Mayor's Athletic Fields Summit
August 22, 2012
SUMMIT HIGHLIGHTS
In general, Seattle Parks (DPR) and the Mayor’s and City Council’s representatives had good news. The meeting was well attended by government officials (about 50/50 split) and it would have been nice for more field users to be on hand to let them know their thoughts.
1. No field fee increases are anticipated for 2013. Both DPR and the Mayor’s reps stated that the economy (and tax revenues) amongst other factors had improved to where the budget situation looks manageable now.
2. DPR purchased a Sports Champ synthetic turf maintenance/grooming machine and established a maintenance schedule for the 24 synthetic fields in DPR’s inventory (includes 19 rectangular multi-use fields and 4 baseball infields).
3. Regarding any future fee increases, the Mayor’s staff expressed commitment to delay implementing the fees to at least 6 months after January 1st and possibly beyond to give leagues a chance to adapt to the changes and actually collect the fees ahead of time.
4. DPR demonstrated a web-based Schedule Viewer that will be beta tested in November by a small field user group. This tool is a great development with lots of search capabilities. The ability for field users to see what fields are scheduled on any day and time could allow for a lot more play on the existing inventory.
5. DPR currently has no plans for major field upgrades in the near future. They were asked to convene an informal meeting to review the Joint Athletic Facility Development Plan (JAFDP) to assess progress against those goals and develop a new shortlist for next projects.
6. Magnuson Park: DPR was requested to advance plans for building the remaining four athletic fields approved in the 2004 Master Plan. Any future levy should be considered for funding.
7. Discussions about future maintenance funding for DPR (MPD (“metropolitan parks district”) vs. Levy) is being discussed with Council (or will be soon).
8. DPR did not want to consider raising field fees even slightly to fund a dedicated synthetic turf replacement fund. They plan to rely on CIP/REET tax revenues (when and if they return to past levels) to replace the “carpets” on the 23 synthetic fields over the next 10 years.
9. The Seattle Schools District (SPS) did not participate in the summit again. The usual issues with SPS remain: high adult fees; unnecessary attendant fee on top of rental; unresponsiveness (e.g., problems getting gates unlocked).
DPR made a presentation using the attached powerpoint and the following are some additional comments about select slides. See the powerpoint for the entire presentation.
SCHEDULING
#1: Seasonality vs. Supply/Demand – DPR has accommodated some new/up-and-coming and non-traditional sports (i.e. kickball, ultimate). Out of season surcharges will generally remain in place. DPR does not have a good handle on supply vs. demand and more effort may be coming to try and quantify that situation. Decision makers and the public are always asking about how much demand there actually is and whether it is being met.
#4: Historical Usage & Block Scheduling: DPR has limited staffing and block scheduling will remain as the best means for them to schedule fields. Preferential scheduling based on historical use was not addressed in much detail.
#5: Adult usage (more access needed): DPR stated that youth play is a priority with the Joint Use Agreement. However, SPS does not restrict adults on their fields; DPR DOES restrict adult play to almost strictly synthetic fields. DPR also claimed that greater use of synthetic turf has increased adult access. However, almost all synth fields replaced sand (“all-weather”) fields that could be played on year-round already. More can and should be done in my opinion.
Seattle DPR Fields: 59% natural grass; 14% “skinned”/dirt; 17% synthetic turf
MAINTENANCE
#1: Game-Day Athletic Field Preparation Program or Game Day Prep (GDP) was started in 2011. Field Users/Leagues provided 18,800 hours of volunteer labor in one year to help with fields maintenance and upgrades. That is an amazing number; great job!!
DPR also has a stewardship program, kind of like adopt-a-park, that benefits the fields and the teams/leagues that volunteer.
#2: The Sports Champ will be used for more intensive synthetic turf maintenance that will prolong the life of the turf (maybe by a couple of years). DPR stepped up in establishing this synth turf maintenance program; thank you Seattle Parks!
DPR handed out a synthetic turf maintenance schedule (by field) and a proposed synthetic field replacement schedule.
FEES
Both DPR and the Mayor’s rep stated that no field fee increases will be needed for 2013 – yay! Keep an eye on the Seattle budget process to follow the latest news (you just never know how things may go): http://www.seattle.gov/council/budget/.
Other Discussion Topics:
Attendant Fee: Schools should eliminate the fee for the attendant, who is not necessary and makes fields more expensive.
Field schedule conflicts and security: Parks has a Security Officer that all teams should have the phone number to. There are also the Athletic Field Coordinators (Raft and Joe) and the Parks Duty Officer. Parks will try to make other staff available later in the day if necessary. Parks was asked to post schedules at the fields to address conflicts with drop-in users. SPD should be called if significant issues or concerns. Perhaps store belongings in the storage boxes during games.