Parents look to save fields

Addressing a council chamber packed with little leaguers anxious about the future of their fields, City Council members said they were diligently working to purchase the closed school site that held their baseball diamonds.

Council members voted 7-0 Monday night to invoke state law giving them priority to buy Le Bard Elementary, the closed school up for sale that now holds the Huntington Beach City School District’s central offices. They also held a closed session concerning negotiations about the site, but made no announcements afterward.

Council members are taking the issue seriously, Councilman Don Hansen said. He asked city staff to give an update on the negotiations.

“The city is definitely engaged in active discussions with the school district,” Hansen said. “There’s going to be dialogue between us and the school district. We’re watching this issue, and we’re definitely moving forward in the steps we need to take.”

Officials and parents with Seaview Little League, which has its practices and games at the baseball fields on the land, told the council there was no other place for them to play.

The league would promise in writing to do all work to maintain the fields as it has for years, its president Michael Mailman said. That costs about $40,000 a year, he said, but he called the league an unbeatable value for kids’ well-being.

“12,300 is the number of times kids put on a uniform each year in our league,” he said. “24,600 is the number of times if you include practice and physical activity each year. If you think about the cost of purchasing these fields compared to the physical activity these kids are getting, it is the best value in Huntington Beach.”

Councilman Gil Coerper called youth sports a positive influence on kids.

“I’d rather have them involved in baseball, football, soccer, anything rather than breaking into your house when you’re working,” he said.

David Haley, 18, of Huntington Beach, said the tight-knit community of the Seaview league would have nowhere else to go if the Le Bard fields were lost.

“We’re raising our kids in Seaview,” he said. “We’re not just teaching baseball. If we lose our fields we’re going to destroy the village.”

Interim City Administrator Paul Emery said the Monday vote gave city staff the authority to negotiate.

“Discussions would entail not only the ball field component but the balance of the property as well,” he said. “It will require both parties to give and take, and we look forward to negotiations.”