City, sports teams to start a youth sports foundation
By Kara Chalmers
Although the city has committed $1.2 million to renovate Congress Springs Park, that is still not enough to fund the high-end amenities that city officials and the park's user groups want.
The $1.2 million only includes the cost of new turf, irrigation, landscaping and basic ball field infrastructure. The amenities--brick backstops, courtyard pavers, batting cages, portable bleachers, backstops and fencing, utility rooms for storage, scoreboards--would cost extra. The amenities were not included in the original scope of work of the firm that the city hired to design the park, according to the city's public works director, John Cherbone. The amenities should total an extra $640,000, he said.
At the Saratoga City Council meeting on Nov. 15, Cherbone said that city staff, the Congress Springs task force committee and the city's parks and recreation commission hope that most of the money could be raised by private donations.
The city, Saratoga Soccer and Saratoga Little League are trying to form a nonprofit organization, called the Saratoga Youth Sport Foundation to solicit donations for the park. Ultimately, the foundation will be independent of the city, Cherbone said.
The council approved a $40,000 increase in the contract with the design firm, Greg G. Ing and Associates, for the additional design work for the amenities. The council also approved spending $15,000 on a donation brochure that the firm would prepare. The brochure will list and picture the amenities and their costs. Donors would be able to choose a particular amenity, purchase it and in return, receive recognition of the donation, if desired. The parks and recreation commission approved using park development funds for both the increased design fee and the brochure fee.
The total additional design fees--$55,000 including the brochure--will be spread proportionately to each amenity item, and reimbursed to the city through the foundation, based on the total donated. This could be a cost to the city in the end, depending on the amount of donations, Cherbone said, but, either way, the city would have a detailed master plan for the park that would include all amenities.
The foundation will probably not get off the ground until after the New Year, Cherbone said. Hopefully, the brochure would be ready sooner, he said.
Any citizen interested in volunteering, or donating, can call Cherbone at 408.868.1241.
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Saratoga, California Since 1955
