ORANGE : Soccer Club, Schools Make Deal for Field

In an agreement with the Orange Unified School District, a local soccer club will foot the bill for a new playing field at one of the district’s vacant schools.

The Orange Junior Soccer Club, a nonprofit, 3,000-member youth organization, has contracted with the district to build a soccer field at the former McPherson Elementary School and maintain it for five years. The school closed three years years ago because of declining enrollment and currently serves as the site for the district’s language assessment center.

School district trustees gave final approval to the deal last week.

“Some people said, ‘Let the people who use the fields take care of them,’ and we thought, ‘OK,’ ” said Soccer Club president Howard Rush.

The club has 3,000 members countywide and 1,300 in Orange. Its teams are boys and girls ages 5 to 18.

Rush estimates it will take $10,000 to $20,000 to bring the playing field up to par and another $5,000 each year for maintenance. Rush said money for the project will come from a fund the club has built up during its 25 years.

The organization will pay to seed and aerate the fields, supply goal posts, remove trash and repair nearby restrooms.

In exchange, the club will be given first access to all six fields at the McPherson school site on weekday evenings and all day Saturday. From August through January, the club will also be permitted to use the soccer fields at California, Handy, Prospect and Taft Elementary Schools and Yorba Middle School on weekday evenings and weekend days.

Other sports organizations that want to use the field during these reserved hours would need to make arrangements with the soccer club.