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Publication Date: Wednesday, November 30, 2005 Getting their kicks? Sports groups want more playing fields, but is Bayfront Park the only place to put them?
Getting their kicks? Sports groups want more playing fields, but is Bayfront Park the only place to put them?
(November 30, 2005) By Rory Brown
Almanac Staff Writer
The biggest concern for Coach Gretchen Hellman and her American Youth Soccer Organization (AYSO) team this season hasn't been a rival team, it's been finding space to stretch before games.
Other local amateur athletes and their coaches also have been complaining in recent years that there aren't enough designated parks and fields to stretch, practice and play.
Menlo Park city staff has responded to cries for more field space by considering a proposal to build three playing fields at Bayfront Park -- attached to a proposal for a 75-acre golf course at the same site.
Adjacent to a wildlife refuge, the 160-acre park sits atop a closed landfill, and according to city staff, the proposal is the best option for covering the $187,000 annual cost of maintaining the park, and giving the city much needed playing fields.
But the city doesn't have statistics detailing its playing field situation, raising some significant questions: What field space does the city need? What are all the alternatives? And, is a tidal marsh at Bayfront Park the only possible site for more fields?
At the November 1 City Council meeting, representatives -- including kids in uniform -- from soccer, football, and baseball organizations voiced their support for a proposal by Buena Park-based Highlands Golf LLC to build the playing fields, free of charge to the city, if it also is allowed to build the golf course.
But the proposal has drawn a barrage of fire from many in the community for several reasons, not the least of which is that the fields are proposed for a tidal marsh in the southern-most portion of the park -- land intended for tidal waters and the wildlife those waters attract.
When permits were issued to the city by the Bay Conservation and Development Agency (BCDC) -- a state agency -- to convert the site into a dump, the permits called for the creation and preservation of the tidal marsh.
Members of Friends of Bayfront Park -- a group of open space advocates in favor of keeping the park as it is with its web of hiking trails and natural, wildlife-friendly features -- have argued that the city should handle covering the costs of the park and the playing field situation as separate issues.
Scheduling problems
At the November 1 council meeting, Curtis Brown, the city's community services director, said the city has 26 fields, and there are often scheduling conflicts among different sports groups for field space. He couldn't provide statistical data that proved a field shortage.
When the Parks and Recreation Commission met on November 16, it unanimously asked Mr. Brown to collect all possible information about the playing field situation before the commission's December 14 meeting.
The city will be conducting a survey to determine how often specific sports groups use the fields, according to Mr. Brown.
City staff will also study alternatives such as purchasing land for additional fields and resurfacing existing fields with artificial turf.
At the earlier council meeting, Bob Crowe, president of the Menlo-Atherton Little League, said games are sometimes cut short because teams must share facilities.
Tom Gaa, president of the Mid-Peninsula Striker Futbol Club, a Community Youth Soccer Association (CYSA) group, said the number of soccer players is limited by available field space.
According to Ms. Hellman, the soccer coach, more facilities would not only increase field access to the many local sports teams, but would also make way for additional improvements. Lighted fields would extend the amount of time teams could practice, giving coaches more flexible schedules, and more fields would make existing fields less congested, she said.
Regional effort
But not all who are involved with local sports organizations agree that new fields in Menlo Park are the city's only option for increased space.
JoAnne Goldberg, the regional publicity coordinator for AYSO Region 109 and a former parks commissioner, said there are logistical improvements the city can make to increase the availability of field space.
"The city has parameters as far as who gets priority for field time, but they're not too firm," said Ms. Goldberg. "CYSA has grown, as have other private leagues, and we're all competing for the same space."
Making the field situation a regional, rather than a citywide, issue is an option that would open up field space to all groups, she said.
"I've mentioned that working jointly with surrounding cities would help -- then it's not just on Menlo Park to solve the problem," Ms. Goldberg said. "We, and other groups, need more fields, but I don't think they belong in that area of Bayfront Park."
Woodside and Portola Valley don't have as many fields as Menlo Park, and Woodside sports groups often rely on surrounding cities for field space.
Currently, AYSO uses fields at Encinal School and Las Lomitas School, both of which are in Atherton.
Ms. Goldberg said she would also like to see a full-size soccer field constructed at Atherton's Holbrook-Palmer Park for residents of both Atherton and Menlo Park to use.
"Spot fields"
Bruce Shapiro, former regional fields coordinator for AYSO Region 109, and the leader of Friends of Bayfront Park, said the city hasn't proven it can successfully construct and maintain playing fields.
"La Entrada School, Kelly Field and Willow Oaks have all had draining problems," he said. "Plus Kelly Field can't be used for baseball, which was its intended purpose, and the renovations at Burgess [Park] resulted in a field that's not even regulation size."
Mr. Shapiro said he's an advocate of "spot fields," or building fields on available land rather than drastically altering or clearing portions of land. Schools and parks are good sites for single fields, he said.
The city should reconsider examining space at the Veterans Hospital, Seminary Oaks Park and Menlo School for additional fields, he said.
Public/private relationships to restore and build playing fields have worked in the past.
Facilities at La Entrada School were rehabilitated in 2001 by AYSO volunteers, city staff and the Las Lomitas School District, which owns the school site. And despite a long wait, a ball field was built at Holbrook-Palmer Park by Menlo-Atherton Little League officials and the town of Atherton.
Task force
While there's a consensus among council members, commissioners and many residents that field space is an important issue, some of those same people -- including sports advocates -- want statistics to view the city's field situation separately from the proposed golf course.
"There are some big gaps in terms of information," said Richard Cline, parks commission chair. "We need to know our alternatives, the economics of building and maintaining fields, the user rate and required rest times."
The commission also voted to be a part of the research process, forming a three-commissioner task force of Mr. Cline, Robert Silano and Paula Maurano to guide Mr. Brown in collecting additional data.
"The playing field questions, the golf course proposal, the open space issues -- everything is begging for public process, and that's what the task force will help organize," Mr. Cline said. "These are three separate issues, and that's how we're going to address them."
The task force plans to hold public hearings in which strategies for building additional fields and funding the costs of maintaining Bayfront Park will be presented, Mr. Cline said. It will then make a recommendation -- all before a negotiated agreement between the city and Highlands comes before the commission for recommendation, he said.
"If the agreement comes back to the commission before we're done, we'll ask for more time," he said. "If we do this right, everyone will get involved in the debate, and everyone will know what the city's options are. This needs to be a completely open, transparent process."
Staff
Several options are being considered as alternate sites for constructing playing fields, according to Kent Steffens, the city's public works director.
"We're in the very early stages of looking at Flood Park, O'Connor School and some land owned by the [city's] Redevelopment Agency off of Hamilton Avenue," he said.
Craig Price, president of Highlands Golf, said it is his intention to construct the fields somewhere in Menlo Park -- at the park or elsewhere -- if the golf course is approved.
Marc Knuckolls, head of youth and adult sports and part of Mr. Brown's staff, said city staff is working to determine current field usage.
Under the existing system, sports groups submit permits to use the fields, with Menlo Park groups getting priority, he said. The combination of increased enrollment, multi-use soccer/baseball fields and time constraints make scheduling a difficult process, he said.
"Best option"
Mayor Mickie Winkler said she hopes the task force and city staff can come up with helpful data, but thinks the Highlands proposal is worth exploring.
"We've got so many sports groups fighting for space, and we've got a proposal that doesn't force the city to buy more land to build fields," she said. "We've been on a constant search for playfields, and this helps solve a problem that certainly isn't new. This is the best option at the moment."
Councilwoman Lee Duboc, a former parks commissioner, said the city has explored many alternatives for constructing playing fields, and the proposed fields at Bayfront Park give the city a viable site with no financial repercussions.
"One of the attractive aspects of fields at Bayfront Park is that neighbors don't have to deal with the impacts of noise and lights," Ms. Duboc said. "We might be able to buy land somewhere else, but I don't see where the city gets that kind of money. In 2003, we set out to get playfields and do it affordably, and that's my bottom line."
Ms. Duboc said she wouldn't support the proposal without the construction of playing fields somewhere in the city.
Mayor Winkler and Ms. Duboc said careful environmental review will address the financial and environmental costs of filling the marsh.
Permit hurdles
But an attempt to fill the marsh may prove to be a very difficult process.
Steven McAdam, deputy director of the Bay Conservation and Development Agency, which regulates filling and dredging in the Bay, recently sent a letter to City Manager David Boesch regarding "a potential conflict between the city's BCDC permit and [the] proposed facilities."
According to a permit issued to the city in 1970 and amended in 1985, the city was required to restore an 11.5-acre portion of the park at the corner of Bayfront Expressway and Marsh Road to "tidal action."
Mr. McAdam told the Almanac that the commission hasn't evaluated the proposed development, but would like to open communication with the city because any development will require an amendment to the permits issued by the commission to the city.
Mr. Boesch said he viewed it as "courtesy communication."
"I would hope that we might be able to meet with [commission] staff over the next couple of months while we're pursuing some form of agreement with Highlands Golf," he said. "That would make sense to me, to try and meet with them early on."
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