Photograph by Kathy De La Torre
Caroline Vazquez, 4, rests on the play equipment at El Quito Park. Plans to turn part of the park into a Pony League field were derailed when neighbors complained the new use would be inappropriate at a neighborhood park.
Neighbors say no to idea for Pony League play in El Quito
By Kara Chalmers
Some 22 neighbors of El Quito Park packed the small City Hall administrative office on Aug. 21, to complain about the city's plans to convert the parks' field--used today for adult softball--to a permanent baseball diamond for Saratoga Pony League. The main opposition concerned the conversion of a neighborhood park to what neighbors called a community park.
But the neighbors left the meeting happy, since the city decided to quash the El Quito Park plan and go back to the drawing board.
"We feel they recommended the multiple uses of the park by all generations and groups," said one Paseo Presada resident, Kathy McGoldrick.
The plan was part of a bigger project the city has undertaken to renovate and make better use of Congress Springs Park, a 10-acre park widely used for baseball and soccer in the city.
In Saratoga, there is a shortage of flat grassy land for sports. The Congress Springs renovation came about partly because of the need to maximize the space for playfields in the city that already exists.
The $1.2 million renovation of Congress Springs involves redesigning the layout of the park's five fields. The goals of the renovation are to get as many playfields as possible from the fields there now, and to make the old and uneven fields safer. The construction is tentatively set to begin at the park in December. The park's user groups--American Youth Soccer Organization and Saratoga Little League and Pony League--will need to use alternate sites during the renovation at Congress Springs Park.
The renovation plans for Congress Springs approved on Aug. 7, by the Saratoga Parks and Recreation Commission on the recommendation of the Congress Springs Park renovation project's task force, eliminates the Pony League field that is at Congress Springs today--the field closest to Glen Brae Drive. The task force is made up of representatives of Pony League, Little League and the AYSO, city staff, City Councilman Nick Streit and the architects and consultants hired to design the new park. The meetings are open to the public.
According to the city's director of Public Works, John Cherbone, the task force suggested moving the field to El Quito Park, since there is an existing softball field at El Quito. He said also that the city's other parks don't have as much room as El Quito.
The plans for Congress Springs contain three permanent Little League infields, and two portable ones. The space at the park could be used for up to eight soccer fields and two T-ball infields, as well. While the tennis and basketball courts would be removed, the playground and restrooms would stay untouched.
But because of the neighborhood opposition voiced on Aug. 21, the task force and the commission now must look again at the options offered by the architect. The commission will recommend an option to the city council, which will discuss it on Sept. 6.
One of the options might be to keep the Pony League field at the new Congress Springs. But if Pony League is kept, one of the planned Little League fields will be eliminated. According to Cherbone, the task force will look at ways to fit the Pony League field into Congress Springs Park in a way that would not impact the planned soccer fields. But Cherbone said it would be up to Little League and Pony League to "hash it out," among themselves.
Saratoga Little League is made up of 450-500 children from ages 5-12, who reside in Saratoga.
During the past season, the Saratoga Pony League was comprised of 39 players, ages 13 to 14, according to Earl Charles, the president of the League, who added that he expects up to 50 players next year. All players in the League must live in Saratoga. From the end of March to mid-June, the League plays about two to three games per week, he said. It also has practices beginning in January on Saturdays, and a tournament that lasts till August.
While high school fields are too large for Pony League players, Little League fields are too small. When asked if it was possible for both Pony and Little leagues to share a field, Charles said no, since the dimensions are too different. He pointed out that for the Pony League, staying at Congress Springs would be the best option, but that the League was very willing to move to another city park, as well.
"We find that a number of the families have kids at different ages playing baseball and it's nice for them to go from one field to another to watch their sons and daughters play baseball," Charles said.
If the city decides to eliminate Pony League altogether, Charles said there would be a huge void in the city's baseball program. He said that Pony League helps build players for high school baseball and that without it, Saratoga stands to lose many good players to other cities' teams.
"Taking that away is like taking a huge part of a kid's childhood away, in terms of the baseball aspect," Charles said.
The El Quito Park neighbors who turned out on Aug. 21, cited the increased number of parking spaces, traffic, numbers of people, trash and noise, the use of hard balls rather than soft balls and a reduction in grass and trees that the proposed use of El Quito might bring.
"This really is a neighborhood park, used by a lot of different people," said neighbor Karen Murphy at the meeting. "We really need a place to just play."
The vocal opposition by the El Quito Park neighbors was nothing new for the commission, which met similar opposition when it explored using the Marshall Lane School, as well as the Blue Hills School and Azule Park sites for playfields over the past two years, according to commission Chairwoman Judy Alberts.
In early 1998, the city began looking at school sites for playfields. A task force was formed with representatives from the Saratoga, Cupertino and Moreland school districts to explore developing joint use fields.
"The public outcry from residents around Marshall Lane and Blue Hills Azule was enormous," Alberts said. "And the city council directed our commission to stop researching utilizing the schools."
Saratoga, California Since 1955
