Saratoga News
News
Task force approves Kevin Moran design, but neighbors still unhappy
By Jason Sweeney
In the face of continued opposition, a design has been approved for the development of Kevin Moran Park.
The final meeting of the Kevin Moran Park Task Force on May 10, a joint meeting with the Saratoga City Council, was a replay of previous meetings. A large group of neighbors to the park argued against building a full-sized soccer field there, while a handful of people spoke out for the field.
The city council approved a full-sized game field and a half-sized practice field on Jan. 4, but had extended the task force meetings in an attempt to include neighbors in the park design process.
At the May 10 task force meeting, the city council voted 4-1 for a design that includes a 330-by-195-foot single field in the northwest quarter of the park. Mayor Norman Kline was the opposing vote, preferring two separated half-sized practice fields instead of the larger field.
The original vote in January had specified a full-sized game field and a half-sized practice field, along with several other elements. However, the approved design eliminates a separate half-sized field and preserves much of the central bowl area of the park, where soccer practices are currently held.
A 66-stall parking lot, a tennis court, a restroom, picnic tables and a petanque, or bocce ball court, will go into the south corner of the park. A full-sized basketball court will go into the northwest corner of the park at the far end of the full-sized field. A meditation garden will go into the northeast corner. A pathway will wind around the full-sized field through a buffer zone on the north side of the park along neighbors' backyard fences.
The approved design now goes to a designer who will attempt to translate it into a workable plan. The designer's plan will then go before the council for approval, possibly at the June 7 city council meeting. If that plan is approved, an environmental impact report must be completed before the city council can vote to finalize the design. That vote could happen by September.
Barb Stewart, a neighbor to the park, was distraught after the May 10 task force meeting. "They don't listen to anybody," she said,"certainly not anybody that's not pro-soccer."
Stewart described Kevin Moran Park as a unique, peaceful place that would be ruined by a soccer field. "The soccer field means cars, restrooms, soccer balls flying and kids screaming."
Elaine Clabeaux, a representative of the neighborhood on the task force, said, "Two years ago, this council decided to put in a soccer field. It doesn't matter what we do. They had that as their agenda."
"The neighbors and the soccer people gave up something to come up with a compromise," Councilwoman Kathleen King said. "The neighbors gave up about 15 percent of the 100-foot, 1.6-acre buffer zone on the north side of the park. The soccer people gave up the bowl being developed as a half-sized practice field, and they would only be able to use it the way they do now."
Marty Goldberg, a neighborhood representative on the task force, said the neighbors would continue to provide oversight as the park development moves into the next phases. "Certainly, I am disappointed by the outcome. I think before we ever make the final decision for a field in Kevin Moran Park, we should convene a task force to study the current use of fields in Saratoga as well as additional fields. I feel that we have missed a tremendous opportunity to have a unique, community-wide park for all Saratogans."
The plan may have been approved, but opposition from neighbors has not abated. "We're going to continue fighting," Stewart said.
