Campus redesign may reduce baseball program

Supporters of Mira Costa High School’s baseball and softball programs are worried that a proposed redesign of the campus’ athletic facilities will have severe and lasting consequences for both programs.

The area for ball fields might be shrunk as the entire campus undergoes a reconfiguration.

“The proposed [athletic] design will wipe out these programs we’ve been trying to build up for the past seven years,” said President of Manhattan Beach Youth Athletics Andrew Hunter in an interview this week.

In 2008, residents voted to approve $67.5 million in Measure BB bond funds toward the rehabilitation of campus facilities, with the exclusion of those used for athletic programs.

“When the bond passed for the academic side of the campus’ buildings, we thought it would be a good time to look at the athletic side of things too,” said Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation President Gary Wayland, who drew up a separate proposal for the redesign of sports facilities.

While the athletic redesign is subject to board approval, it will be funded entirely by MBAF.

One of the changes in the Measure BB plans presented at a Sept. 15 MBUSD Board meeting by John Dale of Harley Ellis Devereaux – the design firm hired by the district – included moving six tennis courts from the campus’ southwest corner to its interior in order to accommodate 140 new parking spaces. The new arrangement of the courts would displace portions of the existing baseball and softball fields.

MBAF subsequently proposed the reduction of two baseball fields and three softball fields down to one each in exchange for three smaller, general fields — that could also be used by football, soccer and lacrosse teams — and a new gymnasium.

A new baseball field, roughly two thirds the size of existing fields would be installed at the northwest side of campus.  

“The changes would add significant playing fields that will enable us to accommodate the changing nature of athletic programs and provide significant access for the community,” Wayland said.

He also said that the changes would give the baseball program its own home and offer other options, including the addition of a ring for discus and mounted backstops for baseball practice.

“We think the new fields will provide much more flexibility and use for the whole athletic program with minimal disruption to baseball,” Wayland said.

Baseball and softball supporters protested the plans at the meeting, however, saying that they would not meet the needs of programs that led Costa’s varsity baseball team to become 2010 Bay League Champions.

“We’re not at all convinced the new field will even fit,” said Brian McLoughlin, president of Costa’s Baseball Booster Club. “It looks like there will be room for no more than two or three rows of bleachers. The dimensions don’t work.”

Other concerns included a reduction in the size of the outfield and insufficient room for batting cages, dugouts and snack stands. Hunter said the plans will leave the freshman/sophomore and junior varsity teams with no place to practice.

“These programs are being far reduced to what is competitive in this community,” McLoughlin said.

Hunter is also concerned about the proximity of the proposed placement of the new field to the surrounding neighborhood. 

“The new field would be crammed back in a corner with houses on both sides,” he said. “We’ll either need a 100 plus foot netting to protect the homes or you’re going to see balls fly into the homes over there.”

Though Wayland said he met with head varsity baseball coach Cassidy Olson on several occasions, many protesters felt they were kept out of the loop and that alternative options to MBAF’s proposal were not being seriously considered.

“We’ve been given no details or dimensions,” McLoughlin said. “We just want a thoughtful exchange of ideas.”

Hunter and McLoughlin are both concerned that the changes may cause baseball and softball student-athletes to play for other districts.

MBAF will hold a meeting next week with representatives from different Costa athletic programs to discuss design plans before they are submitted to the MBUSD Board for final approval.

“All the kids in our program now are the ones that will be affected by this,” Hunter said. “We want to continue building these programs — not take away from them — so our baseball and softball athletes say, ‘I want to be a Mustang.’” ER

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