MISSION VIEJO : Sierra Sports Center May Be Shut Down

In the aftermath of a gloomy financial report that identified the city’s four recreation centers as a major cash drain, the City Council tonight will consider closing the Sierra sports facility.

The smallest of the city’s recreation centers, Sierra also draws the fewest users, and closing it would save the city about $200,000 annually. City officials are talking with nonprofit groups such as the Boy Scouts of America and the YMCA about leasing the building, which includes a swimming pool.

Mayor Robert D. Breton said the closure “will not only save the city money but will help save all the recreation centers. This is a business decision regarding . . . what centers should be open based on our data telling us how much each one is used.”

Last month, a financial report requested by the city indicated that by next year the recreation centers will cost Mission Viejo about $1.45 million annually to run.

Breton said recreation centers will always need to be subsidized. He feels that closing the Sierra facility would bring the city’s financial support to an affordable level and allow it to avoid further shutdowns.

However, council members William S. Craycraft and Sharon Cody said that the city can’t afford the recreation centers and that they support selling them to private parties.

The city’s financial options in a sale or lease of the centers will be detailed in a report due from the city staff in January. The council is expected to further discuss the fate of the recreation facilities after the report is released.

Ironically, it was the proposed closure and reuse of the Sierra center as a private school two years ago that prompted the city to acquire the recreation complex.

The center was then owned by the Mission Viejo Co., and the proposed closure was the first tangible sign that the development firm intended to unload the recreation complex that it had run for more than 15 years.

After a loud public outcry, the council decided to acquire the centers, trading the Mission Viejo Co. an office building for the recreation facilities.