LAGUNA HILLS : City to Help Improve 4 Baseball Fields

In an effort to relieve a shortage of baseball diamonds in town, the City Council on Tuesday approved giving the Laguna Hills Little League up to $35,000 to improve four fields at Valencia Elementary School.

Since learning recently that El Toro Community Park in neighboring Lake Forest might not be available for Laguna Hills Little League play in the future, parents have been scrambling to find an alternative. Little League officials have worried that Lake Forest youths may be given first priority for play at the park.

Laguna Hills Little League representative Chris Greer recently told the council that without the use of the Lake Forest baseball fields, the league would have to turn away players for the first time in 20 years. About 2,800 parents and youths in Laguna Hills are involved in the league, he said.

Parents will now have to scramble to get the work done on the new fields by the time school starts in September. A local soccer league will still be able to use a school field.

Another condition of the grant is that the Saddleback Valley Unified School District allow the Laguna Hills Little League to use the fields for years to come.

While council members agreed with the need to build fields for local youths, they debated about where the money should come from, especially with the possibility of losing additional state funding.

A council majority finally supported drawing the $35,000 from a $100,000 playground equipment fund.

City Parks and Recreation Director David Lewis said the remaining $65,000 in the fund would be enough to remove unsafe equipment, although some playgrounds may be left empty for now.

Councilmen R. Craig Scott and Randal J. Bressette said they preferred to take the $35,000 from money left over from a Parks and Recreation Department landscaping project and leave as much money as possible available to improve playgrounds. “I am not prepared to abandon our little children,” Scott said.

In the meantime, council members urged park officials to continue work on a long-range park and recreation plan, a priority in the new city.