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Task force members agree on plan for Kevin Moran Park

By Shannon Burkey

The Kevin Moran Park Task Force has reached an agreement on the development of the park that for years has been the center of battles between soccer user groups and neighbors of the park.

Saratoga has a shortage of soccer playing fields for its youth teams to play on, and for years there has been talk of developing a playing field in Kevin Moran Park.

But neighbors have battled to keep the park free of a game field because of the impact it might have on the quiet neighborhood.

Both sides had to give up certain things, but they have now come to an agreement that everyone can live with.

"Huge progress has been made to reach unification," said Debbie Lillo, who represented the soccer user groups on the task force. "For all groups involved, consensus involves concessions and every group made concessions. It is pretty miraculous to get to this point and come up with a plan that made progress and that everyone could live with."

The plans for the park include adding bathrooms, a half-size basketball court, tennis courts, a bocce ball court, a meditation garden and an area of flat grass that will be used as a soccer practice field. The task force decided against putting a parking lot in at this time.

Although many of the items to be added to the park had been agreed upon by both sides for some time, the issue of flat grass was holding everyone back. The neighbors and the soccer groups were not able to agree on the size of the area of flat grass that would be used for practices.

Worried a practice field could possibly become a playing field, the neighbors wanted an area of flat grass smaller than a regulation field. But the soccer group said it needed a decent amount of space for teams to practice on, otherwise only small children would be able to use the practice field.

With the ability to use the soccer fields at West Valley College for games, the soccer side said it no longer needed to use Kevin Moran Park for games, only to practice.

"One of the biggest hang-ups was to convince the neighbors that this would never be turned into a game field," Lillo said.

The task force was able to agree upon a 325-foot length of flat grass that could be used to practice on; practices are restricted to Monday through Friday.

Task force member Elaine Clabeaux said she has been a passionate protector of the park for a long time. She did not agree with the idea to put a full-size game field in the park, but she said she likes the plan that has now been agreed upon.

"All in all, it looks like it is going to be a beautiful park that will be an asset to the city," Clabeaux said.

Clabeaux said the new design has honored all the things the neighbors thought were important and she is happy with the job the task force did.

"I think we were asked to do a job, and we all did it to the best of our ability," Clabeaux said.

The plans will go before the city council on Nov. 1 for approval.