Council to Discuss Synthetic Turf at Lions Field

Synthetic turf is definitely coming to . 

What’s at stake now is what the field will look like and how much the city wants to spend. 

After contracting with a design firm to come up with a plan for the field, the City Council will bring back the issue at its meeting today to discuss the best way to move forward, especially since the city is still short on funding the entire project. 

According to a staff report, the design firm, Santa Clara-based Verde Design, found that people favored a new layout of the field that would put the least amount of soccer-field striping on the baseball infield. 

A water drainage system also is proposed to prevent the amount of runoff flowing toward the Belle Air School baseball field—an issue a number of folks raised when the project was first proposed.

The project is supposed to go out for bid in July and be built in the fall or winter. 

However, the estimated $1.5 million to $2 million price tag on the project is still short $500,000. 

As part of redesigning the field, the city wants to build a new concession stand and restrooms, yet the city only has $1 million of park in-lieu funds to work with. According to staff, other potential funding sources could be state grant programs such as CalRecycle’s recycled tires program or the state Department of Parks and Recreation’s Prop. 84 program, donations from community organizations or more infusions from the city’s Redevelopment Agency. 

In other discussion, the council will receive an update about the city’s . The plan’s draft environmental impact report is set to be released in June, when the public will have another opportunity to voice their opinions about the project. The plan is meant to reinvigorate the downtown area with more development that relies on fewer cars and more transit.