Soccer players at Moulton Meadows Park can expect a level playing field soon.
The city expects the Los Angeles-based company STL Landscape to begin renovations of the park cresting the Arch Beach Heights neighborhood in mid-June and complete construction by September, said Assistant City Engineer Mark Trestik.
The same company should complete improvements to Lang Park between August and September, he said.
Considered the best of the city’s playing fields, the Moulton Meadows surface has gotten “really dodgy” just in the past year, said Ken Greengard, a board member for the Laguna Beach region of the American Youth Soccer Organization, AYSO 86. Beyond tripping players up, an uneven field surface results in balls following unplanned trajectories and “we don’t get the play we expect,” said Greengard, adding that use of the field has increased over the past two years.
With virtually no off-season, such a field needs attention, he said. Anything the city can do to make the play more predictable “will be
awesome,” concluded Greengard.
The City Council awarded a $1.43 million contract to STL for improvements at the two parks at their meeting last week. The project was reviewed by the Recreation Committee and approved by the Design Review Board in 2012.
The Moulton Meadows facelift will run $1.22 million, with the bulk going to the soccer field reconstruction, which involves digging down a foot to replace all of the turf with better draining soil and renovating the irrigation system, said Trestik.
But picnickers and runners can rejoice along with the soccer players. The construction workers will also rejuvenate the grassy lawns, replace barbecues, add curbing and install new equipment at the park’s eight parcourse stations, Trestik told the City Council last week.
The less costly $210,000 renovation of Lang Park will include redoing the rubberized surfaces of the three play areas where kids romp, widening paths to allow access for maintenance vehicles, resurfacing asphalt on paths and the parking lot, sprucing up the landscaping and adding amenities such as picnic tables, benches, gates and fencing, said Trestik.
