AGENDA #5d
MEMORANDUM
TO: Mayor and Town Council
FROM: W. Calvin Horton, Town Manager
SUBJECT: Use of Town Owned Athletic Playing Fields
DATE: November 12, 2001
This report is a follow-up to a September 24 information report and a subsequent meeting with various user groups regarding the use of Town athletic field space.
BACKGROUND
The September 24 information report provided information about the design, ongoing maintenance and recent turf renovation work at the Homestead Park athletic fields. It provided specific information about use scheduling and turf maintenance issues to be considered to minimize damage to these hybrid Bermuda fields. It also included a copy of the Homestead Park athletic field turf evaluation done for the Town by an independent turf consultant and a comprehensive summary of 2001 field usage schedules. A copy of the September 24 report is attached (attachment #1).
At the September 24 meeting, a citizen representing the Rainbow Soccer League requested that the Town make additional efforts to provide access to Town athletic fields during soccer leagues’ primary spring and fall playing seasons. In response to that request, the Council asked the staff to schedule a meeting with representatives from various user groups to discuss the Town’s athletic field maintenance program and consider options to better provide field space during peak use periods.
The Town currently makes the Homestead Park and Scroggs fields available for lease from mid-April through late-November, although the Scroggs field was leased to one youth club (Rainbow Soccer) beginning in February, and continuing through the spring 2001 season. The Scroggs field has been available for use throughout the summer and fall this year. The Homestead Park fields were closed for turf restoration from mid-summer through the third week of September. Equivalent field space at Cedar Falls was made available to the user groups until the Homestead fields were opened. Goals were moved to Cedar Falls and Town staff lined the fields. This season, beginning in August, various groups including Rainbow Soccer, the Strikers, Triangle Futbol Club, and the YMCA, leased space at Cedar Falls fields until the Homestead Park fields reopened on September 22.
On October 9 staff from the Public Works and Parks and Recreation Departments met with representatives of various user groups including Rainbow Soccer, Triangle Futbol and the Strikers. The group reviewed the recommendation made by the Town’s independent turf consultant to minimize play on the hybrid Bermuda fields when the turf is dormant and discussed procedures that may be able to be put in place to extend the playing season on these fields. We also discussed the advantages of oversized field design and strictly enforced use restrictions that allow the 25 hybrid Bermuda fields at the WRAL soccer complex in Raleigh to be opened for use in late winter before the turf has broken dormancy. After reviewing the staff’s initial recommendation to limit use of the Town’s three Bermuda fields to the period from April through November 2002 it was determined that the primary concern of the user group representatives was to secure field use during the period from February until the Bermuda fields were available in April. In response to this the staff agreed to the following:
· That the two large softball/baseball fields at Cedar Falls Park will be made available for youth soccer league play beginning in February 2002 and continuing until the Homestead Park fields are reopened in April;
· That additional efforts will be made by the Town to minimize the unauthorized winter use of the Homestead Park fields that appears to have been primarily responsible for this year’s turf damage and that if these efforts are successful that the staff will consider reopening the fields prior to April in future years; and
· That if it is acceptable to the Chapel Hill/Carrboro School System the Town will permit youth soccer league play on the Scroggs field beginning on March 1, 2002.
In addition to these specific agreements the group discussed at some length the need to restrict unauthorized use of fields, especially by adults wearing cleated shoes, to protect the fields from costly turf damage and increase the fields availability for future scheduled use. The group agreed that the installation of additional fencing, the removal of the adult sized goals, and improved signage should be considered at this time.
We believe that the best long-term solution would be to build more fields suitable for soccer and other field sports. Within the next few years, fields suitable for community use should become available at Smith Middle School. Additional fields may be located at Meadowmont Park and Southern Community Park. We believe these fields should be designed to be as large as possible in order to minimize turf damage due to overuse. This would allow goals to be shifted in a large field so that areas of highest wear can also be shifted.