Irvine : Lighted Playing Fields Too Few, Report Says

A report calling for more lighted athletic fields for youth sports will go before the City Council tonight. Irvine has eight soccer-football fields and nine baseball-softball fields. But by 1990, the report says, five additional soccer-football fields and five more baseball-softball fields will be needed to meet projected needs.

The report gives an analysis of the present and future demand for lighted playing fields, as requested by the City Council in September.

Right now, the city needs two more soccer-football fields and two more baseball-softball fields to accommodate all the youth programs, said Chuck Reid, community services supervisor who worked on the report. Any additional fields would be shared with adult sports programs, he said.

Although the city has several unlighted fields, they “do this type of programming no good at all,” Reid said. When night falls, an estimated 3,500 youths using city and school fields must share the eight lighted soccer-football fields, he said.