District delays vote on field renovations

The Newport-Mesa Unified School District will not vote on whether to approve a set of plans to rebuild and renovate sports fields at four Costa Mesa schools next month because of financial concerns, district officials said.

The plans are a collaborative effort between the city and school district to renovate and reconfigure the fields at TeWinkle Middle School, California Elementary School, Davis Elementary School and Costa Mesa High School.

A price of more than $40 million has been estimated by the consultant who created the designs.

A task force of city and school district officials as well as coaches and administrators from several schools contributed to the planning process and was hoping to get the school board’s approval in June and the City Council’s approval in July.

While the district says it wholeheartedly supports the project, it has cut $11 million from its budget in the last couple of years, its reserves are almost depleted and the state’s budget crisis will most likely lead to fewer resources for local schools.

Costa Mesa is also in a bind, having run a $15-million deficit this year and staring at a possible $19-million hole next year.

“They did a fantastic job [with the designs], and it’s good to have a plan and a budget and something to dream about, but I’m a little concerned about getting people all excited when we haven’t even gotten together to talk about how it would be funded,” said School Board President Dana Black.

The district just released a statement to that effect at the urging of Supt. Jeffrey Hubbard, according to district spokeswoman Laura Boss.

Several people involved with the effort have chided the district for delaying the project.

Councilwoman Katrina Foley, who is a part of the task force, said the district should approve the plans even though it’s unlikely that the city or the district could contribute any significant funding in the near future so that they are on the record and other sources can be sought out.

“The money will come from a variety of sources that have yet to be identified,” Foley said.

Bob Knapp, who coached AYSO soccer for four years and managed a Little League baseball team for 10, says that projects like this constantly get kicked down the road and never get accomplished unless the plans are approved and the funding is set aside.

Ideas like the current plan have been tossed around in Costa Mesa for more than a decade as he has watched his kid grow from a toddler to an adult and little has been done, he said.

“There’s never a good time: There’s always an excuse, but the reality is that the fields need to be built now and it should be a major priority for the city and the school district,” Knapp said, adding that funding could be found if the public agencies were willing to cut benefit packages for their workers to bring them in line with the private sector.

Putting off the decision doesn’t mean that the project is off the table, Boss said, but it will have to wait until a more appropriate time.

“Once we approve the conceptual planning, that’s a commitment and the board doesn’t take those commitments lightly,” Boss said.