Morgan Hill’s outdoor Sports Complex on Condit Road will prove
to be a wise investment of Redevelopment Agency funds into the
economic health of the city, in more ways than one
The Condit Road outdoor sports complex – set to open this fall – is the last of the city’s facilities-related redevelopment projects, and it’s a doozy.
The $10 million project provides much-needed improved outdoor fields, converting two of 11 fields from grass to artificial turf, but it also provides important amenities like bleachers, a clubhouse, field lights, paved parking, and sidewalks linking the facility to the nearby aquatics center, to the 38-acre complex on Condit Road.
Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League – which serves approximately 1,200 boys and girls ages 6 to 18 from Morgan Hill, Gilroy and San Martin – will be the primary lessee for the soccer fields.
The complex not only serves local youth who participate in the soccer and football leagues that use the fields, but it also draws lots of business on weekends to local business.
According to Don Mott of the Orchard Valley Youth Soccer League, his group’s tournaments bring up to 147,000 visitors a year to Morgan Hill to spend money at local hotels, restaurants, grocery stores, and gas stations.
“This soccer complex is the only facility in northern California that CYSA operates,” Mott told reporter Tony Burchyns after City Council approved the project in January. “This is a very unique place and CYSA can direct all the traffic from northern California into Morgan Hill at their discretion. If we have a state-of-the-art facility that’s what could happen for the next 30 or 40 years.”
These improvements make the complex better for local youth using the fields, but also cement the complex’s draw as a regional sports facility, which is good for Morgan Hill businesses, Morgan Hill’s sales tax revenue, and Morgan Hill’s image.
Despite some concerns expressed by critics that RDA money should be spent on economic development, this project, especially, is exactly that. Just ask the managers of the hotels that line Condit Road.
This project will prove to be a wise investment of RDA funds into the economic health of the city, in more ways than one.
