Residents who live in the area showed up in strength at the meeting to voice their opinions and complain about an informal meeting with city officials held the previous week.

Sandy Cross, who lives near the park, claimed that Councilman Nick Streit told them at the meeting that as far as he was concerned there was only one proposal in front of them--to build two regulation soccer fields and restrooms at the park.

Critical residents say that building soccer fields would destroy the park and lead to parking problems. After the first wave of protests last year, the city council suspended the Kevin Moran task force committee and decided to look at other open spaces for building soccer fields. All plans for Kevin Moran Park were put on hold.

"I think they were trying to test the waters. Nick told us that the city council was going to vote on the proposal on soccer fields on June 1," Cross said.

John Cherbone, the city's public works director, was the only other city official who was present at the informal meeting. "The meeting was called to solicit opinion," he said.

Cross said the few neighbors present at the meeting beseeched Streit not to bring the matter to the city council before October. "Most of the residents will be travelling during the summer months. There is no way we will be ready to discuss this before October," she said.

At the city council meeting, speaker after speaker berated the city council and accused them of underhanded tactics.

Marty Goldberg, who lives on Scully Avenue, said he was shocked that he had not been informed about the special meeting. "There is a lot of backroom politics going on. I am ashamed of how everything has transpired," he said.

Roger Piazza, a Kevin Moran Park neighbor, reminded the council that more than 540 signatures of local residents opposed to the building of soccer fields had been collected and presented to the council last year. "You represent all the people. You cannot be working for a special interest group," he said. "In the corporate world this would be called abuse of power."

Bob Allen, another resident, asked the council to prepare an environmental study so that residents could determine the real impact of having two soccer fields in the neighborhood.

Resident Elaine Clabeaux suggested to the city council that the city's Heritage Orchard be used for the new soccer fields. "The trees from that orchard would find a lovely home in Kevin Moran Park," she said. Clabeaux added that since the Heritage Orchard was located in the heart of the city, everyone would benefit if the soccer fields were located there.

Streit said at the meeting that the Kevin Moran task force would be brought back and more opinions would be sought from the neighbors.

"There are no finished plans, there are no rough plans," said Vice Mayor Norman Kline.

At the meeting, the council decided that it wanted to explain the whole process of the park's development--from forming a task force committee to the final vote by the city council--to the residents at the next city council meeting on June 1.

The city purchased the 10.3-acre park in 1970, but because of budgetary constraints the original master plan was never developed. In 2001, the Kevin Moran Park was made part of the Capital Improvement Project and $400,000 was earmarked for it. At a meeting in May 2004, the council indicated its plans for the park.

In other city business, the council voted 5-0 to approve a master fees schedule that proposes fee increases across the board. However, the proposed water heater replacement fee has now been reduced to $45 from the initial suggested figure of $78. The council also decided to listen to a request by the Saratoga Drama Group and delay the increase of a ticket surcharge until January 2006. All other fee increases will take effect July 1.