Fallbrook Sports Park shade structures funded

If actuality matches the schedule, the Fallbrook Sports Park will have two shade structures by the end of summer.

A 5-0 San Diego County Board of Supervisors vote Jan. 25 appropriated $75,000 of Park Land Dedication Ordinance funding for one 1,200 square foot shade structure and one 225 square foot shade structure which will be located in the sports park’s multi-purpose athletic area. The county supervisors also found that the addendum to the environmental Negative Declaration was in compliance with the California Environmental Quality Act.

The Fallbrook Sports Park is on county-owned land, specifically the portion of Fallbrook Community Air Park designated for non-aviation use. County Airports leases the site to the Fallbrook Sports Association, which operates and maintains the Fallbrook Sports Park. Although the Fallbrook Sports Park is not operated by the county’s Department of Parks and Recreation, such recreational facilities which serve the public complement the mission of the county’s parks and recreation program and are often candidates for agreements in which the county provides funding and technical assistance for improvements while the non-profit organization is responsible for operations and maintenance.

(The initial agreement between the county and the Fallbrook Sports Association covered the construction of facilities at the sports park and was approved by the county supervisors in October 1996. The Live Oak Park Coalition, which took over maintenance of the county park after the county’s budget problems of the early 1990s slated the park for closure, preceded the Fallbrook Sports Association and also complements private-sector revenue with public funding for improvements.)

The multi-purpose athletic area includes group sports activities but currently does not have any shade structures. In 2009 the Fallbrook Sports Association asked the County Service Area No. 81 advisory committee (CSA No. 81 covers parks in Fallbrook, DeLuz, and Rainbow; the Board of Supervisors is the actual governing body while a seven-member advisory board is comprised of local residents) to add shade structures to the advisory committee’s list of five-year priority projects. The CSA No. 81 board added the shade structures to that list in September 2009. During 2011 the Fallbrook Sports Association hired a landscape architect for the project design and obtained the necessary permits, so the shade structures are now ready for installation.

Park Land Dedication Ordinance fees are paid by developers to fund park facilities in the development’s community. Because the Fallbrook Sports Park serves the general public, it is eligible for PLDO funding. Department of Parks and Recreation staff determined that the shade structures would be an appropriate use of the PLDO funds, and in January 2011 the CSA No. 81 advisory board recommended the use of $75,000 of PLDO funding for the shade structures. The PLDO funding is the first for the Fallbrook Sports Park since the county supervisors approved $140,442 in March 2002 for a new restroom, a ball field, and a ramp meeting Americans with Disability Act standards.

In December 1999 the county’s Planning Commission adopted a Negative Declaration as part of the airport master plan. Because the shade structures will be located in a previously-disturbed area and will not be located near an open space easement, no additional environmental review will be necessary.

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