HUNTINGTON BEACH : Park Land Sought for Sports Complex

In response to pleas from a newly formed youth sports coalition, Councilman Ralph Bauer has pledged to seek a way to enable sports use of a legally tied-up part of Central Park.

Bauer said an undeveloped portion of the park near Ellis and Golden West streets would be ideal for a long-proposed Youth Sports Complex. But that park land has been dedicated by the city until the year 2008 for possible relocation of mobile homes displaced by downtown renewal.

City Atty. Gail Hutton’s office, in a legal opinion, has said the city cannot use the land for other purposes until after 2008. However, some officials in the city’s Community Services Department question that legal interpretation.

At a meeting last week of parents supporting youth sports, Bauer said he would seek a second legal opinion on the land’s status.

Bauer and Councilman Jim Silva spoke during a City Hall meeting of about 30 parents representing various youth sports.

The parents, at the meeting’s conclusion, voted to form a coalition. A prime goal of the group is to get the city to build a Youth Sports Complex that would include baseball, softball and soccer fields, as well as a gym and swim facility.

The Youth Sports Complex originally was proposed for vacant Central Park land at Talbert and Gothard streets. That land is over an old dump, however, and city officials found the earth is still seeping methane gas.

It would cost millions of dollars to make the land safe and usable, city officials have said.

Bauer told the sports coalition that he thinks another site in Central Park must now be found for the Youth Sports Complex and that he favors the undeveloped land being held for possible mobile home relocation.

He added that he thinks a majority of the council would also vote for that site if a legal way can be found to free the land.

Silva told the group that he has been working for years to get a Youth Sports Complex built in Central Park. “We have plenty of land,” he said. “We can build a sports complex if the city wants to.”

Chuck Beauregard, a parent who works with youth swim groups, is the chairman of the newly formed coalition of youth sports boosters.

Beauregard said the tentative name for the new organization is “Save Our Kids.”