Friends of Santa Teresa Park Meeting Minutes for 1/8/04

  • Meeting attendees: Mike and Dorene Boulland, Ronald Horii, Kitty Monahan, Holly Davis, Hazen Anderson and family, Mario Blaum, Ken Silveira
  • There was no meeting in December. Tonight's meeting was at Mike Boulland's house.
  • We received letters from the Santa Teresa Citizens Action Group about up-coming meetings to discuss the situation at Santa Teresa High School. Usage of the school grounds have been severely curtailed because of the complaints of a few neighbors. We discussed this and agreed that we are opposed to these retrictions. Mike will send a letter to this effect.
  • Park report (Ken Silveira)
    • The homeless person parked by the Bear Tree Lot has been contacted by rangers and has moved on.
    • The parks person living in the Pyzak Hous is head of a project crew. His wife works on maintenance for Vasona.
    • A church was using Santa Teresa Springs for services. They were asked to let the parks department know so they don't conflict with school groups.
    • Some paintballers were cited.
    • We are down by 1 ranger. The position is being filled by a provisional ranger.
    • The old barn will be fixed up. It will be done in several stages. It will house animals of different sizes. It will be refurbished as close as possible to its original appearance. Mike says we need to get more involved with the plans for the barn and get community input.
    • The Mounted Ranger Unit office is a cement floor stall, which is leaking. They need a different office. They will get a modular building.
  • Mike handed out recognition awards.
  • 4H (Holly)
    • Holly was using the picnic tables at the BGJ Ranch for a 4H drawing project. 
    • 4H will use the Coyote Grange Hall.
    • The Santa Clara County Fair will be in August for 1 day. 4H can practice showing off their chickens.
  • Mike said we should meet with the Hellyer rangers who also patrol Santa Teresa. We should visit them at Hellyer or invite them to come to one of our meetings. We should meet with them in May.
  • The ranch house at Grant Ranch County Park is being restored according to old photos of the house. We should take a field trip there and get a guided tour. Grant was Bernal's attorney. We should do it in March or May.
  • Mike wants to have sprinklers installed in the new barn at the BGJ Ranch so we can have meetings in it.
  • Alan Lieventhal has artifacts that he wants to return, but we need a place to put them.
  • The VCC Dinner is April 1. We should propose using Grant Ranch as a theme.
  • Mike proposes going in front of the County Parks Commission and asking to have the kitchen at the BGJ Ranch restored.
  • We talked about the vat by the springs. Is it really Changara's vat? Is it historical? It's a concrete trough. It may be a horse trough.
  • We talked about the grist wheels that used to be at Rancho Santa Teresa, but are now stored at the San Jose Historical Museum. We talked about bringing them back to Santa Teresa and restoring them to a working mill.
  • Treasurer's report (Holly): we spent $80 for dues to the UNSCC (it used to be $50).
  • Friends of County Parks Application Form: Beeny Sanders, Mike, Joe Schultz, Kitty, Bruce C     asonovich, and John Goldsworthy got together to make up this form for park friends groups so they will be on record as helping out the parks. It allows them to meet on park property, which was not allowed before. Parking and usage fees will be waived for approved activities. Each participant must sign a release form. 
  • Parks Commission (Kitty): In December, Beeny showed a video on the volunteers program, trail crews, Adopt-a-Trail. January's meeting was canceled.
  • Baldwin School wants to have tours of the BGJ Ranch. The teachers there asked Mike for tours.
  • We talked about the calendar. April is California Trail Days. Forrest Williams requested having a dedication of the Pyzak Ranch.
  • Ron Horii showed slides of Coyote Peak, showing the condition of the trail and the views from the peak. He also showed pictures of the Pyzak Ranch, showing how Curie narrows by the fence at the ranch. He also showed pictures of the Santa Teresa hills outside the park.
  • The land south of Santa Teresa Park is owned by IBM and leased out for cattle ranching. We talked about the possibility of getting the county to buy the land for the park or getting an easement from IBM similar to the Stile Ranch Trail, which is an IBM easement.
  • Mike nominated the FOSTP board.
Ronald Horii, 
Secretary, Friends of Santa Teresa Park 

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Created 1/28/2004 by Ronald Horii, secretary of the Friends of Santa Teresa Park