Progress was made Monday during a meeting of the Sunset Cliffs Natural Park Council on the issue of replacing the benches. The council presented ideas for bench design and location to city staff, moving forward on an issue that was at a standstill last month. “We’ve had a lot of input and we really tried our best to listen to what people were saying at the meetings and then to come up with reasonable solutions,” said Camilla Ingram, chair of the council’s ad hoc Special Bench Committee. In between August and September meetings, the park council’s ad hoc bench committee met numerous times and held a pair of public workshops to gather ideas for potential bench designs and locations. Members also walked the cliffs with its city staff representative, Michael Ruiz. At the meeting, district manager for shoreline parks Dan Danieri was present to hear the ideas. Representatives from parks and recreation and District 2 Councilmember Kevin Faulconer’s office were also in attendance. Ingram proposed two types of benches, both of which involved ipe wood. One design involves a standard wood-plank bench with wooden pegs; the other design features ipe wood shaped to look like a surfboard that could either be held up by wooden pegs or a flattened stone. “For some parts of the park, we think it would be advantageous to have something that looked like the natural form,” Ingram said. Ingram said those present at the workshops rejected the city’s ideas presented last month because the group did not perceive them as durable. They also rejected the idea of using steel poles to mount the benches because they felt the poles would not hold up to moisture and erosion. “This is a narrowed list of options that we think are actually reasonable and could be going forwards,” Ingram said. The map that Ingram presented added six potential locations for benches — making the total count 20. The additional benches and the use of ipe wood would each add to the cost of the project. Ingram said the park council was working on a report to be given to city staff next week. The report will have details about location, design and cost. From there, the city will evaluate the report to see if it is feasible. No timetable was given on the removal of the benches, but their removal is imminent. City staff will place notices on the benches in advance of their removal.