Big-League Battle for Ballplayers : Youth sports: Neighbors of a Sylmar organization complain about noise, traffic and litter at its field. Defenders cite benefits to children.

It had all the usual trappings of a baseball rhubarb--angry words by combatants, jeering and applause by spectators in caps and warm-up jackets, repeated warnings by a lone arbiter.

And a baseball rhubarb it was. But at issue was not a slide for home in the majors, but whether the Sylmar Independent Baseball League should be subjected to greater restrictions in order to continue holding games at the 22-acre complex it owns across from El Cariso Regional Park. Neighbors accuse the league--which has more than 1,000 players, 5 to 18 years old--of causing noise, traffic, parking and litter problems in violation of its Los Angeles city land use permit.

A public hearing Monday into whether the league’s permit should be amended brought on two hours of rousing argument but no final score.

“If you have any kind of red American blood in you, it’s beautiful to see a thousand kids having a good time!” Dick Jackson, the league’s past president and now publicity and special events chairman, told the gathering of about 80 adults and children at the Van Nuys Women’s Club.

Applause burst across the room. The hearing arbiter, city zoning administrator Daniel Green, demanded quiet, telling the crowd to “do your cheering outside.”

The league’s president, Larry Kapuscinski, and other backers said the league fills a void caused by tighter restrictions on school playgrounds and by year-round schools.

Kapuscinski said league officials “try the best we can” to comply with the permit, which restricts the facility to eight baseball diamonds--the league conceded it added a ninth field for 5-year-olds who play T-ball--and regulates parking, hours of use, cleanliness and other conditions.

“How do we know,” he asked, “if some violators actually belong to the league?” Three residents whose homes adjoin the park spoke out vehemently against the league’s administrators, one resident insisting that they “aren’t trying to shut the league down” but demanding that the league’s activities be policed better by the city or the league itself.

“SIBL is angry at the surrounding residents and has decided to become obnoxious,” said Pam Thoresen, drawing derisive hoots from the crowd.

Thoresen said league officials are not properly monitoring activities at the park. She complained about “trash” at the facility and “unbearable noise” at 7:30 a.m. last Saturday from air horns and “chanting 15- to 17-year-old girls” who, she said, were exhorted by a male voice saying: “Come on, let’s make some more noise!”

Some league participants, whom she did not identify, have abused her verbally and called her vulgar names in front of her children, she said.

Green, who noted to the crowd that he was once a Little League player, said after the hearing that he probably won’t decide until the fall whether he will impose further restrictions on the league.

It’s not the first time the league has clashed with neighbors over the facility, which the league obtained in 1984 as part of an agreement between the city and the property’s owner at that time, a developer of an 800-unit mobile home park next to the field. The developer transferred ownership to the league.

In 1988, the league won City Council approval to build the baseball complex despite opposition from neighbors who argued that it would increase traffic, noise and litter. At that time, Councilman Hal Bernson said: “Some people might object to having a Little League field in their neighborhood. It’s a lot better than some of the things that go on in other neighborhoods.”

But Councilman Ernani Bernardi, whose district includes Sylmar and who supports the league, assured residents that he would seek to revoke the league’s permit if it is not a “good neighbor.”