Soccer made safer

Costa Mesa City Council members and city staff rejoiced Friday when they finally unveiled two new soccer fields at the Fairview Developmental Center that were five years in the making.

The fields were the product of a unique and laborious collaboration between city and state, but the most exciting thing about the fields was that they “don’t stink,” according to the dozens of soccer players who came out to christen them.

“All the other fields are bumpy and stuff. This is like a professional field,” said Baron Davis, 11, who plays for the Newport-Mesa Mavericks.

“And the grass isn’t all dead and stuff,” added teammate Cash Swank.

Both boys say the new fields are a vast improvement over Kaiser Elementary School, where they say the grass is up to their shins in some places and completely absent in others. For a while now it has been a city priority to install more sports fields for Costa Mesa youth.

Of course, they won’t be the only players on the turf. Developmentally challenged men and women will also use the fields for recreation and training for the Special Olympics.

After a few more infrastructural improvements, the city even hopes to host Special Olympics competitions there.

But making the fields usable for both children and developmentally challenged adults wasn’t easy, park designers said.

A lot of the residents of the Fairview Developmental Center are severely mentally disabled.

“For instance, if people wanted to bring barbecues out there, our guys might come right up and touch them,” said Robert Sterling, who manages the center’s facilities.

The park also forbids whistles, which precludes games from taking place on the fields. It will only be used for AYSO practices weekday evenings and Saturdays.

The youth soccer organization chipped in the money for the goals and painted lines on the turf.

The idea for the fields was born from a round of golf played by City Manager Allan Roeder, former Councilman Mike Scheafer and longtime city employee Steve Hayman, according to Roeder.

“The rumor is that City Manager Allan Roeder shanked a ball off the 12th tee and found the fields,” said city Recreation Manager Jana Ransom.

“I certainly have put golf balls over the fence there, but I’m not sure if I did on that occasion,” Roeder said. “I certainly didn’t climb over the fence to get it back.”

The fields are owned by the state, which administrates the developmental center, and making an agreement of this kind with them was not a standard task, which meant lots of time and lots of paperwork for those involved.

City staffers and council members alike said it was a big challenge to negotiate the bureaucracy that was a part of forging the agreement.

The fields will not be open to the public, unless they get permission from the city, and strict rules will be enforced to ensure the safety of both the kids who play there and the residents of the developmental center.

Technically, no one older than 15 will be allowed to play on the fields, and adults who try might be arrested, Ransom said.

Still, on this festive day, Mayor Eric Bever and Councilwoman Katrina Foley had time to jump right on the field and kick around soccer balls with the AYSO players and Special Olympians Friday.

ALAN BLANK may be reached at (714) 966-4623 or at alan.blank@latimes.com.