Two items discussed at the November 18 Coronado City Council meeting focused on recreation fees and the City’s Park and Recreation Commission, which has been newly merged with the Street Tree Committee.

Over the past few years, Coronado’s Recreation and Golf Services Department worked to present the Council with studies and proposals towards updating the recreation fees across programs and facilities to better reflect current costs and cost-recovery goals. Those updates were approved in 2024, and the Recreation and Golf Services Department Director, Tim Farmer, provided an update on the effectiveness of those changes, along with some proposed suggestions for additional operational improvements.

The fee structure updates had set cost recovery goals of 40 to 60 percent through direct and indirect costs, over the course of multiple years. These updates included the creation of a tiered classification for recreation programming (largely based on a program’s overall benefit to the community versus individual) to determine the level of cost recovery that would be reflected in program costs. Programs with higher benefits to the community would be subsidized by the City to a higher degree, for instance. City staff then developed a recreation program pricing tool, and the department has since seen a 16% increase in enrollment for summer programs between 2024 and 2025 and a 19% increase in rental bookings.

Farmer also noted that the fee increases that were implemented to address cost recovery for reservations for tennis and pickleball courts have not negatively impacted court use, either. Instead, reservations largely increased in 2025, with only a minor decrease seen for reservations made by non-residents.

As part of the fee structure updates, a resident and senior discount of up to 25% had also been implemented for recreation programs, which Farmer reported has had positive feedback from the community. The Spreckels Center has also seen an increase in program participation year over year since that update was implemented.

Revisions were also made to the Recreation Facility Use Policy in 2024 to address inconsistencies and to make the process of reserving recreation spaces and acquiring permits more transparent. Part of that included a new option to allow for specific sub-locations in outdoor spaces to be reserved. Staff and the public have also reported positive feedback regarding how those changes have impacted the reservation process.

Additionally, a previously introduced pilot program allowing for intermittent supervision of the skate park to provide additional open hours and fee-free access to the park has led to a significant increase in use of the facility and positive feedback from the community.

Staff did have some recommendations for generally minor adjustments to the facility-use policies and recreation fee schedule to improve those further for staff and the public. The suggested facility-use policies adjustments included increasing the booking window to 45 days for additional flexibility, removing the catering fees and alcohol deposits for facilities (while increasing the refundable security deposit to cover most events), adding a promotional pricing provision, and adding a “Change of Date” provision for reservations so that the City can recoup some cost when there are last minute cancellations.

Staff also recommended making the skate park pilot program the formal operational model for the park, and to move to requiring reservations for the Coronado Tennis Center during the Center’s operational hours (this would only be for the Tennis Center and not the other public courts at the Cays and the Library).

In regards to the recreation fee schedule, staff recommended reintroducing application fees for non-residents and commercial users (which would then be put towards the facility fee), consolidating nonresident and commercial rates for indoor facilities, reducing Nautilus Room weekday rates and add Grand Room weekday rates, adding Nautilus Room event packages for weekend use, decreasing rental rates for vessels at the Boathouse, adding a Summer Pass and family pricing options for use of the Community Center and Aquatics Center facilities, and reducing youth pricing for aquatics center access.

The department also recommended waiting until fiscal year 2027-28 to incorporate any additional CPI-based fee adjustments to have a longer period to evaluate the original changes and these proposed adjustments, should they be implemented.

The Council was largely supportive of the proposed adjustments and the updates as they’ve been rolled out, and the item is expected to come back before the Council at their meeting on December 2 for a formal vote to implement anything new.

During the meeting, the Council also reviewed and unanimously approved an ordinance updating the Parks and Recreation Commission. The ordinance repealed two previous resolutions within the municipal code, including the establishment of the Street Tree Committee, which has been absorbed into the Parks and Recreation Commission, and Resolution 7266, which defined the Street Tree Committee’s responsibilities.

Per the Council’s discussion at a previous meeting, the ordinance added a new provision to the City’s Pepper Tree Replacement Program as well. The revised policy will now allow property owners to elect to remove pepper trees so long as they submit a removal permit to the City, the City directs the removal process, the tree is replaced with another that meets the City’s requirements, and the property owner takes responsibility for the removal and replacement costs.

Previously, there was no allowance within the program for voluntary, privately funded pepper tree removal requests. This change will not affect the original function of the program, wherein the City is taking the lead on removing and replacing pepper trees that are in poor condition (and fiscal responsibility in those instances). Property owners looking to request a private removal will be notified if their tree is on the City’s list of pepper trees in poor condition, and what the likely timeframe is around the City getting to that removal if it is on that list.

As part of the new ordinance, three tree species were removed from the City’s list of experimental trees, while the remaining eight species from that list have been officially added to the Street Tree Master Plan. The update also further aligns the City’s Tree Removal Guide with the municipal code and modernizes the Parks and Recreation Commission language to reflect the absorption of the Street Tree Committee responsibilities into the Commission.

The next City Council meeting will be held on Tuesday, December 2, at 4 p.m. at City Hall. For more information on upcoming meetings, please visit the City’s website at https://www.coronado.ca.us/449/Agendas-Minutes.

VOL. 115, NO. 49 – Dec. 3, 2025