Changes Expected at High School Field

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Changes are in the making for the Laguna Beach High School football stadium and baseball diamond with school board members siding for safety Tuesday rather than ocean views.

The baseball field will either be reoriented to its original position for at least $1 million or augmented with a 50-foot-high fixed fence for $700,000, according to options presented in a staff report. Baseball field changes will follow after $2.5 million in stadium improvements, proposed to be completed by summer 2016 at the earliest.

Stephen Crawford and his neighbor have collected scores of errant baseballs that sail into their yards.
Stephen Crawford and his neighbor have collected scores of errant baseballs that sail into their yards.

The current 30-foot-high baseball field fence isn’t high enough to keep homeruns from flying into yards and driveways along St. Ann’s Drive and causing safety issues, according to neighbors, who have intensified their requests for safety measures over the past year.

The 700-foot length of the proposed fencing would be split to catch fouls and homeruns along the third-base line and over left field as well as to stop foul balls behind the first-base line, according to a report presented by the district’s facilities director Jeff Dixon.

The option of moving the field may include lowering it by excavating it slightly, said Dixon, which would boost the price to $3 million while removing the need to replace the fence with a higher version. Board members directed staff to research costs further on the options and report back next month.

New fencing will be 20 feet higher than the current 30-foot-high fence. Along St. Ann’s Drive, where neighbors have gathered 500 errant baseballs over several seasons, the higher fence may block views for homes higher up in the Temple Hills neighborhood.

“There are no good answers,” said board member Bill Landsiedel. “I don’t see one option that’s not going to get us in trouble.”

Safety trumps view, said board member Jan Vickers. “We can’t solve all of it. That, to me, is where we’re stuck.” Board president Ketta Brown later stated, “We’ll just have people angry at us all up and down Temple Hills.”

The board directed staff to research the option with the highest degree of safety and the least amount of view impact. “We’ll try,” Dixon responded.

In hopes of picking up a few extra feet, the board also requested the staff to see how closely the reconfigured field could abut Nita Carman Park at the corner of St. Ann’s Drive and Wilson Street.

Home plate was moved from the southwest corner of the field in 2004 to the northwest corner to increase homeruns with a shorter left field and to put the pitcher and outfielders at a disadvantage in facing the sun, Vickers said. The reorientation also prevented homerun hits from landing on the adjacent track and football field and possibly hitting student athletes. The move shortened left field to 285 feet from 315 feet, which sent more homeruns across St. Ann’s Drive.

The Riverside architectural firm, Ruhnau, Ruhnau and Clarke, was hired by the district to lay out the proposed changes, Dixon said. He will share the new schematics and dimensions with a group of “baseball dads,” who consulted a baseball field design firm about reconfiguring the field.

The baseball field has been neglected, said baseball dad Taylor Pillsbury. “The area is defined by excessive fencing, rusting cargo containers, outhouses and poor sightlines for fans,” he said.  “Rather than install taller fences, we have asked the school board to consider lowering the field to minimize fencing and create a natural small stadium atmosphere.”

A lowered field, he said, would also help solve track drainage problems and lead to conserving water. “A number of school districts in drought-stricken areas have installed rainwater harvesting tanks on their campuses, which in turn has allowed the schools to use recycled water for a variety of purposes,” he said.

Neighbors have consistently complained over the past 10 years and filed 26 claims paid by the district for $20,000 in damages from balls denting cars and damaging houses, said Dean West, assistant superintendent of business services.

The board took serious notice when neighbors brought in eight buckets of errant baseballs, about 500. St. Ann’s Drive resident David Nelson made his point by slamming a baseball down on the board’s conference table and throwing it on the floor to demonstrate that its post-bounce trajectory was erratic and potentially dangerous to anyone nearby.

The baseball field wasn’t a problem when it was in the southwest corner, Nelson said.

The option of a retractable 50-foot-high fence was shelved due to the $3.6 million price tag, board members decided. If the field is returned to its original position, batting cages are now in the line of homerun fire, said Dixon. The cages were recently coverd with a double layer of nylon netting. Overhead netting on the backstop behind home plate was also extended to stop foul balls from plummeting toward Wilson Street. Signs warning passersby of possible errant baseballs will be posted along nearby streets, Dixon reported.

“We don’t have enough land for every program we have and what we want to expand into,” said West.

As part of the stadium renovations, the artificial turf football field and the rubberized track surface will be replaced as well as the drainage improved. Restroom improvements, new visitor bleachers with athletic department storage space underneath and the reconfigured baseball field constitute the second phase of stadium improvements, Dixon said.

Turf and track replacement and drainage improvements are already budgeted for in the district’s capital improvement fund. Money needed for the remainder of the improvements will be borrowed from the fund and repaid over the next 10 years, West said.

The architectural firm will also analyze existing campus buildings for needed additions, such as updated restrooms and replacing portable classrooms with permanent modular buildings, according to the report.

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