La Presa Middle School Athletic Park One Step Closer to Reality

At this moment, there is only dust, dirt, deep gullies, and giant holes in the athletic fields of – a huge, vacant lot that lies adjacent to the school.

But that may be a thing of the past after school administrators and County officials held a meeting earlier this month about obtaining State grant money in order to build a brand new, multi-use athletic park on the lot.

"It's a joint operation between the County sports and recreation department and the ," said Mike Allmann, principal of La Presa. "We started this process a long time ago. This is a great opportunity."

The school is hoping to earn a share of remaining Prop. 84 monies, a $184 million grant given to the state of California, which passed in 2006. The grant is for improvements to parks, protection of coastal areas, and cleaning up fresh water areas.

Allmann said that the school started the process about 18 months ago, writing up and submitting a proposal to build the athletic fields, as a portion of the grant money given to the state must be used by the San Diego County Parks and Recreation Department for improvements. The grant they are seeking is for more than $3.4 million.

"We got feedback from the state that the proposal was strong," he said. "We needed to get more community input on the project, [over the last 18 months] we held four community forums. At each one, we seemed to garner even more support."

Bill Saumier, the senior project manager, said that there was a lot of feedback during the design portion, and he viewed it all as being positive.

Several local politicians also support the project. Allmann said that they received support letters from Assemblyman Marty Block and County Supervisor Dianne Jacob, both of whom serve Spring Valley. A portion of Jacob's letter states:

The park is an excellent example of a collaborative effort between County Parks and the school district to provide a safe, outdoor recreational activity space, which will help deter gang activity and develop a new eco-friendly park. The public and community leadership groups have met in a series of public meetings along with several Town Hall community meetings to provide input on the design and use of the park and address any community concerns.

The proposal calls for the building of one of three different ideas for the park:

1) A full-size football/soccer field, a half-court basketball court and an ADA-compliant play structure;

2) A full-size football/soccer field, two smaller soccer fields;

3) A full-size football/soccer field, two smaller soccer fields, two ADA-compliant play structures

Option 3 is the one that is most preferred by the community, according to Allmann. He envisions this project as a way for children to play on the fields during regular school hours, after school, and as a general use park for the community. The additon of two more smaller fields will also allow for Under 8 and Under 10 soccer leagues, and AYSO leagues.

The fields will be made of field turf, which will save money, as they do not have to be watered. It is also hoped that lights will be added to the project so the park can be used after the sun goes down.

Allmann, community members, and representatives from the District hosted a site visit from "three decision makers" from the state in early November.

"I think it was a very successful visit," said Allmann. "That's the feedback I got from Parks and Rec too. For now, the state officials have to do other site visits and make an ultimate decision. It's a very competitive grant, but we're pretty solid. An agency involved with us has also been a part of the teen center in Spring Valley, so we feel good."

"We won't know anything until the Spring," said Saumier, adding that additional feedback from the state could include a second site visit, at a time yet to be determined.