They’re No Fans of Youth Sports

Around 9 a.m. on most weekend days, the noise begins for Sandra Hyman.

The cheering and the bone-rattling tones of a public address announcer at softball games in a nearby schoolyard are so loud she closes the doors and windows of her Laguna Niguel home--even during the heat of summer.

And now, youth sports officials want to put up lights and play until 9:30 at night.

“It’s already like they’re playing in my living room,” said Hyman. “It’s not right to infringe on the comfort of others and because it’s about kids, you can’t say anything about it without being called selfish.”

The explosion of youth sports coupled with the shortage of places to practice and play in South County communities such as Mission Viejo, Laguna Niguel, Dana Point and Laguna Hills has sharply divided youth sports organizers and residents of areas adjoining neighborhood parks.

Residents seeking peace and quiet have begun to oppose what they see as an invasion of children bringing traffic, noise, trash and parking problems into their neighborhoods.

Generally outnumbered at council meetings by pint-size athletes and their parents, park-area residents want to stop what they consider a violation of their property rights by local governments.

“It comes down to who has the loudest and squeakiest voice and who has the most dramatic presentation for the City Council,” said Keary Gregg, a Laguna Niguel resident who recently opposed the city’s plans for what some neighbors consider the overdevelopment of Clipper Cove Park.

For their part, city officials find themselves caught in the middle between the growing demand for youth sports facilities and the profound concern among residents who see extensive park use as a violation of their property rights.

“There’s no question it’s a very delicate balance between providing for use of facilities and yet maintaining neighborhood character in parks,” said Mission Viejo Assistant City Manager Dennis Wilberg, who oversees the city park system.

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Neighborhood opposition to youth activity in local parks or schools has flared recently in:

* Dana Point, where angry residents nearly succeeded in recalling two council members in April for backing a plan to convert part of Dana Hills High School into lighted community athletic fields.

* Laguna Niguel, where residents in May petitioned City Hall to shelve plans for two tot lots, a picnic shelter and lights for Clipper Cove Park. The City Council compromised by reducing the number of lights and agreeing to install mounds in grassy areas to discourage pickup games.

* Mission Viejo, where residents living near Crucero Park turned up at a council meeting in May to complain about too much organized sports activity in their neighborhood. The council asked the city staff to review the use of all fields in Mission Viejo.

Council chambers are expected to be packed in Laguna Niguel on Tuesday night, when a proposal to install lights at Niguel Hills Middle School to accommodate a girls softball league is to be discussed.

Meanwhile, local government officials wrestle with how to balance communitywide need for youth sports facilities with individual property rights.

Laguna Hills discourages the use of neighborhood parks as practice sites and emphasizes large, central park locations, Councilwoman Melody Carruth said.

“A number of our residents have lived next to quiet neighborhood parks for 20 years,” said Carruth, who has children who are involved in local sports leagues. “Those neighborhoods have sat there undisturbed for years and it’s difficult for residents to understand why anything would be changed.”

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A major supporter of youth sports, Laguna Niguel Councilman Mark Goodman said youth sports enrollment “is busting at the seams. We need more facilities, but every time you try something, it seems like you get the hell kicked out of you.”

In particular, Goodman says he has received heavy criticism of a proposed roller hockey rink and skateboard park from citizens who say the project will attract gangs and other elements of juvenile delinquency.

“I don’t want to say [park neighbors are] selfish,” said Goodman. “But I think it’s part of an attitude you see all over in society today, that ‘I’ve-got-mine-and-I-want-to-keep-it’ ” frame of mind.

“But the fact is, the best way to keep kids out of trouble is to get them into sports,” he said. “As parents, we show kids we mean what we say about caring for them when we say, ‘Get involved in youth sports.’ ”

The field crunch started with the mass migration of families to South County in the late 1980s. As children grew up, they moved into competitive sports.

Youth sports officials estimate that more than 20,000 children compete in softball, soccer, football and baseball leagues in the Saddleback Valley area alone and their numbers are growing every year.

That has increased the pressure to find a place for children to play.

“There have been a number of times when I’ve been at soccer practice fields and because the fields are completely full, the coaches are practicing with kids out in the parking lot,” said Carruth.

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Large amounts of time and money have been spent by cities to develop athletic fields.

Laguna Niguel, Laguna Hills and Dana Point are planning or building new athletic fields. In recent years, Mission Viejo exchanged development rights with the Mission Viejo Co. for a 10-acre, fully constructed athletic complex worth about $12 million.

As far as Hyman is concerned, the development of youth athletic fields can continue so long as the rights of park and school neighbors are preserved.

“Your right to make noise stops at my ear,” she said. “It’s not like I’m asking them to cut out their activities. I don’t think it’s selfish to want consideration to be given for people who live near ball fields.”