Victory for Soccer Players as County Adjusts Zoning

In the good old days, a bunch of kids could go across the street to a vacant lot and play a little ball, whooping and hollering and kicking up the dust.

But nowadays, with the disappearance of vacant lots and the increase in zoning regulations, it takes a county major use permit to play legally on a vacant school site.

County planning commissioners voted to change that restriction Friday by approving an amendment that will allow future school sites to be used for recreational purposes. Commissioners, however, inserted a number of safeguards to protect nearby property owners from excessive noise, traffic and the other urban ills that crowds generate.

At issue is the future Solana Beach elementary school site at the corner of El Apajo and San Dieguito Road in the exclusive community of Fairbanks Ranch.

Commissioners voted Friday to allow recreational uses on the vacant 9-acre site and on all other vacant school sites in the unincorporated areas of the county without obtaining a costly and time-consuming permit.

In doing so, the commission also imposed restrictions on the players, their families and friends. No loudspeakers. No on-street parking problems. No more than three events a week. No litter. No vandalism.

The Fairbanks Ranch field has been used as a soccer grounds by more than 200 youth league players for years, but protests by nearby residents 18 months ago prompted officials to order a halt to the games. The games, however, continued unofficially. County lawyers ruled that the school district was required to obtain a major use permit--at a cost of $5,000 or more--before the field could be used for non-educational purposes.

At Friday’s hearing, Al Frowiss, chairman of the San Dieguito Planning Group, protested that the county planning staff and commissioners were proposing a countywide zoning change without public notice, environmental review or hearings to determine the impact of the action.

“I’m totally flabbergasted,” Frowiss said.

Supt. Ray Edman of the Solana Beach School District said there are “hundreds if not thousands” of supporters for the use of vacant school property for temporary recreational uses because of the shortage of parks and playgrounds that can be used for games.

Edman said the zoning change would allow the district to step in and regulate the use of the future school site. Now, he said, the school property is being used without any supervision. By charging a fee for the use of the property, funds can be raised to pay for cleanup, toilet facilities and proper supervision of the site, he said.

Residents whose estate homes ring the hills around the soccer field have protested the noise, litter, traffic congestion, parking and safety problems that the use of the soccer field generates.

“It’s not the voices of the children,” nearby homeowner Barbara Bouzan explained. “It’s the trash and the beer bottles. It’s the crowds that cause the problem.”

The county Board of Supervisors, who sent the issue back to the commission for a decision, are expected to take action on the zoning amendment Nov. 29.