Becoming a battlefield

Jenny Marder

A battle is brewing between Hope View area residents and the private

soccer club that has played on the school’s field for 25 years.

Outraged residents say the North Huntington Beach Futbol Club is

overwhelming their quiet neighborhood. Club President George Mitton

says they are making it impossible to compromise.

At a meeting mediated by officials from the city and the school

district, the soccer club agreed to surrender 26 practice days per

year, halt a long tradition of swapping fields for tournaments with

other clubs and give up a plan to install brighter lights for evening

practice.

But for many Hope View residents, these concessions only scratch

the surface.

The North Huntington Beach Futbol Club is comprised of 13 teams,

with members nine to 17 years old. The group has practiced at the

Hope View Elementary School Field for 25 years. Teams practice every

afternoon and evening Monday through Thursday and all day on

weekends, with shortened hours on Friday.

Residents began to organize in February when they found out that

the club was planning to install bigger, brighter lights on the

field, which they feared would flood surrounding homes.

“They’re invading the neighborhood and they have the idea that it

is fine,” resident Jan Mallet said. “They think that they have the

right to all the facilities.”

The list of requests from Hope View homeowners is short, but

drastic. They appreciate what they club gave up at its last meeting,

but say it’s not enough. They want the club to stop holding practice

Fridays, Sundays and holidays and to cancel its annual Labor Day

tournament -- for good.

The tournament, which will celebrate its 25th anniversary this

year, runs two weekends and draws thousands each year to the field.

“You’d have thought you were on PCH and Main [Street] on the

Fourth of July,” resident John Prchal said of last year’s tournament.

“As soon as one game gets out, another one is starting. The

neighborhood was overwhelmed. It didn’t have the infrastructure to

handle the crowd that went with it.”

Residents have asked that the club do a better job of cleaning up

trash and that it keep members from parking on residential streets.

They also complain that the club, which has members from cities

outside Huntington Beach ,such as Fountain Valley and Santa Ana,

should open the field to other youth sports teams.

“These fields should be used all day long for free play for both

the students of the school and the children of the day care,” Mallet

said in a speech at the last meeting. “In the afternoons, these

fields should be used by the children who participate in Huntington

Beach youth sports.”

Residents say have tried to be as low key, professional and

reasonable as possible.

“We don’t have anything against [the club],” Prchal said. “We just

want a reasonable use of the fields and the community.”

Mitton said the club has bent over backward trying to meet

residents’ needs. The lights were intended to improve safety during

evening practice, and swapping fields with other clubs for

tournaments is a common practice that makes them a “good soccer

family,” he said.

“They’re very volatile right now,” Mitton said. “They have made it

impossible for us to compromise with the demands that they were

asking.”

The soccer club has offered to install more trashcans near the

fields and do their best to curb parking by encouraging carpooling

and directing traffic.

“I’m not here to make war with the neighbors and I’m trying to

make this thing work,” he said.

Throughout its quarter century at the field, the club has put more

than $200,000 into maintaining the site, Mitton said. The club

doesn’t pay the Ocean View School District to use the field, but

funds a gardener, cuts the grass and maintains the fencing and

lights, he said.

Mary Lou Beckman, chief financial officer at the Ocean View School

District, said that the school district is working hard to reach a

“mutually satisfied conclusion” between the community, the youth

sports, the school district and the city.

“We very much understand and appreciate neighbors’ concerns and

the needs of youth sports,” Beckman said. “Unfortunately there isn’t

enough space in the city for all the groups who want to play a sport.

It ends up with some conflicts at times.”

Hope View residents are now pushing for the city to do an

environmental study that assesses the effect of the club on its

surrounding neighborhood.

Jim Engle, the city’s community services director, did not return

phone calls.

While the club has agreed to cut its usage and be more stringent

in overseeing trash and parking, the neighbors are still dreading the

upcoming tournament weekend, which will run Aug. 23 through 25 and

Aug. 30 through Sept. 1.

“The question still remains when the first tournament comes

whether or not there will be adequate parking and adequate

infrastructure,” Prchal said. “This thing is just huge. The layout

and design of the park never intended to handle an event as large as

this tournament.”