Sports fields proposed at de Hoernle Park ‘a fiscal problem’

By Dale M. King
CITY EDITOR

“Severe economic times” could take a toll on the eight athletic fields proposed at the developing de Hoernle Park, Beach & Parks District board member Elaine Kleinman told the Federation of Boca Raton Homeowners Association Tuesday.

She said construction of the eight athletic fields – estimated to cost $18 million up front and more than $100,000 a year each to maintain – would alleviate the intense demand for playing areas.

But building the fields now, she said, “would be a fiscal problem.”

“We have proposed to reduce the cost,” she said. “We are now working with the city to reach a compromise.”

Kleinman and Greater Boca Raton Beach & Parks District Executive Director Bob Langford both addressed the field issue.  To bond the project at $18 million, Langford said, would require the district to make an annual repayment of $1.7 million a year over 20 years.

Another factor in what Kleinman called the “congestion” of demand for use of parks and recreation facilities in Boca is from non-residents, who don’t pay the Beach & Parks District a tax, but do have to cough up a fee for field use. The cost varies, Langford said, depending on the type of field being used.

Adults seem to top the list of non-resident users, according to a report from Recreation Services Director Mickey Gomez that was distributed at the meeting.  “Of the adult sports programs of baseball, softball, flag football, basketball, soccer and rugby, the average non-resident participation is 67 percent,” he said.  “Of the 18 youth sports programs, the average non-resident participation is 19 percent.

“As with non-resident youth, non-resident adults do not provide tax revenues to support the development operations and maintenance of athletic facilities,” Gomez said. “However, adult teams are charged a fee to assist with expenses.”  He said city staff is currently reviewing the fee structure with an eye toward increasing the cost for non-resident adults – and increasing revenue to the city.

Langford also said some companies located in Boca pay a corporate fee that allows employees to use the field.  “I’m sure they don’t want to separate workers by resident and non-resident,” he said.

City staff is developing a list of possible upgrades to athletic fields at various schools in the city as a means of helping meet demand.  In the meantime, said Kleinman, Beach & Park commissioners have generally agreed to “hold off” on the fields at de Hoernle Park “and see what we have for alternatives.”

One person in the audience did ask if the commissioners would “notify us when the fields are back on the front burner.”

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