East Petaluma sports field project enters second phase

Restrooms to be installed at East Washington Community Sports Fields with baseball fields to follow.|

The ball is rolling for a second phase of improvements at Petaluma’s East Washington Community Sports Fields and bathrooms and concession stands are slated to be added late this year, marking two key steps forward for the 26-acre city-owned complex that’s been envisioned as a recreational mecca for decades.

The current park project that includes six playing fields, restrooms, an estimated 336 parking spaces, play areas and community spaces was approved by the city council in 2007, with an estimated cost of $23 million required for completion. The first phase, a $6.5 million project that included three lighted soccer and lacrosse fields, parking, roadways and walkways, was completed last year.

At its Oct. 17 meeting, the Petaluma City Council voted unanimously to approve a contract award of up to $285,458 for the design and engineering work for a phase two, which will include a regulation-size baseball diamond, seating, a dugout and press booth, additional restrooms and concession facilities, walkways and roadways, as well as additional parking, Assistant City Manager Scott Brodhun said.

“We will be asking the designer to design a facility that will meet our most urgent unmet need – baseball playing facilities for those 13 and older, so once kids complete Little League, they’ll have good facilities … and we want to have the sense of a community baseball park, not just a flat open space,” he said.

A total of $757,000 is budgeted from the parkland development impact fees fund to cover planning, design, construction contracts and management costs as well as a project contingency. Since plans are still being developed, Brodhun said there’s no current cost estimate or time line for the construction work.

Deputy Director of Public Works and Utilities Larry Zimmer said funds to cover construction have not yet been identified, though Brodhun said the American Legion’s Petaluma Leghorns have expressed interest in helping to raise money and impact fees and grants will be tapped.

Gretchen Stranzl McCann Landscape Architects, who developed the master plan for the sports field, will likely begin design work next month, a process the city hopes to have completed in a year, Zimmer said.

A wetlands mitigation project to fill in and relocate an existing marsh area in the complex is planned to take place next summer, and Zimmer said he hopes that construction can began around that same time.

The capital improvement budget initially only included funds for design and engineering work for the field and for construction contracts for the wetlands mitigation project, but the scope was expanded to encompass a more complete development after cost savings from the first round of work and as additional money was accrued from park land impact fees levied on new developments in the city, Zimmer said.

“We are trying to use every dollar of available funds to move this project forward and as we have the money, we do as much as we can,” he said.

Design and engineering work for the third and final phase, which is anticipated to include the Little League and softball diamonds and the rest of the developments to round out the master plan, is planned to kick off when the construction begins for the second round of improvements, Brodhun said.

Meanwhile, a separate Oct. 3 city council vote approved a $345,640 contract to install a pre-engineered bathroom and concession stand and build two new ADA accessible parking stalls and associated improvements at the complex. Construction for the $632,000 project is tentatively set to begin in December and last nearly three months, with funding from impact fees, grants as well as donations and developer contributions.

The bathrooms, which will have three stalls for each gender, will replace an existing bank of portable bathrooms at the facility, Brodhun said.

The project has a storied history in the community, and it began as a proposal by a retired Berkeley firefighter and volleyball coach whose investors envisioned the “Redwood Empire Sportsplex” as an expansive sports facility with six lighted softball fields, four sand volleyball pits, six batting cages, a playground, indoor basketball courts, 294 parking spaces and an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse. The city was looking into a revenue-sharing agreement with the private investors to make the complex a reality, though the partnership fell through in 2006, a year before the city took on the project as its own.

Mayor David Glass, who has spent nearly two decades watching the evolution of the complex, praised the forward motion.

“It’s really positive,” he said. “It’s really great that this thing is on a path now to be achieved.”

Councilwoman Kathy Miller, who has also championed the fields, said she’s “very pleased” with the new developments. She said the complex will be an economic boon to the city, drawing tourists for tournaments while also adding options for recreating and boosting a healthy community.

“It’s really good news for the whole community I think a project like this improves our quality of life and that’s important,” she said.

(Contact Hannah Beausang at hannah.beausang@arguscourier.com. On Twitter @hannahbeausang.)

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