Morgan Hill resident Jim Sergi has some property and a plan that
he thinks will realize the city’s long-term goal of establishing a
brand new outdoor baseball and softball field facility.
Morgan Hill resident Jim Sergi has some property and a plan that he thinks will realize the city’s long-term goal of establishing a brand new outdoor baseball and softball field facility.
Sergi has about 10 acres on the northeast corner of Condit Road and Tennant Avenue that he wants to sell to the city for “fair market value.” The property is listed for sale at an asking price of $6.2 million.
The city wants at least 20 acres for a new sports field complex, and Sergi said adding properties adjacent to his, which are also for sale, would make up about 20 acres.
The properties are undeveloped, and scattered with oak trees and the remnants of a former orchard, with a blanket of knee-high grass covering the ground.
Situated next to the city’s Aquatics Center, and just a couple doors down from the Outdoor Sports Center on Condit Road, Sergi said his property is the ideal spot for new sports fields.
“The kids won’t have to cross the street. You would have one park from Tennant all the way to San Pedro (avenues),” Sergi said. “It will be a great destination for kids’ sports for the whole state, which is what the city wants.”
The city’s goal, as identified in its parks master plan and capital improvement program, is to purchase property “inside or outside the city” to build new baseball and softball fields, Morgan Hill recreation and community services director Steve Rymer said.
“The first step is to find a property that meets our needs, and acquire it, and then find the resources to build and develop it,” Rymer said.
This goal has been part of the city’s master plan for parks and recreation for several years, but recently the city council changed the preferred location for a future 20-acre-plus complex. Instead of trying to develop the fields adjacent to the existing OSC, a 38-acre complex of soccer and football fields, the city decided to locate future baseball and softball activities elsewhere.
Soccer is increasingly popular in Morgan Hill, Rymer explained, and any available vacant land adjacent to the OSC would be better for soccer.
“The OSC is better for rectangular fields, and it would be better not to have both (soccer and baseball) on the same facility,” Rymer said.
Rymer declined to comment on the feasibility of Sergi’s plan or the desirability of his property, though he said he first spoke to the property owner about the possibility several months ago. Rymer said the city is “looking at” other properties “within the city limits and (on) adjacent unincorporated county land.” He declined to say how many properties the city has looked at or where they are exactly.
Sergi presented his plan to the Parks and Recreation Commission last month.
The city is suffering financially, but the cost of any property to build new fields is not the hard part – the city has about $6.9 million in its park impact fund, which is financed by developers’ impact fees. That money can only be used for capital expenses such as property purchases.
Last year, the city council approved the purchase of 43 acres on Monterey Road south of town known as Uesugi Farms’ Pumpkin Patch for $4.45 million. The city intended to use that property for future baseball and softball fields, but the deal fell through when city staff realized the city could not afford the cost to relocate the current occupants.
The expensive part will be building the fields and maintaining them for years to come. At the PRC meeting Sergi said if the city purchased his property, he would loan them the money to build the fields.
As far as maintenance and operation of the fields, Rymer said the city would likely look for a private operator to take responsibility for those management tasks. The Morgan Hill Youth Sports Alliance has such an agreement with the city at the OSC.
Morgan Hill Pony Baseball is part of the MHYSA, and with up to 700 participants every season would be one of the biggest users of a new fields facility.
“The cost of managing the facilities seems to be out of our budget,” said Pony baseball president John Bennett. “We’ve had several discussions with parks and recreation and the city as far as (looking for) plots of land, but it all runs back down to money, and how much is it going to cost to maintain the fields.”
As it has for about 30 years, Pony Baseball uses fields owned by the Morgan Hill Unified School District, at Britton Middle School, El Toro Elementary School and Burnett Elementary School, Bennett said.
New fields are not a “dire need” for Morgan Hill’s baseball players, mainly because Pony Baseball benefits from a strong force of “exceptional” volunteers who maintain the fields and ensure they are safe for regular play.
Still, the need could grow in the coming years as Bennett has seen increasing numbers in Pony Baseball’s younger divisions the last couple of years.
Sergi and the city would have some work to do if the city decides it wants to build new fields on his property. One step is to acquire neighboring property at a price the city can afford. One of the properties next to Sergi’s, a 3.9-acre parcel, is listed for sale at an asking price of $1.2 million, according to Pamela Harnett of Sheldon and Wiseman, the property’s seller.
If the money can be found, Sergi thinks his property gives the city an opportunity to act quickly on another long-standing goal – to promote more activity and fitness among young people and other residents.
“The city talks about keeping the kids active, but the money just sits there. What’s holding it up?”
