THE SQUEEZE PLAY

It wasn’t the first time that Hank Nunez had to chase interlopers off the soccer fields in Tustin.

The out-of-town players said they were locals, but when Nunez, who coaches a boys’ under-12 team, questioned them it became clear they were playing far from home. Tustin fields are for Tustin players, he said. The problem continued for a year until AYSO installed removable goals that are stashed away after games to keep unauthorized teams from using the facilities.

“There’s just too many players,” Nunez said, “and not enough fields.”

This isn’t an isolated situation. Throughout Orange County, renegade teams are routinely chased off fields like gulls at a clam shack. It illustrates a broader problem.

In a county that holds the promise of fun in the sun and recreation for all, there is a serious shortage of parks to enjoy leisure activities. From Stanton to San Clemente, residents complain about the lack of open spaces--both active sports parks and wilderness areas--for soccer players, skateboarders, hikers and nature lovers.

“The park shortage has been obvious for a number of years,” said Chris Jarvi, director of community services in Anaheim and president of the National Recreation and Parks Assn.

“What has helped exacerbate the problem is year-round schools and the continued growth of our population. A lot of youth are part of that growth and this overcrowds the schools, which puts more pressure on the parks.”

Many communities didn’t anticipate the county’s phenomenal population growth and the huge demand for open space that growth would generate. Few predicted the popularity of year-round soccer, softball, skateboarding and in-line skating.

“Several years ago we saw that soccer was growing straight up and there was no way we could accommodate that growth,” said Nunez, a Tustin regional commissioner for AYSO. “Last year we had a waiting list of 300 kids that we couldn’t accommodate.”

Nunez has made developing additional sports parks in Tustin his primary objective. He’s hoping to help designate an additional six to eight soccer fields by the end of the decade.

“We have 150 soccer teams in Tustin alone. By the year 2000, our region will have 2,000 kids playing soccer,” he said. “We are filled to capacity now. Every time we build a park, we should be putting in a soccer field.”

But Tustin is lucky. It is due to gain recreational space when the Marine Corps Air Station closes in July 1999. Other cities have no more land to develop into parks or to restore as wilderness.

Many communities find themselves playing catch-up just as junior gets his first Pee Wee mitt. Requirements of developers to provide park areas have remained constant over the years; it’s demographics that have fluctuated, according to Denny Turner, design manager for landscape architecture for the county.

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“Local demographics drive the need for sports parks and open space,” he said. “Demographic cycles come and go as populations age. When a community’s children come of soccer-playing age, all of a sudden there aren’t enough soccer fields. South County in the 1970s and 1980s went through a period of wanting natural open spaces. Some people said they would trade the ballparks for wetlands, but now that their kids are ready to play soccer they want the soccer fields. The demands are constantly changing.”

Yorba Linda also got caught behind the demographic curve but is now catching up.

“Throughout Orange County, some mistakes were made in planning,” said Steve Rudometkin, director of parks and recreation for Yorba Linda. “The needs of sports teams were not anticipated. We had that problem in Yorba Linda, so 10 or 12 years ago we went back and had to pick up some land. That’s how Valley View Sports Park was created, and even that had to be expanded three years ago.”

Cities are trying to meet demands by becoming partners with school districts, passing bond measures to construct sports parks and by sharing with the county costs for building and operating facilities.

Coaches and parents have been eyeing school lots with envy, picturing their own kids playing on the fields used by schoolchildren during the week.

Yorba Linda’s Travis Ranch Youth Park was created through the cooperation of the Placentia and Yorba Linda school districts. Like Yorba Linda and many other communities, Mission Viejo is teaming with school districts to share and maintain fields.

“About eight years ago we were busting at the seams and we built three sports parks on our eastern border,” said Kelly Doyle, Mission Viejo parks director. “Now we are reaching capacity again and need additional fields.”

Doyle said the city has agreements with Capistrano Unified School District for sharing fields and that the area is “almost” meeting the demand for parks, both active and passive.

Anaheim is working to meet local needs by entering into an agreement with the county, which purchased the land and built Yorba Regional Park for the city, which operates and maintains the park.

In San Juan Capistrano, voters in 1988 approved a measure to buy 56 acres to devote to open spaces and sports fields. Now, the city has an 18-acre sports park with six soccer fields and three baseball/softball diamonds. The project also retained 30 acres for agricultural space.

But success can be bittersweet. Cities that have kept pace with athletic needs look mighty attractive to cities that haven’t. San Juan Capistrano’s facilities have become a little too popular with local and nonlocal athletes.

“We would encourage other communities to do the same as we have,” said Al King, San Juan Capistrano parks director. “Those residents who are part of regional sports programs often have to look outside their own communities for sports fields and San Juan Capistrano is one of those communities they look to.”

It’s not just soccer fields and softball diamonds that are in demand. Residents want areas for hiking and skating as well. Although in-line skating at the beach is a California cliche, there are few areas where youngsters can safely skate or skateboard aside from the streets.

“I’d much rather my boys skate in a safe park than in the middle of traffic,” said Patricia Thomas of Irvine. “But at least in Irvine we have plenty of greenbelts and cul de sacs. In some of the older cities, it’s either trespassing on school property or playing in the street.”

Some city officials blame sports teams--adult and youth alike--for not limiting their growth. “Some of these leagues grow too fast and outpace the space to accommodate them. They don’t stop and think, ‘Do we have adequate facilities?’ ” said Jim Soto, recreation and human services director in Placentia for the last 20 years. “It’s not just soccer, but basketball and baseball as well. I’ve been telling the groups they might have to create a waiting list and figure their needs first and then register players.”

In Laguna Beach, residents are known more for saving canyons than building athletic fields. Preservationists say sports parks should be built on land that has already been developed.

“The problem again is costs--it’s worth more to developers to put houses on the land,” said Ann Christoph of the South Laguna Civic Assn. ‘They will fill them up with houses and then realize there are not enough parks. They should be planned into the community to begin with.”

Residents who have worked to keep land in its natural state say it’s a never-ending struggle.

“The big problem now is saving what little is left,” said Carolyn Wood, president of the Laguna Canyon Conservancy. “In Laguna Beach, we’ve been short of parks since 1950, when we got built out and the land was developed. People come here expecting the amenities they found in planned communities. Well, they just aren’t here. As for planned communities, the developers have to make sure they are planning enough parks.”

Curtailing development is always a hot issue in coastal communities. But seaside cities have Little Leagues and need ballparks just like other towns.

“I would really encourage citizens to take on these projects [of saving wilderness areas from development],” Christoph said. “There has to be an intensive public interest to put pressure on the decision makers and that takes long-term dedication. You can tear down a building and put in a park, but you can never replace nature.”

To those who say some of these open spaces are just weedy lots that could be used for baseball diamonds and soccer fields, preservationists say these sites should be restored to their natural state.

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“We have more of a scarcity of wild open spaces than sports parks. That’s why we have endangered species,” said Jan Vandersloot, a Newport Beach resident and member of Stop Polluting Our Newport. “I don’t think we are at a point where ballparks are an endangered species.”

Vandersloot is one of many trying to stave off the steamrollers at the proposed Harriet Wieder Regional Park in Huntington Beach. “We see lots of well-intentioned citizens trying to change natural settings into sports parks,” he said.

“But what is needed is for developers to set aside their precious housing land and dedicate that for sports parks. We need to restore these natural areas so that residents don’t see a weedy, vacant lot that could be used for a soccer field.”