Officials Play Ball

To the kids forced to play ball on an abandoned dump that reeks of methane gas, the plan for professional playing fields seemed like a dream come true.

To the city’s recreation directors, the $2.5-million athletic center conceived for 18 acres surrounding the new McPherson Magnet School seemed the solution to a woeful lack of space for thousands of young athletes.

But to neighbors of the school, the idea seemed like the blueprint for a noisy nightmare.

A series of meetings in the neighborhood, at the City Council and before the Orange Unified School Board threatened to derail the plans and land the whole thing in court. Attorneys had received retainers when leaders of the factions started mentioning the C-word--compromise.

Tonight, school trustees are expected to give their approval to the new playing fields, just two weeks after the city signed off on a compromise deal.

“This is good for the kids and good for the community,” said McPherson Principal Rod Hust, who helped broker the compromise. “Being a father and a former coach myself, I thought it would be good to have a state-of-the-art facility. But the neighbors had legitimate grievances. There was a lot of miscommunication.”

Events leading up to the dispute started late last year, when the Orange Community Services Department drafted an agreement with the school district coordinating after-school sports activities citywide.

About the same time, the school district reopened the vacant McPherson Elementary School as a science, math and technology magnet school. Although there were tennis courts and other fields, city officials decided the vast acreage of the school could be better utilized.

The question of how to pay for new fields was then resolved when the city sold off surplus lands.

Finally, there were plans for the facility itself: five baseball diamonds, complete with dugouts, fences and batting cages; four regulation soccer fields; new basketball courts; play areas; a walking path; a tot lot; volleyball courts; concession stands; and rest rooms. The area would be topped off with new turf and permanent irrigation.

Officials said about 4,000 children would benefit from the project, and the city could finally close fields at Yorba Park, a former landfill.

There was only one thing missing--no one had asked the residents of the surrounding neighborhood, which includes about 600 homes, how they felt about major sports events happening in their backyards.

Residents were not pleased. They cited concerns about how much noise the games would generate. They began envisioning how many cars it would take to get all those kids there and home. Images of trash and litter filled their heads, and soon they were ready to do almost anything to stop it.

“If you had asked us first, we would have supported it,” neighbor Mark Burkhardt told City Council members at one meeting.

After a series of heated meetings, the city last week unveiled compromise measures that have satisfied the neighborhood concerns.

Under the plan, the city will improve landscaping, build noise walls and create permit-parking districts on nearby streets--at no cost to homeowners. Recreation employees will closely monitor the scheduling of games. And workers will build hundreds of new parking spaces.

“Compromise is part of living in a community and getting along together,” said Mark Bayonne, a director of the South Sunrise Little League. “It’s what’s great about the community--we’ve all come together for this project.”

City officials also learned another lesson: No plan can move too far forward without involving the neighbors who must live with it.

“The city staff, and more specifically myself, made a mistake,” Community Services Director Gary Wann said at a recent meeting. “We frankly blew this one. It was inappropriate not to meet with the neighbors earlier in the process, and I have apologized to them.”

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NEIGHBORHOODS / McPHERSON NEIGHBORHOOD

Bounded by: Chapman Avenue on the north, roughly Violet Lane and Wellington Road on the west, Dixon Avenue on the south and Thomas and Chipwood streets on the east

Population: About 600 homes

Hot topic: The city has proposed a $2.5-million sports project at the newly reopened McPherson Magnet School. The McPherson athletic facility would include five baseball diamonds, four soccer fields, and new basketball courts and playground areas. The Orange Unified School District is expected to give its final approval tonight.