DB Parks and Rec Commission to Urge City Council to Use Site D Funds for Fields

The Diamond Bar Parks and Recreation Commission is recommending to the City Council that staff study options for funding athletic fields and designate 50  to 100 percent of the proceeds from the sale of its portion of Site D to that effort, according to Commissioner Lew Herndon.

The commission looked into options for boosting fields in the city at its meeting Thursday night.

This week's discussion on funding for fields comes at a time when the city is in the process of selling its portion of the Site D project. Diamond Bar has a small sliver of the 30-acre site, with the Walnut Valley Unified School District owning 28 acres, but could receive around $1.8 million from the sale of the property, officials have said.

Herndon, as part of the Diamond Bar Community Foundation, has been lobbying for the city to use the proceeds from the sale to increase the number of fields. A petition signed by 1,700 residents has been submitted to the city.

The proposed options the commission recommends that the city council study for funding include the following:

1. Lorbeer Middle School (Middle Field) -- Create a lighted sports complex by adding two lighted baseball/softball fields with a soccer/football field overlay, plus improve parking & accessibility.

Estimated Cost: $1.5 million

2. South Pointe Middle School -- Create a lighted soccer/football and baseball/softball complex with three U1 recreation building with restrooms, storage and concession stand. 

Estimated Cost: $3.5 million

Also on the agenda was a proposal with Diamond Bar Pony Baseball to rent its facility on Sunset Crossing to other youth sports organizations. City staff had cited "liability issues" as the reason for recommending against the agreement.

Herndon said the proposal calls for the Diamond Bar Community Foundation to pay to rent the fields and for the city to manage field usage. Further study on this proposal is expected, he said.

"The commission felt that the use of the Pony fields had enough potential value
to recommend a further study to see if the liability concerns could be mitigated," he said. "If so the Diamond Bar Community Foundation would pay the rent and the city's field allocation personnel and system would be used
to parcel out the use of the fields to the various sports organizations."

The commission recommended that this study be done by June 1, 2014.

Would you like to see Site D proceeds go to pay for more athletic fields? Share your thoughts in comments.