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Published on 11/23/1998 All articles from this issue

City to start field work at 401 Rosita

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By Joanne Griffith Domingue / Town Crier Staff Writer

Los Altos kids and their parents have been waiting more than two years for additional soccer and ball fields. It was back in September 1996 when the city inked the deal for the 5.5-acre 401 Rosita site to develop city-owned playing fields and recreation.

The wait may be about over. Plans approved at the Nov. 24 Los Altos City Council meeting have construction beginning on new fields this winter, which should be ready for play by September 1999.

The first step in developing the site includes installing 3.9 acres of turf, "like a giant lawn project," said Bruce Bane, director of public works for Los Altos. City staff recommended it be used for two soccer fields.

But city council members asked that it be one soccer field and a ball field.

The ball field at this stage will be just dirt, no irrigation, with no development, but with the space "carved out" for it, council members said.

The landscaping project is "fairly straightforward," said Bane and Bob Rayl, director of recreation for Los Altos. It consists of "grading, an irrigation system, grass and a few trees and shrubs along the perimeter."

First the convent and classrooms will be demolished. All paving areas in the northern four acres of the site will also be removed as will all trees and shrubs except those along the perimeter of the project, Bane and Rayl said in a staff report.

One resident expressed concern that classrooms are being demolished when groups in town are having a difficult time finding space.

Ray Torok, a nearby resident who has been actively following the project for years, asked about traffic mitigation and losing trees.

"The trees there are thin, sparse," he said. "The site could use more screening."

Bane said they would be planting trees along the property line.

"The issue of trees is important," said Mayor Lou Becker.

Cost of the fields project is about $480,000, Bane and Rayl said. This is $66,000 shy of the $414,000 OK'd by the council in March 1998.

At that time the council had discussed community fund raising or grants for making up the difference.

In other action at the council meeting relating to 401 Rosita, council members discussed joint use of public facilities with the school district.

The original master plan developed by the city for 401 Rosita called for building a gymnasium on the adjoining Covington School site, which is currently used for district offices and day care programs.

Now that the school district plans to reopen the site as a school, the district does not want a city-owned public facility on their site.

So the city and the school district are considering expanding the current gymnasiums at the Egan and Blach intermediate school sites to include regulation basketball courts, which would have been the main component of a gym at Covington.

The district is in a better position to expand as a result of the Measure H bond that passed Nov. 3.

By adding city money to what the district is planning to do at Egan and Blach, "We can have two facilities for $1 million of city money instead of the $4 million for a whole new building," said Councilman Francis La Poll.

"This is what joint use is all about," said Councilwoman Kris Casto.