SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO : Sports Park, Center Approved by Council

In an attempt to appease several outspoken groups, the City Council has agreed to allocate nearly $1.5 million in bond money for the first phases of a sports park and community center.

The council vote last week was unanimous, although Councilman Gary L. Hausdorfer made an attempt to spread the money around for projects at both the north and south ends of the city.

Hausdorfer suggested putting off the community center funding temporarily and, instead, use some of the funds for the north end of the city, where equestrian facilities and a bed-and-breakfast inn have been planned.

Hausdorfer backed off, however, and the council approved a city staff recommendation to spend the funds at the south end of the city, where the sports park and community center will be located on 25 acres of the 56-acre Kinoshita Farm.

The vote was considered a compromise among the various groups that have lobbied the council over the past several months: parent organizations, which want more fields for youth sports; the city’s large equestrian community, which seeks more stables; and senior citizens who have sought funds for a center.

Mayor Gil Jones said the council’s ultimate decision was a salute to the lengthy public process that set the spending priorities.

“I support the staff recommendation because I know the time and energy that went into it,” Jones said, adding that he was confident that “eventually everyone will get what they want.”

Although several of the parents who filled City Hall lobbied for more soccer fields, the council opted to have the sports park consist of two baseball fields and one soccer field.

A total of $770,000 was allocated for the initial phase of the park, which will include turf for the fields, backstops, brick-dust infields and parking for about 100 cars. Future phases will pay for lighting, dugouts and an announcer’s booth.

The other $692,000 will be spent on a conceptual design for what will ultimately be a 32,000-square-foot community center, which will cover nearly an acre, said Bill Ramsey, the city’s senior planner. The project will be launched with construction of 5,000 square feet of the center, he said.

Jones said that the funding for the community center was “absolutely imperative” and that the center should be a priority. The council also directed the staff to work with the Capistrano Unified School District and the Capistrano Bay Park and Recreation District to seek new playing fields for youth sports.

The bond funding for the projects comes from San Juan Capistrano’s historic $21-million Save Open Space Bond Act approved by voters in 1990 as Measure D on the ballot. Using those funds, the city purchased the Kinoshita Farm for $9.5 million and the 30-acre Swanner Ranch at the city’s north end for $6.9 million.

The funds the council allocated this week came from the $2 million in bond money reserved last fall to launch the construction of facilities on the new city properties.

Most of the remaining funds could be used to purchase the 30-acre Williams ranch at the north end of the city, Ramsey said.