September 28, 2006

OPINION

Nancy Pyle’s response to constituent’s frustration over lack of sports fields

As many of you know, District 10 lacks fields, or to be more precise, lacks adequate space. Let me begin by saying I truly understand your frustration, as I too, am frustrated. Not only has this been a major issue for my office, but also more immediately it has forced the Almaden Valley Youth Soccer League’s (AVYSL) back to the wall.

With a growing population of youth, increased demand for youth athletic activities, school fields closing, and our parks already filled to capacity with AVYSL teams, the AVYSL simply does not have an adequate amount of space to fulfill the demands and needs of an expanding league.

Upon my arrival at City Hall in January of 2005, residents in the South Almaden Valley Urban Reserve (SAVUR) sued the city and the San Jose United School District (SJSUD) over the proposed Sports Complex on McKean Road. On advice from our city attorney, I refrained from any discussions with constituents regarding our progress on this issue.

I spent several months researching new sites in partnership with the Almaden Youth Association (AYA). At one point the city did make an offer to IBM for a piece of property off Harry Road. Unfortunately, as with most landowners, IBM was unwilling to sell the land for an amount the city and the AYA could afford.

With alternative properties seemingly unavailable, the AYA and my office turned our attention back to the McKean Road site despite the lawsuit, and began to hold meetings with the San Jose Unified School District (SJUSD).

These meetings appeared to be moving in the right direction; however on July 18 of this year my office received a letter from SJSUD that stated SJUSD no longer held an interest in working together to pursue the development of a sports complex on their McKean Road property.

Currently SJUSD is renovating a number of fields, thereby leaving a large number of previously utilized fields unavailable during the AVYSL’s fall soccer season. In addition, the AVYSL is currently playing on all of the fields in Almaden which are suitable for sports league activities.

I requested that the Department of Parks, Recreation & Neighborhood Services (PRNS) find additional park space outside of Almaden to accommodate AVYSL’s need; however AVYSL turned down offers to play at Vista Park and Cahalan Park.

In addition, I have asked PRNS staff to start the temporary permitting and public hearing notice so that AVYSL may utilize the Burchell portion of T.J. Martin for the remainder of this season. I would gladly propose that the AVYSL play their games at additional parks in Almaden if we had them, but the impasse which we currently face is a lack of additional open space in Almaden, period.

The situation we currently face stems from an increase in Almaden’s growth and development during the 1970s and 1980s, periods when our population began to increase dramatically. This growth continued into the 1990s with increasing developments in Almaden and beyond. The unfortunate fact is that as this new growth occurred, the issue of increased parks and open space, or more specifically field space was left unattended. This problem has only continued to grow during the past six years and our district has been left with very little open space for additional parks.

As of this week, members of the AVYSL Board, my office and our Department of PRNS will be meeting to discuss solutions to the issues facing the AVYSL’s current season. In addition, I will be asking this group to start identifying alternative sites in District 10 for fields. While District 10 may be lacking open space or affordable land, this committee will explore each and every possible option to ensure that we move forward together on this issue.

Furthermore, next week I will be asking my colleagues on the city council to support a recommendation proposing a citywide sports field feasibility study. Like most other cities in the Bay Area, San Jose is struggling to meet the growing demands for athletic field usage within a citywide context of overextended and limited park space.

This study will enable the city of San Jose to understand the increased demand for athletic fields in the city and allow for the development of a plan of action to respond to this critical situation. This study will look at options for renovating existing parks/fields and more importantly, will identify new sites in each council district for the development of new athletic fields. This study will also address the need for a citywide youth sports complex and best practices for partnerships between the city, school districts and organized sports groups.

It is far too easy to partake in a cycle of shifting blame when asking the question of why we don’t currently have sports fields. Now is the time to put that blame aside and come together, bringing every necessary party to the table in order to achieve the development of new fields in our city. I am committed to working with each of our groups. In order to succeed, this process will require the full and active involvement of our community members, our city departments, and most importantly, local property owners. This process will take time and our goals cannot be attained overnight, but I am confident that we will find solutions, which will allow our children to play, learn and grow.