City steps in to help Meadow View soccer parents, residents

Angelique Flores

HUNTINGTON BEACH -- The city’s Community Services Commission has set

down some restrictions for soccer parents in an attempt to reach a

compromise between the battling parents and residents in the community

around Meadow View School.

And while, these decisions have not made American Youth Soccer

Organization’s Region 143 officials happy, residents are waiting to see

if the changes will make a difference.

“I have no objection to children having places to play, but when it

impacts neighbors the way it has [here], something has to be done,” said

resident Denise Sheldon.

The commission’s ad hoc committee will try out the following plan:

reduce the fields from three to two which may cut down on noise, traffic

and parking; restrict parking to the lot and street parking to the school

side of Clark Drive; post “No Parking” signs on the resident’s side of

Clark Drive; police will provide concentrated enforcement at the

beginning of the soccer season and will provide ongoing periodic

enforcement thereafter; stagger start times of the games, allowing an

hour between the games; post signs informing people to pick up after

their dogs.

The Ocean View School District will also look into removing the

storage bins and moving the port-a-potties outside the fenced basketball

courts so the area can be locked.

“Hopefully this will be an improvement,” Sheldon said. “I’ll wait and

see.”

Neighboring homeowners have complained about noise, speeding cars,

congested parking and blocked driveways on the weekends during game

times.

AYSO, on the other hand, said it has been plagued by incidents of

vandalism. In October, vandals killed 1 1/2 acres of grass, leaving

children with one less soccer field and damages costing $6,000.

Residents and AYSO officials point fingers at each other when the

fields are littered with trash.

In 1998 AYSO leased the closed Meadow View School on Clark Drive, from

the Ocean View School District, for soccer games on Saturdays. The league

renovated the rundown soccer fields with the help of a youth sports grant

through the district. More than $85,000 was spent on the facility, and

about $20,000 a year is spent on maintenance.

The city stepped in to help the two sides resolve the matter. The

Community Services Commission formed an ad hoc committee of commission

members, Ocean View School District officials, AYSO representatives and

homeowners in December to settle the ongoing dispute.

“The residents had some legitimate concerns, and AYSO has done an

excellent job of modifying things to make it work,” said Jim Engle,

deputy director of the Community Services Commission.

The lack of playing fields in the city make it necessary for the

elementary schools to be used.

“AYSO is making concessions to make it a workable plan,” Engle said.

But the AYSO officials aren’t as satisfied with the

committee’sproposals.

“Their demands are totally unreasonable,” said Jorggi Delaney, AYSO

Commissioner for Region 143.

While the residents and the city are hopeful that these compromises

will alleviate the problems, Delaney is worried about the effect of

losing a field.

“Where are we going to put the kids that go there?” Delaney said. “I

have to find another set of volunteers to work on the new fields, that’s

if we can get the field and get another set of equipment. We have no

where else to play.”

Region 143 was looking into using the Robinwood field at Coastline

Community College, but the 50-year-old irrigation system needs to be

replaced. With an estimated cost of $50,000, the project doesn’t fit into

the college’s budget for this year. Ocean View will look into opening the

closed Haven View School for games to help relieve the load at Meadow

View.

The AYSO season runs from Aug. 15 to Dec. 16, with games played from 9

a.m to dusk every Saturday. With 1,600 children in the region, the site

has about 150 people on the fields when three games are being played.

The league, however, sometimes subleases the site to other club soccer

groups that host tournaments, including AYSO teams. Tournaments will be

reduced from four to two per year. This poses another concern for AYSO

officials because these tournaments help the league raise money to pay

for the maintenance of the fields.

The committee will meet midway through the trial period, at the end of

June, to determine how well things are working. At another meeting in

August, at the end of the trial period, the committee will determine new

conditions for a second trial period during the league’s season.”I think

the neighbors should be grateful that we’re keeping 1,600 kids off the

streets, keeping their minds and hands occupied [and] giving them an

alternative to destruction,” Delaney said.