City of Seattle Mike McGinn, Mayor

NEWS ADVISORY
SUBJECT:   Mayor Nickels announces customized, balanced plan to guide development of city ballfields
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:    6/27/2002  10:30:00 AM	FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT: Dewey Potter (206)684-7241 Office of the Mayor  (206) 684-4000

Mayor Nickels announces customized, balanced
plan to guide development of city ballfields

Seattle -- Mayor Greg Nickels today announced a balanced, customized plan to guide development of the city's ballfields that will achieve more use at existing facilities while managing those uses to protect neighborhoods.

"This is a good program for our kids and for our neighborhoods," Nickels said, "and it will help us meet demand for athletic facilities well into the future. Our kids' and our community's love of organized sports is something to be encouraged, and we're working hard to accommodate it. We listened to people, we met with neighborhood, youth and athletic groups, we visited the sites, and we tailored the program to respond to concerns."

The increased popularity of soccer, the growing participation in sports by girls, and an active baby boom generation have all contributed to demand.

In 2000, Seattle Parks and Recreation began an update of the program originally developed in 1997 in response to increased demand from sports groups for scheduled time on city ballfields. The 18-month public process included public workshops, hearings before the Board of Park Commissioners, and extensive public comment.

The mayor said he approached this issue with two of his top priorities in mind: improving basic services and strengthening neighborhoods.

 "Having grown up in Seattle, I know the central role that ballfields play in the life of our community, especially for children and for neighborhoods," the mayor said. "This balanced plan will make for a more livable Seattle."

The Joint Athletic Facilities Development Program (JAFDP), which includes plans to install new artificial surfaces at some fields, light some fields and replace outdated lights at other fields, is a blueprint for future ballfield improvements. While funds exist for some projects from the 1998 School District Building/Technology/Athletics Levy, the Pro Parks Levy approved by voters in 2000, and the City's Cumulative Reserve Fund, most of the projects are unfunded and will to wait for funding to become available.

Also announced today were several administrative changes by Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds. The goal of his changes is to provide additional protections for neighborhoods.

Details on the mayor’s decision and administrative changes by the Parks Superintendent are found on an attached background paper and can be viewed on the mayor’s web site, http://www.cityofseattle.net/mayor/default.htm.

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Mayor's Office

 The mayor’s major directions on the plan are:

• Provide safer, more playable fields all over Seattle. Develop 23 synthetic turf fields at existing field sites and at 10 school sites; safe, low maintenance synthetic turf increases the quality and capacity of the athletic field system. In our climate, it is necessary to close Parks grass fields from November to March to allow the turf to recover from use. While development costs for synthetic field surfaces are higher than for natural grass surfaces, maintenance costs are lower, since artificial turf surfaces do not require daily attention.
• Adapt the program to lessen or remove neighborhood impacts. All playfields are located in neighborhoods, and the people in surrounding communities are paying more attention to the development of athletic facilities. The main concerns are spill and glare from lights, increased traffic, scarce on-street parking, noise, occasional problems with player behavior, community access to unprogrammed open space, and impacts on habitat. The updated, customized JAFDP addresses these issues; conditions unique to each field will be explored through a public process and environmental review.
• Improve existing field lights to increase safety and reduce spillover and glare. To assess the condition of existing field lighting and to develop lighting standards, Parks commissioned a Ballfield Lighting Study in 2001 with the firm of MacGowan Broz. The study shows that all but one of the existing 19 lighted sites require replacement because they generally do not meet the desired safety requirements for users, and because of some negative impacts on the surrounding neighborhood. There are high costs associated with completely new lighting systems. The JAFDP includes replacement of 18 existing field lighting systems recommended in this study.
• Place new lights where it is appropriate, based on site selection criteria. The JAFDP includes criteria for use in the selection of sites for new field lighting. These criteria include technical considerations, performance standards, site considerations (parking, etc.), scheduling needs, and the capacity for mitigating impacts on surrounding communities. Some considerations, like geotechnical conditions, will be addressed during the planning and design process for each site. The program calls for field lights at eight Seattle Parks and Recreation sites (including 11 fields at Sand Point Magnuson) and seven School District-owned sites.

 To respond to neighborhood concerns, the mayor made the following improvements to a Parks staff recommendation:

• Queen Anne Bowl. The Mayor removed the proposal to install field lights at Queen Anne Bowl because the field is smaller than regulation size and thus less desirable to light than other projects.
• West Seattle Stadium. The Mayor will pursue the option of improving West Seattle Stadium as both a football field and a complete track and field venue. Though the original program proposed a track and field only site, further analysis showed that the stadium can safely accommodate both sports, and the stadium will continue to be the home field for West Seattle High School, Seattle Prep and O'Dea football.
• West Magnolia Playfield. The Mayor removed the recommendation to install new lights and synthetic turf on the north field at West Magnolia Playfield, based on the field's nearness to residences and the existing amount of capacity at the site. The program still proposes, in the long term, replacement of the lights on the south field and installation of synthetic turf.
• Meadowbrook Playfield. The Mayor removed the recommendation to install lights at this field because of its limited size, plans by the school district to light nearby fields, and potential impacts on neighbors and on sensitive Thornton Creek wildlife habitat.
• Miller Playfield. The Mayor included the proposal to replace the field lights at Miller Playfield among the funded projects in the JAFDP. Miller community leaders have asked that the project be a high priority. Parks will reprogram Cumulative Reserve Funds to accomplish this project in 2003-2004 biennium to respond to neighbors' concerns about light trespass from the field.

After consulting with the Mayor, Parks Superintendent Ken Bounds will make the following decisions through his administrative rulemaking authority:

• In response to community concerns, Parks has revised the Use And Scheduling Policy to consider the specific characteristics of a playfield in making decisions about how late a lighted field is in use. The current practice, to schedule lighted fields up until 11:00 p.m., will change. Now Parks will schedule a field up until 10:00 p.m. if there are residences adjoining the length of the field on two or more sides unless there are arterials, significant topography, and/or other buffers between the field and adjacent residences on one or both sides. All other lighted fields will be scheduled until 10:45 p.m.. Unless security lighting is available, lights at all fields will be turned off 15 minutes after the end of scheduled play to allow for players to leave the site safely.

• To provide for safe play and a reduction in light intrusion on neighbors, Parks has for the first time adopted Lighting Design Guidelines. The guidelines set a standard of light trespass at the residential property line at a maintained foot candle level of 0.8fc for new lighting systems. This level is less than an average street light. The guidelines also create address obtrusive light (spill light, glare, and sky glow). To create a safe playing environment with the least impacts on neighbors, the guidelines recommend Level IV lighting (the lowest recommended level for athletic fields) for most Seattle Parks fields. A limited number of softball/baseball fields, such as Lower Woodland #1, will be built to Level III standards if it can accommodate tournament play and has some spectator capacity.
• To reinforce the City's high expectations of appropriate and respectful behavior by sports players, Parks has revised the Sports Participation Policy. Parks will work with field users and communities to provide information about preferred parking areas at fields at certain sites and to encourage carpooling and mass transit use. The policy prohibits the use of airhorns and other such devices. The policy also requires league leaders to sign the Certification Form at the beginning of each season to re-affirm the importance of these expectations. Under the previous policy, this form was only signed the first year of field use.

While these policies govern the practices at Parks-owned sites, Parks will share the rationale of these decisions with Seattle Public Schools in order to create a consistent approach to athletic facility management for the citizens both jurisdictions serve.

The resolution submitted today to the Council is scheduled for consideration by the Parks, Education and Libraries Committee at 2 p.m. Wednesday, July 10.

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