of this updated Naming Policy is to create an accessible and open public process and to better reflect Alameda’s values.
BACKGROUND
Naming public spaces such as parks and streets is meaningful and impactful. 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 Naming Policy addresses naming new City facilities and renaming existing facilities (Exhibit 2). 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 it directed staff to revise the Naming Policy and bring a draft to various City Boards and Commissions for review and comment. The following Boards and Commissions reviewed the draft policy and their comments are included below.
Historical Advisory Board (HAB) - September 2, 2021
• Keep the names list for future reference only
• Include non-property owners in application for renaming streets
Recreation and Parks Commission - September 9, 2021
• Appreciate that the policy requires that City Council first determines whether to rename a facility before it comes before a Board or Commission
Planning Board - September 27, 2021
• Consider waiting more than three years to name after a deceased individual
• Residents of a street are most impacted and need to be given more weight than general community members
• Consider increasing the number of signatures for a renaming petition to more than 500 residents or apply a tiered system based on number of homes/businesses on that street, or consider allowing two-thirds of residents to veto a name change on their street
• Consider an application fee for renaming to cover City costs
• Consider combining Steps 1 and 2 (detailed below) to streamline the process
DISCUSSION
Summary of Proposed Changes
Based on direction provided by the City Council, this updated and replacement Naming Policy broadens naming criteria and outlines a new public process.
The existing Naming Policy was developed with a narrow focus on historical themes. As previously directed by City Council, the goal of the updated and replacement Naming Policy is to broaden the naming criteria to allow greater diversity, equity and inclusion as well as broader community input at public Brown Act meetings. Therefore, standing criteria is written into the updated and replacement Naming Policy that reflects diversity, equity and inclusion. It is important that City facilities reflect everyone in the Alameda community. New names should intentionally broaden the representation of people in our community.
The following details 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 broaden 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.
• Require consultation of any affected group of the name and include research on names.
• Revise 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 the following Board or Commission for making a recommendation to the City Council for each facility type. The City Council has final authority regarding the naming of City facilities. Here are the roles and responsibilities of the Boards/Commission under the existing policy:
• Recreation and Parks Commission - parks and recreation facilities
• Golf Commission - golf facilities
• Public Utilities Board - Alameda Municipal Power facilities
• Library Board - Library facilities
• Housing Commission - Housing Authority facilities
• Planning Board - Streets and other city facilities not listed above
• Historical Advisory Board - keeper of the facilities/street names list
Draft Policy and Procedures for Naming New City Facilities
A key element of the updated and replacement Naming Policy requested by the City Council is a broader public outreach/input process. The draft updated and replacement Naming Policy requires a four-step public process and meetings of the appropriate City Board/Commission. Each meeting and its purpose would be broadly marketed through print, social media, and email to encourage residents to attend and provide input. The intent of broad outreach and notification is to involve a more diverse group of stakeholders in the community, including residents who are historically underrepresented in City public discussions.
Step 1 - Commission/Board Meeting #1: Initial presentation on the City facility and confirm naming criteria
• Present the City facility or street 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 reflection of a location, or other theme.
• After criteria is confirmed, staff should conduct public outreach described below to solicit name ideas. If a street is being named or renamed then the public outreach must include a notification mailed to all property owners and site addresses on the affected street. This ensures that owners, renters and business lessees are notified of the public process.
Step 2 - Commission/Board Meeting #2: Review a list of names that meet the criteria
• The entire list of available names is reviewed, including the existing facility 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 shall be previously researched and vetted, particularly names of people.
• Commission/Board discusses and narrows down to short list of names.
Step 3 - Commission/Board Meeting #3: Final name choice to recommend to City Council
• Commission discusses a short list of names and recommends a name to City Council for final approval.
• Research and consultation with any affected group of the proposed name is strongly recommended.
Step 4 - City Council Meeting: The City Council will consider a recommendation from a Board or Commission and make the final decision to name a City property or facility.
This revised process would replace the existing process in which the HAB first approves names to be added to a names list that was primarily limited to historical themes. The HAB would continue to serve a role as the primary body to review and recommend names for historic facilities. A pre-approved name list would no longer be utilized.
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. In the same way, the Planning Board can hold public hearings to consider the merits of the proposed street name according to established naming criteria and make a recommendation to the City Council on the street naming. Staff recommends keeping this process. Otherwise, there are no changes proposed 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.
• A request 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 must include a petition with at least 500 Alameda resident signatories.
• City Street Renaming: Application required along with a petition of at least 50% plus one signatories of the property owners on that street or the 500 Alameda resident signatories. This step is to intended start the conversation and it’s important to note that there is a significant amount of opportunity for public input throughout the process. The Planning Board recommended a two-thirds threshold. Once a street is determined by City Council to be renamed then staff will notify all tenants and owners on the affected street of the City Council public hearing.
• City Manager or his/her designee reviews the Application to ensure it is complete.
• City Council reviews and by resolution determines whether the City facility or street will be renamed during a public hearing. Council can also initiate a renaming process at any time.
• 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.
There will be lead time required to implement name change and notify the entire community and public agencies as well any affected residents. It is anticipated to be a longer lead time for street renaming than park or city building renaming.
ALTERNATIVES
• Approve the updated and replacement Naming Policy as presented.
• Make changes to any aspect of the updated and replacement Naming Policy.
• Create a City Council appointed ad-hoc committee to assess all City facility names and recommend which should be renamed including criteria for renaming and possibly new name recommendations.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from this recommendation. If the City Council authorizes the changes to City facility names under the proposed updated and replacement Naming Policy, then there will be costs associated with staff time and replacement of the signage. Additional appropriations will be needed for a street or facility renaming and it would be subject to future City Council approval. At the City Council public hearing to determine a street or facility renaming, staff would provide a cost estimate for the name change which may include staff time for public noticing, assisting residents with a street name change, managing the public process through the Planning Board and City Council, and notifying public agencies of name change. Additionally there would be Public Works and Park Maintenance costs for the fabrication and placement of new street or park signs.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
This action does not affect the Alameda Municipal Code.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
The proposed update and replacement of 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.
CLIMATE IMPACT
The proposed update and replacement of the Naming Policy does not generate climate impacts and does not conflict with the Climate Action and Resiliency Plan.
RECOMMENDATION
Adopt the updated and replacement City Facilities and Street Naming Policy.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager concurs with the staff recommendation. I also want to thank Amy Wooldridge and Allen Tai on all of their work on this proposed policy. One area that would need to be considered in the renaming of streets would be the impacts it would create logistically, and creating appropriate time lines for change should be considered on streets
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Allen Tai, City Planner
Financial Impact section reviewed,
Annie To, Finance Director
Exhibits:
1. Draft City Facilities and Street Naming Policy
2. 2016 City Facilities and Street Naming Policy
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager
Gerry Beaudin, Assistant City Manager