Ocean View Little Leaguers near deal for new home

Marissa Espino

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The Ocean View Little League is closer to getting a

new home since the City Council approved a conceptual plan Monday for a

youth sports complex at Murdy Park and Park View School.

Little League officials have been meeting with Huntington Beach City and

Ocean View school district officials since the beginning of the year to

determine where the 600-member organization will go now that their

current home, the closed Rancho View school site, has been leased to

Eagle Hardware & Garden.

The city’s plan calls for the closed Park View campus to be reconfigured

to accommodate six Little League fields to replace the six they have at

Rancho View.

“[The Little League players] are going to be there for sure,” said Ron

Hagan, the city’s director of community services. “It’s just we don’t

know if they are going to be moved next season or the season after. That

depends on several issues.”

Those issues include hammering out a long-term joint-use agreement with

the Ocean View School District, he said. City and district officials also

have to determine when the construction is to begin on the new hardware

store, and how to pay for the youth complex, he said.

More field space will be available at the adjoining Murdy Park when the

adult softball leagues are relocated to Central Park sometime in 2002,

said Ron Hagan, the city’s director of community services.

Jeff Forsberg, a coach and the league’s vice president, said the

council’s action is a positive step forward.

“As long as it doesn’t interrupt any of our seasons, it’s good news,”

Forsberg said.