Sports Levy to Be Put to Voters

In a second attempt to win support for new youth sports facilities, the City Council voted this week to seek voter approval in November for an assessment district to pay for a number of projects.

The advisory measure on the November ballot will seek approval to assess a levy for as long as 10 years to pay for $11.5 million in improvements.

In March, voters rejected a similar measure that would have assessed property owners $25 million for as long as 30 years to pay for park and beach improvements.

The new proposal focuses on sports facilities and calls for youth and adult playing fields, as well as a roller hockey arena in an undeveloped portion of Huntington Central Park.

Also, it would provide for a gymnasium to be built at Murdy Community Center and a new aquatics facility at Ocean View High School, as well as the addition of playing fields at three closed school sites. Field lighting improvements would be made at Marina, Ocean View and Edison high schools.

Councilman Tom Harman, who had spearheaded the March effort, said of the original measure, “Perhaps we had too much on our plate. . . . This is zeroing in on what the need was originally: sports facilities.”

The annual assessment would be $24 to single-family homeowners; $10 for each unit to owners of multifamily homes and apartments; and $5 to businesses and mobile-home units.

Chuck Beauregard, chairman of Save Our Kids, a youth advocacy group, praised the council’s decision to try again to win support for recreational facilities.

“It would have been easy for the pro and con to walk away from the issue,” Beauregard said. “Instead, they worked to put together another measure that took into account the opposition and supporters’ points of view.”