Approval brightens, dims view of soccer

Deirdre Newman

Two youth sports groups will be able to light up the fields they use

for soccer practice. They won’t have that privilege, however, until

mid-October, because they didn’t follow the city’s rules when

applying for the lights.

The Parks and Recreation Commission on Wednesday unanimously

approved the requests of the American Youth Soccer Organization Club

97 to use lights at Kaiser Elementary School and for the Orange Coast

United Soccer Club to use the lights at Parsons-Waldorf School,

despite some neighbors’ objections.

Groups that want to use lights are supposed to submit a request in

writing to the city’s recreation manager two months before they need

them. Neither group complied with the rule.

In light of the controversy swirling around the joint-use

agreement between the city and the school district, which covers the

use of the city’s sports fields, following city policy to the letter

is imperative, commissioner Byron de Arakal said.

“The whole reason the joint-use agreement blew up in the city and

school district’s face is because of a misunderstanding of what the

policy is, and because of that misunderstanding, the policy wasn’t

followed, and therefore there were problems,” de Arakal said. “For us

to turn around and say, ‘Gee whiz, we understand you may be fully

aware of the policy, but...’ a policy is a policy. It just seemed the

prudent thing to do is to make sure the public had some sense of

confidence that policies are being followed.”

The commission’s decision did not take into account the needs of

the children who practice soccer in the evenings, AYSO regional

commissioner Chris Sarris said. Sarris said he will call some City

Council members to solicit their help in getting the Kaiser field

lighted before Oct. 15.

“It’s frustrating, because as parks and recreation commissioners,

they have the duty to do research before going up on the dais,”

Sarris said. “They could have called myself or some of the neighbors

[of the fields] and said, ‘We saw your application. What do you

really need? Let’s go by and see the field.’ They just got up last

night and started talking off the top of their head. No one has come

out to see the fields.”

Some neighbors of Kaiser School are disappointed with the

decision. While they are not against the children playing soccer on

the fields, they oppose the lighting because the generators that

supply the energy for the lights are noisy, emit diesel flumes and

disturb their quality of life, they said.

“It’s just the kind of battle we’ve gone through for so many years

and comes on top of all the years of soccer, and it feels like

homeowners don’t have any rights anymore,” neighbor Cheryl Carlson

said. “It’s biased toward soccer and what they want and what’s

convenient for them.”

The commission approved a temporary, portable lighting policy in

May. In addition to requiring groups to submit requests two months in

advance of when they need the lights, the policy also requires a

public hearing 30 days before the lights are used. Neither

requirement was met in the case of these two groups.

AYSO requested two lights for soccer practice from 5 to 8 p.m.

every weeknight from the beginning of October to February.

It’s tough to find fields to play on these days because of the

comprehensive school renovation project the school district is going

through, Sarris said.

“We’re kind of the poor stepchild of Newport Beach and Costa Mesa,

because they don’t’ give us lighted fields,” Sarris said. “There are

fields that could be lighted, but the residents are all ‘Not in my

backyard.’”

Orange Coast United Soccer requested four lights twice a week from

5:30 to 9 p.m. from September to March.

De Arakal suggested limiting the united soccer club’s use of

lights to 8 p.m. at the Parsons School field to make it consistent

with AYSO’s request. He said he was concerned that if the lights were

on until 9 p.m. at that location, numerous other teams in the future

would request that field, unfairly burdening the neighborhood.

But some of the other commissioners said it was more important to

keep the lights on long enough for the older children to practice,

between 7:30 and 9 p.m.

“I think we have to be flexible with the ages [of the players],”

Commissioner Wendy Leece said.

* DEIRDRE NEWMAN covers government. She may be reached at (949)

574-4221 or by e-mail at deirdre.newman@latimes.com.