Saratoga News

City hires project manager for playing fields contracts

By Sarah Lombardo

Parents, youth sports officials and Saratoga city officials will soon be on a level playing field as negotiations begin for the land-use agreements for city parks. The first discussion was scheduled for June 30.

Parks and Recreation project manager Jay Beals, and his company, Beals Landscape Architecture, will facilitate the talks between Little League and American Youth Soccer Organization officials and parents for joint-use agreements of local sports fields. Beals will not only handle agreements for use of existing fields, such as Congress Springs Park, but also will work out agreements for the use of playing fields slated for construction throughout Saratoga, primarily at local school sites.

Beals, who has worked on playing-fields contracts for other Bay Area cities, will be paid through the city's Park Development Fund--which can only be used for park and recreation projects--rather than the general fund, according to city administrative analyst Irene Jacobs. The contract calls for Beals' payment not to exceed $47,340.

Jacobs said the fact that Beals has a recreation background should help in the talks and should allow the city to move plans for future fields along swiftly. "He's also a really good facilitator," she said.

And he may have to be. Beals' hiring comes on the tail end of failed contract talks between the city and local sports officials. Little League and AYSO officials were expected to reach an agreement with the city months ago, but plans went awry when AYSO officials said they would not pay what the city wanted.

AYSO and Little League currently pay the city $1,500 a year each for use of Congress Springs Park. The city wanted to change the flat-fee payment by sports leagues to a $12-per-child payment this year, with an eventual increase to $20 per child in following years. The extra money, City Manager Larry Perlin said, was needed to fund the maintenance of Congress Springs and the construction of future play fields.

Little League officials agreed to the charge, on the condition that certain one-time improvements be made to the field and that AYSO also agree.

AYSO didn't. Regional Commissioner Larry Fine said the fee was too high for a playing field already in poor condition. He said there are no certainties that the city will adequately maintain Congress Springs or future parks properly. "I'm not opposed to paying more money," he said, "but I don't want to pay for nothing in return."

Not all residents have supported Fine, however. In recent weeks, some have cited AYSO's 1998 budget, which states that the league will spend some $10,000 on field expenses. Fine counters that the $10,000 not only pays for the use of Congress Springs but also for the chalk used to mark the fields, grass seed and the use of other cities' fields during the season.

Jacobs said the city hopes to have a new agreement in place by the fall. "We're really shooting for September," she said. "But if it looks like we won't be ready, we'll have to extend [negotiations]."

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