Field-use equity argued

Alicia Robinson

A group of Newport Beach athletes may get more chances to play in

town, under new rules to be considered by the city’s Parks, Beaches

and Recreation Commission tonight.

The commission will discuss changes to the policy that doles out

playing and practice time on city fields. The new rules would allot

time on 10% of the city’s available fields to non-recreational or

“club” teams, which have tryouts and don’t just let everyone play who

wants to.

Newport has a growing number of club teams -- mostly soccer and a

couple of baseball teams -- but they weren’t mentioned when the city

wrote its field allocation policy two years ago. Recreational leagues

have been getting 75% of the available fields; the new policy would

give them 70%.

“What’s happened for the most part is we have had to practice out

of the city,” said Bill Allen, who manages a club soccer team and has

four children who play soccer and baseball on recreational and club

teams.

A majority of youth sports teams in Newport Beach, other than

school teams, are recreational and anyone can join, said Marie

Knight, city recreation and senior services director. The city’s

first responsibility is to those teams, but officials don’t want to

ignore the competitive teams, she said.

“We’ve tried to come up with an allocation plan that’s as

equitable as we can make it without being Solomon and splitting the

baby,” Knight said. “Do we please everybody? Probably not, but we

don’t feel that there is ever going to be an allocation system that

will satisfy 100% [of the people].”

Several youth recreational sports representatives said they think

the new plan is fair.

“It really tries to make sure whether it’s a club kid or a

[recreational] kid, they have representation to play on the field,”

Newport Beach Little League President Emery Molnar said. “Everybody

gets the same amount of fields as before. We’re still short of

fields.”

In Costa Mesa, which has a similar athletic field shortage, the

city has a tiered policy that gives first priority to recreational

leagues that serve at least 90% city residents.

The second group to get preference is schools, and club teams are

the third tier, Costa Mesa recreation manager Jana Ransom said.

Other suggested changes to Newport’s field-use rules will set up a

policy for when teams violate guidelines for using the fields and

clarify the criteria for teams that are considered recreational. The

Parks, Beaches and Recreation Commission is expected to vote on the

changes tonight.