A Decade in the Making: Pine Meadow Park Opens to Cheers, Rave Reviews
City officials, residents celebrate ribbon-cutting of newest park; MRC files internal report on Feb. 1 refinery fire; code enforcement workshop set for Monday; new housing project set to proceed
A more-than-decade-long saga that featured political and legal battles ended amid the laughter of children as city officials cut the ribbon on Martinez’s newest park, Pine Meadow, on Thursday.
“I want to acknowledge the contentious history that brought us here,” Mayor Brianne Zorn said during the park opening, standing in front of a new playground filled with children. “I hope the sound of laughing children is the only thing we’ll remember.”
Echoing that sentiment, Councilman Satinder S. Malhi, who represents the district where the park is located north of Center Avenue and east of Morello Avenue, said, “Their laughter is the only voter approval that we need.”
The playground at Pine Meadow Park is enjoyed by children and parents during Thursday’s ribbon-cutting ceremony.
The odyssey of Pine Meadow began more than a decade ago when the former golf course that occupied the site closed, setting off a years-long battle over whether the land should be opened to residential development or preserved as open space. The issue consumed City Hall politics for a time and also played out in court, before a compromise was finally reached in 2019 that provided for a 65-home development and roughly 8-acre park.
Still, years passed before ground was finally broken on the first phase of the park last July. That phase includes access points and pathways through the open space areas of the park, a nature trail, landscaping, accessible parking, recreational turf areas, and site amenities such as an all-abilities playground, restroom, picnic area and tables.
In 2023, another controversy arose over the name of the new park. An original proposal by the Parks, Recreation, Marina & Cultural Commission (PRMCC) to name it “Karkin Park” to honor the Carquin Ohlone people was ultimately rejected in favor of the Pine Meadow name to reflect its more recent history and the name long used to identify the area.
The all-abilities playground was a particular area of focus among both elected officials and residents at Thursday’s ribbon-cutting. Noting that July is National Disability Awareness Month, Zorn said this was “the most appropriate month for the city to be doing this ribbon-cutting.” Malhi added that the playground “speaks to the inclusive nature of this city” and the idea that “everyone matters, everyone is welcome in this city.”
Residents gather for Thursday’s opening of Pine Meadow Park.
Rob Wise, who attended the ceremony with his 3-year-old granddaughter, said it was “great” that the park includes the all-abilities playground for children like his granddaughter with special needs. He noted that the playground equipment is much different from other parks in the city. “As soon as the trees get big, it will be better,” he said.
Travis Van Oosbree, who works for a company that makes playground equipment, also praised the “state-of-the-art” play structures, including the all-abilities feature, and said that his 3-year-old and 3-month-old daughters will get “lots and lots of use” out of them.
“I love it,” he said of the new park.
Zorn and Malhi were joined at the ceremony by their three City Council colleagues, who also spoke during the ceremony.
Mayor Brianne Zorn cuts the ribbon on the new park, joined by fellow City Council members, from left, Greg Young, Debbie McKillop, Satinder S. Malhi and Jay Howard.
“This speaks to the richness of our community; it speaks to the best of who we are as Martinez residents,” Councilman Greg Young said.
Councilwoman Debbie McKillop acknowledged the Dean family, who had owned the Pine Meadow land for over 100 years, praising their history of “giving to the community.” Councilman Jay Howard acknowledged the construction team and carpenters union workers, many of whom were in attendance, for their work in making the park a reality.
Tim Platt, who led the group of residents who fought the open space battle at Pine Meadow, told the crowd this latest addition to Martinez’s open space and park system illustrates why Martinez is the “envy of communities around us.” He praised the 300 volunteers who worked “shoulder to shoulder” starting in 2014 to make the park a reality, calling the effort an “example of how everyday citizens can make a big impact on our environment.”
While the Pine Meadow master plan ultimately envisions future improvements to the site, that will depend on additional funding becoming available. Much of the funding for Phase 1, which had a total approved budget of roughly $2.7 million, came by way of American Rescue Act Plan Act (ARPA) funds that have now been depleted.
Phase 1 of Pine Meadow Park, as seen during Thursday’s park opening, along with areas envisioned for future improvements.
MRC files internal root cause report on Feb. 1 fire
The Martinez Refining Co.’s internal root cause investigation into the Feb. 1 fire at the PBF Energy refinery is complete and has been posted on the Contra Costa Health website.
The internal report comes on the heels of an independent investigation by JEM Advisors that listed the following as the root cause of the accident: “Operations Monitoring and Control of Work was inadequate for current Maintenance Contractor Organizational Capability.”
MRC’s internal report described the same basic reason the massive fire started: that contract workers opened the wrong flange while performing maintenance work during the refinery’s planned “turnaround” project, allowing hydrocarbon liquid to spill and ignite. But, unlike the independent report, MRC put the focus not on its own monitoring procedures but on what it described as human error by the workers and a lack of adequate training by the contractor that was employing them.
MRC writes in its report:
The sole root cause of the incident was that the two contractor steamfitters opened the wrong flange (north flange on block valve #175).
MRC goes on to say that because its team “could not identify a specific recommendation that would prevent recurrence of this human error (root cause), contributing causes related to the incident were evaluated.” Its report focuses largely on the failure of the contract workers to understand and follow the “blind tag” system designed to ensure that the proper piece of equipment was opened.
MRC identified the following four “contributing causes” of the fire and preventive actions designed to prevent them from occurring again.
Contributing cause 1: Contractor management did not provide training on yellow blind tags to contractor steamfitters.
Preventive actions: 1. For all relevant site policies and procedures, ensure a training plan is in place and executed by the contractors to communicate the content to all contract employees (with a roster of attendees). Submit plan and knowledge verification to MRC. 2. Ensure contractor performs periodic verification of training effectiveness and provides verification records to MRC. Due Date: 12/31/2025
Contributing cause 2: Contractor management did not provide training on pink blind tags to contractor foreman/steamfitters.
Preventive actions: 1. For the Turnaround Safety Plan and any other relevant turnaround communication to contractors, ensure contractor has a training plan in place, communicates the content of the plan to all contract employees (with a roster of attendees), and submits the plan and knowledge verification to MRC. 2. Ensure contractor performs periodic verification of training effectiveness and provides verification records to MRC. Due Date: 12/31/2025
Contributing cause 3: Contractor management did not provide training on first break requirement to contractor foreman/steamfitters
Preventive actions: 1. For all relevant site policies and procedures, ensure that the contractor has a training plan in place, that contractors communicate the content of the plan to all contract employees (with a roster of attendees), and submit training plan and training verification to MRC prior to work commencement. 2. Ensure contractor performs periodic verification of training effectiveness. Due Date: 12/31/2025
Contributing cause 4: Although operator verbally requested to be present for first break, contractor foreman indicated that he did not recall hearing this request. As a result, the operator was not present for first break.
Preventive actions: Enhance permitting process to provide additional controls to ensure that the operator is present for first break activities as required in procedure C(F)-5. Include any permitting enhancements in the Control of Work/Electronic Permitting policy. Due Date: 12/31/2025
MRC says in the report that its investigation team concluded that the two steamfitters employed by TIMEC were shown the correct flange to open but opened the incorrect one, which still had flammable liquid flowing through it. The report further states:
MRC’s policies and procedures regarding tags and line opening that was provided or available to TIMEC management as part of TIMEC’s refinery and turnaround onboarding and agreement was not subsequently provided to the contractor foremen and/or two contractor steamfitters.
MRC says that on Jan. 13, in advance of the turnaround project, it held a “contractor onboarding meeting” that addressed expectations for the upcoming turnaround project, including safety. “The meeting request went to several TIMEC representatives including the TIMEC project manager, who attended the onboarding meeting,” the report states. “The expectation set forth by MRC was that each contractor, including TIMEC, would provide the information from the onboarding meeting to the contractor foremen and front-line workers. To assist with this effort, after the meeting MRC provided the presentation that was given at the onboarding meeting to the meeting invitees.”
In interviews conducted with the steamfitters during the investigation, MRC says the workers claimed they were not aware of the requirements for attaching “blind tags” to equipment to ensure that the proper flanges were opened. The steamfitters and TIMEC foreman also told investigators they were not aware of the “first break” requirement that an MRC operator be present during the first opening of flanges, according to the report.
The operator also told investigators that he “verbally informed the TIMEC foreman to notify him by radio prior to beginning the line opening. However, the TIMEC foreman stated when interviewed that he did not recall hearing the request.” As a result, the operator was not present when the wrong flange was opened.
MRC’s report does not address an issue from JEM’s independent report that has become a topic of heated dispute: Whether a 2013 state law that requires contractor manpower to be sourced solely from local union halls has negatively affected the availability of qualified contract workers on major refinery turnaround projects. JEM concluded that because of the law, “contracted experienced turnaround craftspeople are now more difficult to find and staff using the local union halls.” Representatives of the California State Building Construction and Trades Council (SBCTC), a powerful trades union lobbying group in Sacramento that donates heavily to Democratic Party politicians and whose affiliates have spent heavily on local elections, have pushed back hard on that conclusion and lobbied for it to be removed from the independent report. County Supervisor Shanelle Scales-Preston, who received significant financial backing from local trades unions in her close election victory last year, has endorsed removing it.
TIMEC, based in Benicia, did not immediately respond to a request for comment emailed Saturday morning on MRC’s findings.
Public workshop on code enforcement scheduled
Responding to ongoing concerns about “unresolved code violations, persistent property nuisances, long-term vacant commercial buildings, and fire-damaged structures,” the City Council will hold a public workshop/community listening session on the topic of code enforcement on Monday, July 7, starting at 7 p.m.
Three study sessions on the topic have been held since 2023, with city staff presenting recommendations to strengthen code enforcement. In addition to updates to the city’s code enforcement procedures and property nuisance conditions, officials are also considering adoption of a “Vacant to Vibrant” program that may include a vacant commercial registry program.
The proposals are all discussed at length in the following staff report for the meeting: https://legistarweb-production.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/attachment/pdf/3456126/Staff_Report_-_Code_Enforcement_Workshop_Final_Version.docx_tlh_redline_.pdf
Following Monday’s workshop, the city plans to pursue revisions to the Martinez Municipal Code as well as development of the “Vacant to Vibrant” program, followed by public hearings at City Council meetings in September on the proposed changes.
The workshop agenda, including remote participation instructions, can be found by clicking here.
Planning Commission to take up Wyoming Heights project
A project that promises to make a dent in Martinez’s efforts to create more housing, including for low-income residents, comes before the Planning Commission on Tuesday, July 8. The Wyoming Heights development envisions 41 units on a 2.0-acre vacant lot on Wyoming Street. According to the staff report for Tuesday’s agenda item, the site has been owned by the Pleasant Hill Free Will Baptist Church since 1956. Eight of the 41 proposed units would be designated “below market rate” for low-income households.
The project is seeking several “concessions and waivers” to certain development standards, as provided for under the California State Density Bonus Law (“SDBL”) that allows such exceptions when at least 20% of deed-restricted units are designated affordable to low-income households. According to the staff report:
The applicant requested concessions related to maximum height and minimum usable open space. The applicant also requested waivers related to distances between structures, dwelling units per acre, minimum side yards, minimum side yards (second story), minimum rear yards, loading facilities, retaining wall and fence height, parking design criteria, regulation of driveways, and slope of driveways.
Wyoming Heights qualifies as a “by right” development, meaning that “projects must be reviewed for their consistency with objective development standards and the city Planning Commission has no discretion for any subjective standards, such as design review,” according to the staff report. “Because the city has no discretion beyond objective standards, these projects are considered ministerial and exempt from California Environmental Quality Act (“CEQA”) review, public hearing processes, and are reviewed and approved administratively.”
“By right” developments are becoming an increasingly common feature of city housing regulations, as the state has ratcheted up pressure on localities to address the long-running housing crisis that has been blamed for rising rates of homelessness, economic stagnation and the flight of young families from the region. While designed to ease the permitting process for new development, “by right” also curtails the ability of community members to pressure elected officials to block, scale back or set burdensome requirements on proposed housing by taking such power out of the hands of city leaders.
The city in May determined all applications associated with the Wyoming Heights project to be complete, and issued an approval letter, meaning that Tuesday’s Planning Commission meeting will not address the merits of the project or whether it should be approved. Rather, the commission’s role on Tuesday will be limited to approval of the subdivision map for 41 individually owned lots with associated easement areas and waiver requests under the State Density Bonus Law. The staff report says that the “waivers of development standards would not result in a significant adverse impact to any public health or safety requirements, nor will they result in a different built-condition than what was previously approved.”
Tuesday’s meeting starts at 7 p.m. in the City Council Chamber. The agenda and instructions for remote participation can be found by clicking here.
Social media post of the week
Residents gathered at the waterfront on Friday for the annual Fourth of July fireworks show.
