Long wait for park finally over

Steve Virgen

The story of Bonita Canyon Sports Park had a fairy-tale ending, but

the real book on the Newport Beach facility may be better described

as a cautionary tale.

The park’s history has included highs and lows, excitement,

controversy, frustration and ultimately contentment. Some people now

call it the premier park in Newport Beach and one of the best in

Orange County.

However, within the past two years, most people could have called

it a giant headache.

The process to get the park to where it is today has been a lesson

for Newport Beach and surrounding cities. Some say the city of

Newport Beach was simply dealt unfortunate situations. Still, the

setbacks were an illustration of what it takes and what can happen

when a city comes together to build a park, mainly for its youth.

The park officially opened Aug. 24, and AYSO Regions 57 and 97

have been using the fields. Next month, Newport Beach Little League

and the Newport Harbor Baseball Association will take to the baseball

fields.

The early stages

Children running across lush, green fields or playing baseball in

a top-of-the-line park were but visions for Newport Beach in 1998.

The Newport Harbor Baseball Association became accustomed to playing

on beaten-down fields that were just safe enough for use. Fields were

becoming in great need for AYSO players in Region 57 and 97.

But then came the idea of Bonita Canyon Sports Park.

For starters, the Newport Beach residents realized the park was

ideal and it was only a matter of time before the park would become

reality. However, no one knew just how long it would take.

“[The city of Newport Beach] held public meetings with youth

support groups,” said Andrea McGuire, the Newport Beach recreation

superintendent. “The public had a hand in the process with this

particular park.”

Though the people had their say, it took city officials more than

a year to agree on what should be in the park.

In 2000, Newport Beach began to make its dream a reality. The

contractors, the ones who provided the lowest viable bid to work on

the park, were hired, which eventually proved to be a mistake.

Watching grass grow

It’s difficult to determine when things went awry for the park,

but most point to the financial stability of Castello Inc., the

contractors who had every baseball and soccer child depending on them

when groundbreaking started June of 2000.

The plan was to have the park open in April 2001, but that never

came about. In fact, the park did not officially open until this past

August, a little more than two years behind schedule.

So what went wrong?

On May 9, 2000, the Newport Beach City Council awarded a

$6,276,000 contract to Castello Inc. of Escondido. But in November

2001, the work stopped when the contractors became financially

unstable and eventually went bankrupt, said Steve Badum, Newport

Beach public works director.

For three months, the park was in limbo. No work was done.

“That set us back quite a bit,” Badum said. “It really hurt the

schedule for opening. The park was damaged. Ultimately we prevailed

and now we have a real nice looking park.”

Castello Inc., however, wasn’t the only problem for Newport Beach.

Yes, the city did attain a new contractor, Erraca’s Inc., by way of

an insurer’s bond. But more setbacks mounted.

“It wasn’t any one thing,” McGuire said. “The first contractor had

some financial issues. There were some product problems with the

irrigation. It had to be totally replaced. We lost about six months

due to the loss of the contractor. It was just a series of things.”

In February 2003, the park’s sprinkler system malfunctioned and

further delayed the opening. Also during this time, Newport Beach

Little League officials, as well as others in the community, argued

the park should open without giving the fields the time they needed

for grass to grow in fully.

From February through August of last year, the fields were empty.

They appeared ready for use, but the grounds needed that time to

prepare for the action they would receive in the winter and spring,

Badum said.

“Sure, everybody wanted to have it done,” Badum said. “It might

have appeared to be usable. When you plant turf, you have to let it

establish. Even though it might be green, it’s not ready. The fields

take a beating and they have to be ready to go. It’s just a technical

matter. If we let them get on it early, we would have to reseed it.

We wanted to field a park that was usable from Day One and that’s

what we did. There has always been a real shortage of fields and

certainly everyone was anxious to get on those fields.”

The grand opening

The frowns turned to smiles when the park finally opened Aug. 24.

On that day, there was a celebration to open the 33.5-acre park that

includes four baseball fields, three soccer fields for AYSO use, two

children’s playgrounds, two tennis courts, a basketball court, three

restroom buildings and 300 parking spaces.

“It’s done now, that’s what’s important,” McGuire said. “Everyone

is happy to be out there playing. We get a lot of compliments from

the users.”

This month, Bonita Canyon Park received the Achievement Award for

park design by the California Parks and Recreation Society. The hard

times seem to be behind the city of Newport Beach and its new park.

However, there could be at least one potential problem. Badum said

Newport Beach is not planning to let the fields rest for

over-seeding, which several cities do during the winter so the

grounds do not wither from all the use.

“Our normal maintenance schedule will be fine,” Badum said. “The

park will be in very good shape. We’ll do typical normal maintenance

in the season to make sure it stays [the same]. It will be the

premier active sports park in our community. There is a lot of pride

in keeping that looking good.”