Roseville parks named at City Council meeting

Three Roseville parks were named and one park was renamed at Wednesday's Roseville City Council meeting. The Roseville Sports Complex, located at Pleasant Grove Boulevard and Woodcreek Oaks Boulevard was renamed to the Mahany Fitness Center at the meeting. "From a marketing standpoint, this new name better aligns with the actual use and allows the city to better promote the activities that actually occur there," Park Planning and Development Superintendent Tara Gee said. Council member Pauline Roccucci said, "It's at Mahany Park, so to name the center Mahany is appropriate." Roccucci also said, "the fact that it has a lot of fitness equipment and it does a lot of health promotions," makes it a "great idea" to rename it to Mahany Fitness Center. The 10-field soccer complex located at Westbrook Drive at Brookstone Drive was named the Roseville Soccer Complex at the meeting. The 51-acre complex will be a "premiere facility for multiple sports," according to Gee. "In addition to serving our local sports needs, the vision of this facility is also to attract regional, statewide and national tournaments, which will be an economic driver for the city," Gee said. Although the complex will not exclusively be for soccer, Gee said, "the commission's thought is that this name provokes a recognizable image." Council members showed concern over including the word soccer in the name. "My first concern was just the word soccer... but I agree that I think people would recognize what type of a complex it is or else you would have to say the 'Roseville Longfield Complex' or something like that," Councilmember Scott Alvord said. Roccucci said, "I would go with 'sports complex' so that people know there's more than soccer." Parks Recreation & Libraries Director Jill Geller responded, "I think either soccer or sports is fine, I think the commission's feeling was that the soccer complex provokes an image, so people immediately know what it looks like. With the word 'sports complex,' you're curious what kind of sports." Geller emphasized that sports players who also play on soccer fields are aware that a place deemed a soccer complex also welcomes their sports. A dog park off of Antelope Creek Drive next to the Pearl Creek Apartments was named Apollo Dog Park after Roseville Police's former K-9 Apollo. "K-9 Apollo served 10 years," Gee said. "K-9 Apollo was trained in tracking, apprehension and drug detection. He was also the Police Department's first K-9 assigned to work directly with the SWAT team." Gee also discovered that Apollo had trained in the open space where Apollo Dog Park is located. "This certainly a sign that this was meant to be," she said. The park site at Gibson Drive near the Galleria on Roseville Parkway and Gibson Drive was named The Courts at Gibson Park. This site includes 12 pickleball courts, 10 tennis courts and three basketball courts, according to Gee. Initially, the two suggestions the Parks and Recreation Commission brought to the council were Gibson Courts or the Courts at Gibson Drive. However, councilmember Roccucci suggested the name include the word "park." Alvord asked staff if "one or the other is a better marketing name at all?" Parks Recreation and Libraries director Jill Geller replied, "I think 'The Courts at Gibson Park' gives it a nice park feel to it. It is a park property, so I have no qualms about that." This park naming was passed in a three to two vote, although Vice Mayor Krista Bernasconi and Mayor Bruce Houdesheldt did not give insight why they were opposed to the name. In other news Roseville City Council awarded $2,500 from the discretionary funds to the Placer Food Bank at Wednesday's meeting. The money was requested for Pantry to Go, a drive-through food bank distribution held at Denio's Farmers Markets on the first Friday of each month. Placer Food Bank executive director Dave Martinez spoke during public comment on this item. "We currently have 10 distribution sites in two counties, Placer and El Dorado County. They currently distribute over 2-million pounds a year out of those 10 sites, with the Roseville site being the biggest." Martinez said the discretionary funds will primarily cover the conditional use permit of $5,000, which allows the use of the Denio's Farmers Market as a distribution site. Five-thousand dollars is equivalent to providing 75,000 meals, according to Martinez. Alvord said he doesn't want the council to get into a habit of covering conditional permits. However, Alvord said they "make a good case."