YORBA LINDA : Park Use Decision Stirs Local Debate

For eight years, Arroyo Park has been a little-known, little-used facility in the middle of town, but recent events made the park a lightning rod for contention in the community between supporters of youth sports and advocates of multiuse parks.

Tucked out of sight behind Fire Station No. 32 and a Lutheran church on Yorba Linda Boulevard, the park can be accessed only via a horse trail that connects it to nearby streets.

Neighbors of the park knew its use would increase when the city announced recently that it had approved a land swap with the church and would use the church land it had acquired to build a parking lot and access road to the park.

But they were stunned when park officials recommended a plan to develop the park into a senior baseball field to serve youth sports, instead of the equestrian ring and picnic areas originally planned.

“Changing the use of this park from one that the whole community can benefit from to one that serves a very small group of people for a very limited time is ridiculous,” residents Alan and Carol Bledsoe said in a letter to Steve Rudometkin, director of the Parks and Recreation Department. “There’s no reason why the . . . needs of a selected few people should outweigh the community as a whole.”

Although the baseball field was eventually rejected by the City Council in favor of the original plan, many residents are convinced that the city is more concerned with the needs of youth sports organizations than those who use parks for picnics, for walks and in other ways.

Youth sports is frequently dragged into many city debates, ranging from the proposed annexation of a neighboring high school to gain its athletic fields, to why most adult hobby groups pay to use city facilities while youth sports teams play for free.

The residents “might have won this time, but more times than not it’s the sports teams that prevail,” said a longtime resident who asked not be named.

The victory is especially sweet for horse owners, who will benefit from a 60-by-120-foot equestrian ring and improvements to the horse trail that winds around the park.

Other improvements planned for the park include replacing existing play equipment, installing picnic tables and adding walkways and landscaping, Rudometkin said.

The project is expected to start in four to six months and should take three months to complete. The improvements will cost about $410,000, Rudometkin said.

The land swap that made the project possible will give Grace Lutheran Church a two-acre parcel on Fairmont Boulevard in exchange for the 1 1/2-acre lot on Yorba Linda Boulevard. The church will continue to occupy its current site until a new building is completed on Fairmont Boulevard.