Army Engineers Call Foul on Pacoima Ballpark

Upon bumpy, neglected ground, a zealous group of Pacoima volunteers carved out two baseball fields. When the number of young athletes enrolled in their new league grew to 250, they set out to build a third field, hauling in truckload after truckload of dirt.

This time, however, their zealousness undermined them, and in the process provided a painful lesson about bureaucracy.

The Pacoima Youth Athletic Foundation was stunned when an official with the Army Corps of Engineers ordered their tractor off the property and notified the group that it faced revocation of its land lease.

The group had illegally dumped more than 4,000 cubic yards of dirt onto land designated as a federal flood control basin--Sunnyslope Park on Osborne Boulevard, part of the Hansen Dam recreation area--the federal agency said.

After a meeting Wednesday between government officials and athletic organization leaders, the group was allowed to retain its lease and begin spring practice as usual. But whether the Pacoima residents will be able to plant grass and use their new field is uncertain. They worry that they may be required to dig up the property and haul the dirt back.

“In our minds we were maintaining and improving the property,” said Sue Lyon, an organization leader. “We thought we were making the fields safe and playable. We thought we were finally going to be able to complete a field that we have wanted for a long time.”

Safety Concerns Cited

But Theodore Carr, outdoor recreation planner for the Corps of Engineers, told the residents Wednesday, “We cannot allow you to fill in a flood control area without the proper drainage or inspections. It cannot be allowed for safety reasons. We have to request that no further development continue until we can assess what to do with the dirt.”

The Pacoima Youth Athletic Foundation was established four years ago by a small group of community leaders in response to the lack of organized sport programs at local city parks. The organizers said area parks were unsafe for children and had been taken over by drug dealers and vandals.

Their alternative was to lease a 10-acre parcel with two abandoned and run-down baseball diamonds. The Hansen Dam area property is owned by the Army Corps of Engineers, which leases it to the City of Los Angeles Department of Recreation and Parks. The city in turn subleases the property at minimal prices for recreational uses.

The Pacoima group pays $125 a year for the land. The lease agreement stipulates that the group must maintain, repair and build all facilities on the grounds at its own expense.

When the organization started up in 1981, it submitted to the city a plan for the property that included creation of a third baseball field. When the lease was granted, the group assumed its general plan had been approved also, Lyon said.

“But I guess technically we are wrong and they are right,” Lyon said.

Jumped at Opportunity

For years the Pacoima foundation relied on small donations and weekend help to build the local baseball league. So three weeks ago, when a private contractor said he would donate dirt, tractors and manpower to put in the additional field, the group jumped at the opportunity.

On Jan. 17, work began, the dirt was hauled into Sunnyslope Park and a sloping meadow was filled in to create a new baseball field. An existing field, ruined by rain erosion and groundhog holes, was leveled.

According to the Army Corps of Engineers, the field is, in fact, new construction, which requires a city permit and approval from the corps.

The corps said it will begin to investigate whether the tons of dirt for the new field can be allowed to stay.

“At first I couldn’t understand what the big deal about a baseball diamond was,” Lyon said at the conclusion of the meeting Wednesday. “Obviously there’s more to it than meets my eye.”