Plans for fields get some tweaks

The concerns of youth sports groups and school sports teams about recently unveiled plans to overhaul athletic fields at four Costa Mesa schools prompted one major change in plans and a few minor alterations Wednesday.

The designs call for soccer, baseball and football fields as well as tennis courts at Costa Mesa High School, Davis Elementary School, TeWinkle Middle School and California Elementary School to be replaced. In the process, the positioning of the fields would be rearranged in order to add a few extra fields without using extra space.

Some of the complaints at the meeting were addressed by the proposed changes, but not everyone is on board yet.

One of the main objections to the designs presented Wednesday is that the proposed baseball fields at TeWinkle and California would be spread out between the two campuses instead of centralized.

Frustrated Little League officials weren’t happy with the possibility of making parents walk such a long distance between fields if they had kids playing at two separate diamonds.

Many others agreed the baseball diamonds could be in one place, so city staff is working on getting a new set of plans that have all but one of the diamonds on the TeWinkle field at Gisler and Iowa streets.

Costa Mesa High School football Coach Jeremy Osso wants to see a weight room built next to the football field where a locker room is planned.

Although many said the plans could still use some work, they were mostly happy with the progress.

“It’s an ongoing process. I think things are moving in the right direction,” Costa Mesa High School baseball Coach Jim Kiefer said.

One of the staples of the plan is that community groups like AYSO, Little League and Pop Warner Football would get more use out of fields on school campuses.

Costa Mesa High School Athletic Director Patty Smith was not pleased with this idea.

“The community comes in and uses the fields,” Smith said. “The wear and tear is just ridiculous, and the district has to maintain them.”

Also, more community use would mean less availability for schools, Smith said, which would make the sports teams less competitive in their divisions.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who is part of the Youth Sports Council, says that increased community use of the fields is one of the main reasons for the project. The city pays about $200,000 each year to use the fields.

“We’re a city that’s built out. We have to maximize the use of the fields that we have,” Foley said.

City staff members are working on getting a new set of plans that addresses some of the concerns aired Wednesday as soon as possible so that they can be shown to the interested parties before they’re released in a more final form Jan. 6.

Foley wants to get the plans out as quickly as possible so that there’s a chance to squeeze some of the improvements into next year’s budget.

PLANS FOR THE FIELDS

 Baseball fields will be grouped together.

 Soccer fields will be grouped together.

 There will be a net gain of two fields from rearranging the use of existing space.

 Artificial turf will be installed on some fields so they can be used more often.

 An official-size, 400-meter track will be put at TeWinkle.

 Tennis courts will be moved at Costa Mesa High, and new ones will be added.