PALOS VERDES ESTATES : Council Backs Off Plan to Create Soccer Fields
A plan to turn 10 acres into soccer fields, which sparked angry protest from residents, has died because the City Council declined to take up the issue.
In August, the Planning Commission unanimously rejected a proposal by the Palos Verdes Soccer Club to grade the land at the city-owned Zurita field, and Tuesday, the council declined to reconsider the proposal. All Planning Commission decisions come before the City Council for review, said City Manager James Hendrickson.
The council received about 35 letters regarding the proposal, and only two expressed support. Nearby residents said the soccer fields would bring noise, traffic, trash and other problems.
Some also said Mayor James Nyman had a conflict of interest because he was friends with the soccer club’s treasurer and because his 12-year-old son plays soccer.
After Tuesday’s meeting, however, Nyman said he was not close friends with Ronald L. Buss, the treasurer.
The soccer club would have paid $52,000 to turn the 10 acres near Via Zurita, Via Lopez and Via Martinez into soccer fields, Nyman said. But Hendrickson said it was unclear who would pay for maintaining the fields.
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