When the One Community Action Coalition formed last September following a spree of homicides in Santa Maria, group leaders were open to any and all ideas that could bring more support to at-risk youth in the community.
During one of the coalition’s meetings in April, a group of local soccer club members showed up to speak about an issue they’d been battling for years: a lack of field space.
“How about an effort to bring a new soccer complex to the city?” they proposed to the coalition.
“That was not on our radar initially,” admitted Pete Flores, one of the founders of the One Way Action Coalition and the Director of Student Services for the Santa Maria Joint Union High School District. “What we really liked about it is it provides more sporting opportunities for our youth and is a common mission to bring the city together.”
Field space is not a new issue in Santa Maria. Every day, youth and adults alike are seeking grass to play soccer, football, baseball, lacrosse—you name it.
“It has been a problem for awhile,” Santa Maria Parks and Recreation Director, Alex Posada said. “Most of the parks we have are pretty limited in space. The issue you end up having is you have multiple teams trying to practice on field space that’s really limited.”
Many recent ideas for bringing new playing fields to the city have flopped for one logistical reason or another. The city’s most recent success is Oakley Park, which added two Little League fields and one soccer/football field. That project cost $1.2 million.
“It all comes down to what land is available and what money is available,” Posada said.
The push by One Community Action Coalition has two valuable things going for it: timing and momentum. The Santa Maria City Council recently set its five long-term city goals, and on that list was finding solutions to the field space issue.
“Given all the issues in the city, to have it show up at the top five is pretty good,” Posada said.
With that in mind, the One Community Action Coalition met and game-planned its next steps, collaborating with three Santa Maria local soccer clubs: Coastal Valley Soccer Club (CVSC), Santa Maria Valley Youth Soccer Association (SMVYSA), and Central City Soccer.
“We’re all competing for space,” Michael Lopez, Vice President of the CVSC said. “We get along, but we’re all looking for grass to play on.”
The soccer clubs are finalizing a formal petition that they plan to take around the city to help gather the support of the community.
“The big drive is to help the youth in the communities, keep them off the wrong path, and bring families together,” Lopez said. “We’re trying to come together and show that there’s a big demand for soccer.”
Planning to take the results of the petition to a Parks Commission meeting in September, advocates for the complex see benefits for the city beyond its impact on youth.
“We’ve traveled to different complexes throughout the state, and the amount of revenue that’s generated, … you could have 300 teams for a tournament and all the hotels are booked,” Lopez said. “We’re trying to present that angle to the city.”
Rough ideas for a soccer complex involve eight to 10 playing fields with space for a parking lot and bathrooms. Finding that land and paying for it would be a significant undertaking.
“You’re talking roughly 1.5 acres or more per field. Right now, we’re talking $150,000 to $175,000 per acre,” Posada said. “This has to be an all hands on deck fundraising thing. We need to build some unity around this.”
Posada said state grant money could potentially help the project.
“We’re hopeful some of that money might be available,” he said. “Hopefully we can show a definite need.”
One obstacle to unity is accommodating the needs of other sports besides soccer. The One Community Action Coalition will have to walk a difficult line in that regard.
“We’re very open to anyone. The more that join the cause, the better,” Flores said. “We want it to be representative of the community. But at some point, you have to look at the totality of why we’re going on this endeavor and the community most affected by the violence, as well as being able to draw in revenues to the city. Soccer is huge.”
If a new soccer complex is coming to Santa Maria, it’s still years away. In the meantime, teams with players young and old will continue to make do with the space available, which isn’t always comfortable—or safe.
“At Edwards Park next to Pioneer Valley High School, there’s a baseball field, but there’s also a little bit of grass,” Lopez said. “At one point during the summer, there were three soccer teams and four baseball teams practicing together. It was dangerous. It’s not a good situation.”
Send your local sports news to contributor Peter Johnson at pjohnson@newtimesslo.com.
This article appears in Aug 4-11, 2016.
