Sports complex to open doors

Jenny Marder

Just a little bit longer.

That always seems to be the answer to when the long-awaited

$18-million sports complex will open.

Now, city leaders say that grand opening will be next month. But

after the fanfare dies down, only a fraction of the park will be

ready for play.

The Youth Sports Complex, which was expected to open last fall,

has suffered repeated delays.

Softballs will start flying this spring, but the seven overlaying

football and soccer fields won’t be ready for use until the fall -- a

full year after they were scheduled to open.

To withstand heavy wear and tear, grass turf on the football and

soccer fields still need six more months to settle into the soil,

Community Services Director Jim Engle said.

“[The delay] is because of the need to extend the maintenance

period to allow the turf to really establish itself,” Engle said. “If

we don’t have a good root system, the athletes will tear it up, and

we won’t have the downtime to fix it again.”

Postponing the opening date has been frustrating but is better

than the alternative, said David Dominguez, director of facilities

and development.

“The worst thing we could do is to open up early and have to shut

it down again, for damage,” he said. “It’s also kind of nerve racking

because it’s so highly anticipated. I hope that people will walk in

and get that big-bang effect that we’re hoping for.”

The complex is a 45-acre parcel bounded by Goldenwest Street,

Gothard Street, Ellis Avenue and Talbert Avenue. The center will

include seven softball fields with seven overlaying fields for soccer

or football, an 850-space parking lot, two tot lots, two restrooms,

two concession stands and a maintenance building.

The second phase, which has been indefinitely postponed, will

include two artificial turf soccer arenas, two plastic-tile roller

hockey rinks, a nine-station batting cage and a pro shop.

Engle also attributed the delay to “incorrect information from the

landscape architect on how long it would take for everything to

establish itself.”

The city originally planned on hydro-seeding the fields, which

would have been much faster than the chosen method, but wouldn’t have

held up to the wear and tear, Engle said. Instead, they planted

hydro-stolons, or small clumps of grass, which take longer to grow

and establish themselves.

“[Hydro-stolons] are recommended to hold up in the beach weather

and the sports field,” Engle said.

Setbacks aside, Engle is positive that the sports complex will be

a welcome addition to the city.

“It’s one of those projects that the community’s worked on for

over a decade to come to fruition,” he said. “It’s something that a

city our size should have had years ago.”

Ed Kerins, president of activist group Huntington Beach Tomorrow,

has mixed feelings about the complex.

“It’s going to cost us a fortune to provide this facility,” Kerins

said. “But it’s a needed facility and good for the residents of the

city.”

Kerins applauded the city’s attempt to make room for youth sports

at the community center fields by moving adult teams into the

complex.

“Look at the community centers,” Kerins said. “Adult sports have

taken up fields in the community centers.”

The new complex will serve adult leagues, such as adult softball

teams. The fields the teams now use, at Edison High School and Murdy

Park Community Center, will be reserved for more youth-oriented

sports.

“It’s part of the overall plan to introduce the youth needs of the

community,” Engle said.

* JENNY MARDER covers City Hall. She can be reached at (714)

965-7173 or by e-mail at jenny.marder@latimes.com.