Two months ago, the president of Mira Costa High School’s Baseball Booster Club, Brian McLoughlin, feared that a proposed redesign of the school’s athletic facilities could wipe out its baseball and softball programs.
At a Sept. 15 meeting, the Manhattan Beach Athletic Foundation submitted a proposal to the Manhattan Beach Unified School District Board of Education that reduced the number of baseball fields from three to one and softball fields from two to one.
The baseball community “raised Cain” in response to the suggestions, McLoughlin said.
Last week, MBAF submitted a new proposal at the board’s meeting, this time leaving two fields each for baseball and softball.
“The first proposal was done without any input from the interested parties,” McLoughlin said. “They forced our hand because they didn’t ask for our opinion. We rallied hard and got all kinds of signed lists and whatever we needed to get the process halted.”
Changes to the athletic fields were necessitated by an overall campus redesign that is underway, funded by roughly $67.5 million in bonds from the passage of Measure BB in 2008. The bond money excludes the redesign of sports facilities.
The original design submitted by MBAF added three general fields that were intended for use by football, lacrosse and soccer teams.
“The first design provided a lot of flexible space for field sports,” said MBAF president Gary Wayland. “But the concern was that it provided no facility for lower level baseball or softball.”
Baseball advocates said at the Sept. 15 meeting that the proposed changes would not allow the baseball and softball programs to remain competitive, and demanded a redesign.
Over the last couple of months, said Wayland met four times with a subcommittee made up of representatives from all sports to come up with a new plan.
“It’s gone beautifully,” McLoughlin said. “We got buy-in from all sports and avoided an ultra-costly design.”
The new plan — which will ultimately be voted on by the MBUSD Board of Trustees — includes two general fields, with the option of a third field in baseball’s off-season.
“The committee worked hard to find a solution with field space that would not damage baseball and softball and we think we found it,” Wayland said.
Wayland projects the new design will cost between $1.1 million and $1.4 million, as opposed to the $2 million estimated for the original proposal. All changes to athletic facilities will be funded solely by MBAF, which hopes to break ground on the project next June.
The MBUSD board will hold meetings to take public input on the new proposal before members vote at a Dec. 8 school board meeting.
“They want to make sure it’s not just a committee compromise, but best for the overall district,” Wayland said. ER
