Costa Mesa / Newport Beach : Sports Complex Urged to Supplement Fields

Youth sports supporters are urging the Newport-Mesa Unified School District board to back development of a sports complex that would solve crowding on existing fields.

“Over the last five years, our fields have become saturated because the number of teams has doubled and the number of fields hasn’t,” said father and youth sports coach Greg Smith. “We’re running into each other out there.”

The nascent plan would mean a cooperative venture with Costa Mesa and the Orange County Fair Board to convert property next to TeWinkle Middle School and Costa Mesa High School into a facility with a football field, rubberized track, two soccer fields and three lighted basketball courts.

“I see it as a reasonable opportunity for the school district,” said Mike Dunn, a 46-year resident of Costa Mesa who has children in sports programs.

He questioned who would provide such youth services in the wake of district budget cuts that could end some physical education programs.

‘Volunteerism really can carry the day again, but we need the board to go forward,” Dunn said.

A proposal on the table--far from a final plan, district officials said--calls for the district to contribute the land so the city can develop the football field and track at an estimated cost of $655,000. The fair board would pay for the other improvements, including fields, courts, lighting and restrooms.

The fair board pays the district $60,000 a year to use district property for parking during the fair’s six-week annual run. That arrangement would continue under the proposed deal.

The fields and courts would be used for school, extracurricular leagues and city-sponsored sports. School season events would have priority scheduling.

Carolyn Stocker, the district’s executive director of business services and auxiliary operations, said the district received a $10-million offer on the property last year from a developer who wanted to build homes on the land.

That could prove controversial as the board prepares to cut up to $8.2 million from school staff and programs because of losses in the Orange County bond pool. Board members are reluctant to consider selling the land.