Neighbors, Sports Teams at Odds Over Canyon Field Plan
More than 60 people packed a school district meeting last Wednesday, hoping to sway the board on proposed improvements to the Cayon Middle School athletic fields.
More than 60 people packed a school district meeting last Wednesday, hoping to sway the board on proposed improvements to the Cayon Middle School athletic fields.
Half of those in attendance were students decked out in soccer uniforms and carrying signs asking the district to approve a $14 million upgrade to replace the school’s natural turf upper playing field with a synthetic turf athletic field suitable for soccer and baseball. The project also includes installing new scoreboards, bleachers, and a batting cage. Student and staff restrooms, showers, and drinking fountains would also receive ADA and other accessibility upgrades.
Most of the remaining audience members were neighbors living near the school concerned that adding pole-mounted lighting, additional noise and traffic, and extending use as late as 10:00 p.m. would negatively impact their quality of life.
The Board of Trustees held the hearing on June 12 to include final public comment on an Initial Study/Mitigated Negative Declaration (IS/MND), part of the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). CVUSD must certify the MND before the project can continue. The informational document does not approve or deny a project. Still, it identifies how disruptive the project is to the area, including air quality, noise, traffic, light, and biological impacts on wildlife.
The Board is scheduled to consider approval of the MND on June 26. Placeworks, a consulting firm working with CVUSD, is currently reviewing all the written public comments and will prepare a written response to each one received during the comment period.
“At this time, we do not know whether revisions will be made to the MND,” CVUSD Superintendent Parvin Ahmadi told the Forum.
All in attendance said they supported youth sports and improving the grounds for the schools and teams. However, several neighbors near Canyon were skeptical of the IS/MND report.
“People in the surrounding neighborhood have organized as the Canyon Ridge Alliance Project to mount a legal battle including commissioning studies which show the project will violate existing Alameda County light and sound ordinances,” resident and organizer John Hauser said.
Placeworks representative Dwayne Mears noted the planned LED lighting for the Canyon Field would be less intrusive to the neighborhood than their own street lighting.
The Canyon Sports Filed project is a collaborative effort between the Castro Valley Unified School District (CVUSD) and Hayward Area Recreational Park District (HARD).
Castro Valley Soccer Club president Bernard Goodman said the improvements would benefit the players and the community, which currently must spend money elsewhere to rent fields.