Grizzly Island Trail Project Environmental Documents Released for Comment

SUISUN CITY, Calif. - The Suisun City Community Development Department has released the environmental documents for the Grizzly Island Trail project for public review and comment.

Written comments will be accepted through July 14, 2011.

The Grizzly Island Trail project would create a .9-mile concrete recreational trail for pedestrians and bicyclists along the south side of state Highway 12 from Grizzly Island Road to Marina Boulevard.

The project would create a safe route for students from Lawler Ranch to reach Crystal Middle School without having to cross Highway 12, and provide the public with new access to the Hill Slough Wildlife Area, which is owned and managed by the state Department of Fish and Game.

The initial environmental study indicates that the project would not result in any significant impacts to environmental resources. As a result, a proposed negative declaration of environmental impact also was prepared and circulated for public comment.

For more information on the project or to review the documents, go to www.suisun.com/Grizzly-Island-Trail.html.

Solano Land Trust Seeks Rush Ranch Docents

SUISUN CITY - Solano Land Trust is recruiting docents to teach about the ecology of Rush Ranch and Suisun Marsh. This is a brand new docent program that will complement the existing education and recreation programs at Rush Ranch.

do·cent, noun, \ˈdō-s^ənt, dō(t)-ˈsent\: a person who leads guided tours
ecol·o·gy, noun \i-ˈkä-lə-jē, e-\: a branch of science concerned with the interrelationship of organisms and their environments

No prior experience is necessary. New docents will receive four days of training, each covering a different topic about the marsh. The training dates are

• Thursday, June 9th from 6:30pm to 8pm
• Wednesday, June 15th from 6:30pm to 8pm
• Saturday, June 18th from 2pm to 5pm, and
• Thursday, June 23rd from 6:30pm to 8pm.

All trainings will be on-site at Rush Ranch: 3521 Grizzly Island Road, off Highway 12, about 2 miles south of Suisun City.

Rush Ranch is recognized as one of the best remaining brackish tidal marsh habitats in the United States, and therefore it's protected as part of the San Francisco Bay National Estuarine Research Reserve (San Francisco Bay NERR). Sarah Ferner of NERR will be the expert trainer for new docents. She'll share what makes Rush Ranch so special – how it’s exceptionally rich in plants and animals; why these plants and animals depend on Rush Ranch for survival; how the marsh provides essential habitat for commercially important fish and crabs; how it filters mud from the Bay's murky waters; and how it protects the shoreline from flooding. Docents-in-training will reflect on the ways the marsh was important for Native American food and travel, and how Rush Ranch continues to serve as a living laboratory for scientific research.

Docents in this new program will share insights about the marsh, guide and inspire children and adults, and join the Solano Land Trust community.

Solano Land Trust is a public benefit organization dedicated to protecting working farms and natural areas in Solano County. 2011 is Solano Land Trust’s 25^th Anniversary. Since 1986, it has permanently protected over 20,000 acres of land for the current and future residents of Solano County.

RSVP on or before Thursday, June 9th by contacting Natalie DuMont, Solano Land Trust Volunteer and Outreach Coordinator, at 707-432-0150 x200 or volunteer@SolanoLandTrust.org.

Due to heavy rains, hiking-only this weekend at Lynch Canyon

The Solano Land Trust has announced:

Because of the recent severe rains and upcoming weather reports, Lynch Canyon’s trails will temporarily be restricted to hiking-only this weekend, March 26 and 27. For this weekend only, no horse riding or bicycling will be allowed. This is for public safety and to minimize damage to the trails.

Hikers are asked to use caution and be prepared for rain and rain damage. The trail conditions are extremely wet and slippery with areas of standing water and erosion.

For more information, see www.SolanoLandTrust.org or www.SolanoCounty.com/Parks.

Engineers to Present Recommendations to Fix Lawler Falls Park Ponds

SUISUN CITY, Calif. - The Suisun City Parks and Recreation Commission will receive a report on Sept. 1, 2010, from KASL Consulting Engineers regarding the perpetually leaky Lawler Falls Park ponds.

KASL was hired by the City Council in June, following a competitive bidding process, to conduct a comprehensive investigation and study to identify the factors contributing to the water loss.

The resulting study included a thorough inspection of the facility, and a report that identifies deficiencies and provides recommendations to restore the ponds and pump circulation system to full operations with minimal water loss.

The ponds in Lawler Falls Park have leaked for some time, despite the best efforts of City engineers to determine the source of the leak and at least one attempted repair.

KASL will present its report and recommendations to the Parks and Recreation Commission at 7 p.m. on Wednesday, Sept. 1 in the City Council Chamber at City Hall, 701 Civic Center Blvd.
>> See meeting agenda >>

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Grizzly Island Trail Technical Studies RFP Issued

SUISUN CITY - Suisun City is planning to construct Grizzly Island Trail as part of an ongoing commitment to expand and improve the City's recreational trail system, and provide safe routes to school for residents of every neighborhood.

Grizzly Island Trail is designed to extend from Grizzly Island Road to Marina Boulevard and Driftwood Drive. This .9-mile concrete trail, will

• Eliminate or minimize the need for students who attend Crescent Elementary School and Crystal Middle School to cross Highway 12 to reach a sidewalk or bike path.
• Eliminate or minimize the need for Suisun City residents and visitors to cross Highway 12 when bicycling or walking to destinations on the south side of Highway 12, and to reduce the incidence of illegal/unsafe crossings of Grizzly Island Road and Marina Boulevard. These destinations include the Lawler Ranch neighborhood, the Lawler Ranch Commercial Area, the Waterfront District, and the multi-modal transit station, as well as the Solano County Offices and Downtown Fairfield.
• Augment and complement the existing natural educational programs administered by the Fairfield-Suisun Unified School District and the Suisun Resource Conservation District.
• Provide a visual and recreational buffer between the Highway 12 corridor and the adjacent Suisun Marsh habitat to encourage viewing of wildlife and the marsh area.

To facilitate this project, the Suisun City Community Development Department has issued an RFP seeking professional consulting services from qualified firms or team of consultants to prepare a wide range of comprehensive environmental technical studies. Staff will use the resulting studies to complete environmental reviews required for the Trail project.

Proposals must be submitted by April 5, 2010.

For detailed information on this RFP, please go to www.suisun.com/PublicWorks/Projects.html

Community Garden Meeting Set

SUISUN CITY — Come help us plan a Community Garden for Suisun City. If you’ve always wanted to grow your own vegetables but a lack of space stopped you, then this could be the perfect opportunity.

The Suisun City Recreation and Community Services Department will host an interest meeting to determine how to proceed in planning and developing a community garden. The meeting is set for 6 p.m. Wednesday May 13 in the Council Chambers at City Hall, 701 Civic Center Blvd. >>READ MORE>>

Suisun City Preschool Enrollment to Open

Open enrollment for the Suisun City Preschool summer program begins at 8:30 a.m. Wednesday May 6 at the Nelson Community Center, 611 Village Drive in Suisun City.

Classes are available for children ages 2 years, 6 months through 5 years.

Registration is handled on a first-come, first-served basis, and will remain open until all class spaces are filled.

Please bring your child’s birth certificate as well as shot records.

For more information please call (707) 421-7200.

Go Inside the Salvation Army Community Centers

SPARKLING SF CENTER SHOWS POTENTIAL FOR SUISUN CITY

Everyone knows The Salvation Army. In the least, we recognize the annual Christmas kettle drive and know they do a lot of great work all over the country and the world.

But their work in recreation community centers wasn't really on a lot of people's radars locally until The Salvation Army showed interest in reopening the local recreation center shuttered by the YMCA.

The review committees paid a visit to The Salvation Army's San Francisco center as part of the research done into selecting a new partner to operate our local center. Committee members were very impressed with what they saw, especially considering the SF Center is located in the Tenderloin District.

The San Francisco center is one of The Salvation Army's Kroc Centers, a network of community centers created through a massive $1.5 billion endowment from Ray and Joan Kroc, the founders of McDonald's. The Kroc Centers are truly impressive; definitely Cadillac examples of what recreation-based community centers can be when they are built from the ground-up on large tracts of land. The Salvation Army runs these centers at a very high service standard.

That's the important part for any future relationship here in Suisun City. The center on Pintail Avenue at East Wigeon likely will never be a full-blown Kroc Center. But that same approach, commitment and outlook would be applied here in Suisun City on a somewhat smaller scale.

Daily Republic reporter Ian Thompson and photographer Brad Zweerink toured the San Francisco center this week and filed their report in Thursday's paper. >>Check out the Daily Republic web site for a peak inside the center.>>

McCoy Creek Bikeway Now Open

The newest link in Suisun City's expanding recreational trail system was officially opened Thursday in a small Pintail Avenue ceremony.

The $300,000 McCoy Creek Bikeway provides an important new access for residents in the heart of Suisun City's residential area directly to the Sunset Avenue shopping hub. The dedicated bikeway allows children, seniors and families a safer way to use non-polluting alternative transportation options.

The new trail was completely funded through grants:

• Transportation for Clean Air Program, issued by the Solano Transportation Authority
• Bicycle Transportation account gran, issued by the Metropolitan Transportation Authority
  

The McCoy Creek Bikeway runs from Pintail Avenue to the Central County Bikeway, a 2-mile long Class I bike path that runs along the north side of Highway 12 from Walters Road to Marina Boulevard. By connecting to the Central County Bikeway, the 0.6-mile McCoy Creek link allows residents to easily reach

• Sunset and Heritage Park Shopping Centers
• Lawler Ranch commercial area
• Lambrecht Sports Complex
• Residential neighborhoods
• Local schools
• City parks

By the first of the year, pedestrians and bicyclists will be able to access the Waterfront District with its Amtrak Station, Marina, Promenade, dining, shopping, and outdoor activities using a continuous recreational trail that won't require a single crossing of Highway 12. An extension of the Bikeway from Marina to the Waterfront District Amtrak Station is now under construction.

The newly opened trail along the west side of McCoy Creek is the first phase of a trail that will be extended north along the creek to Blossom Road. Plans call for the bikeway to extend all the way to Railroad Avenue. City staff is pursuing grant funding to complete these projects.

Health Walks become regular event

SUMMER ONLY WALK SERIES A BIG SUCCESS

The summertime Walk to Health program has made the big leap from special event to permanent activity! Starting in the Fall Recreation Guide, which just recently came off the presses, the Walk to Health program is now listed as an ongoing feature of the City's activity calendar.

The Suisun City Recreation and Community Services Department launched the weekly Walk to Health program with the help of resident Shane Ballman and the sponsorship of NorthBay Healthcare and Main Street Yoga.

Each Sunday morning all summer, City recreation staff and volunteers arrived early at City Hall to register walkers and set them on their 2-mile course along the Promenade around the Waterfront District. The event proved so successful that Recreation staff have extended it indefinitely, though expect some weather-related modifications during the winter months.

Check here for more details.