Hundreds of men, women and children braved the frigid Thursday
evening weather last week to attend the grand opening of the
$10-million Outdoor Recreation Center on Condit Road.
MORGAN HILL
Hundreds of men, women and children braved the frigid Thursday evening weather last week to attend the grand opening of the $10-million Outdoor Recreation Center on Condit Road.
Perhaps it was fitting that the noise from the attendees, especially children, drowned out remarks from city leaders when the official ceremony began around 7 p.m. The bleachers went abuzz minutes later when officials approached the crowd for the symbolic ribbon-cutting and tossed basketballs, fooballs and soccer balls to the eager, hand-waving crowd.
Officials have touted the economic benefits of the center situated on about 40 acres in the southeast portion of the city. Built primarily with Redevelopment Agency money, the center’s two artificial turf-laden fields will be used by Pop Warner football and Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League at the cost of about $4 per hour, said Steve Rymer, the director of the Recreation and Community Services Department. Outside groups groups will pay between $28 and $56 an hour.
In addition to the fields, the center has bleachers, a clubhouse with restrooms and meeting areas, all beneath bright lights. As part of the project, a parking lot was built in and the area was landscaped to seamlessly fit in with the adjacent Aquatics Center. It’s part of a larger master plan for the area, with plans to possibly build a baseball/softball field down the line, Rymer said.
There are 11 grass soccer fields at the site that are leased to the California Youth Soccer League (CYSA) for regional tournaments for about $12,000 a year. The city estimates operational costs for the enhanced facility could be $71,000 a year depending on usage. The cost would be covered by money from field renters and general fund dollars.
“The community access in this case is recovered through low fees, and regional groups and for-profits are paying the full share,” Rymer said.
The ORC took about six months to build, and its operating budget is projected around $68,000 annually, with annual revenue from user fees projected “in the mid-30s,” Rymer said.
Regional tournaments are expected to drive business in the area motels and other businesses, officials said.
“This is going to generate a lot of money for us,” councilman Greg Sellers said during his remarks to the gathered crowd.
Stefan Valdez, 11, looked forward to taking the field with his Raiders Pop Warner teammates. The wide receiver and free safety was in full uniform Thursday night and the benefits of the new field were already apparent on him.
“It’s a lot better than grass because you get itchy,” he said.
Joe Ynez grilled hot dogs at the concession area, where hot chocolate was being served to the bundled-up guests.
“It’s all about the kids,” the proud father of a Raider cheerleader said, as his wife Pam chimed in to say the Pop Warner league waited three years for its new home.
“I give kudos to the city,” she said.
Rich Phillips, the league’s president, said the fields were “a dream come true” and a huge improvement over the 50-year-old Britton Middle School field where the league previously held its games.
“We’ve been talking about this for 25 years,” he said.
The bigger picture
The addition of the ORC means the city now has four recreation and sports facilities, which city officials consider “one integrated system,” Rymer said.
Comparing the first four months of the 2007 fiscal year, the period from July to October, to the same period in 2006, the city is actually $220,000 better off, Rymer said. The net impact was $500,000 in 2006 and $280,000 in 2007, he said. The department’s total budget is roughly $5 million.
What the smaller net impact means is the city is successfully leveraging all of its offerings, Rymer said. As previously reported, Rymer’s department did exceed its budget in the last fiscal year by more than $200,000, in part due to the Centennial Recreation Center opening in October 2006. Officials anticipated the center’s opening would mean some lost revenue at the Aquatics Center and the Cultural and Community Center, which is what happened.
Nevertheless, that’s starting to balance out as city shifts resources among all of its facilities, Rymer said.
