Residents ask council for soccer fields

The Washington City Council heard from more residents about what should be done with the 90 acres the city purchased on the north side of town at its regular meeting Wednesday. Christy Escher said her son Logan has been in Washington?s soccer program for five years.

?We seem to be the only free-standing club that has no green space,? Escher said. ?The school programs have places to go, but we struggle every year to find a place where our kids can play. If we want to keep our kids in this town with our program, we have to give them somewhere to go. Otherwise, what else can we do as parents but send them to other towns??

Escher said that if the city could develop a place to play soccer, it would generate business in town.

?If we don?t bring people here but turn them away because we have nowhere to go, what are we saying?? she asked. ?Just because you?re not part of the school program, you don?t deserve somewhere to play??

After Escher spoke, a group of six children in youth league soccer spoke about their experience playing soccer in Washington.

Sid Ryan, president of the Washington Soccer Club, said playing soccer has been a ?tough haul? ever since the club lost access to the green space next to Whitesell on the southeast corner of town.

?If you go next to Stewart or Lincoln, you can see the ground is getting compacted and that grass is hard to grow,? he said. ?It?s really hard ground. Sometimes, you?ll have five or six teams vying for a little patch of grass. It can be done, but it?s very difficult. We have soccer balls hitting football players and footballs on the soccer field. We get along. We kick the balls back and forth at each other.?

Ryan said that back in 2006, the Washington Soccer Club played all its games in Burlington.

?When we got to use the property next to Whitesell, it was the first time we got to have home games,? Ryan said. ?It was neat because all these teams started coming to Washington. We didn?t need much, just a patch of grass. We painted some lines, set up some goals and that?s all we needed. It?s an inexpensive sport for a lot of kids.?

Ryan said that hundreds of people could use green space if the city were willing to set aside a portion of the 90 acres as green space. He said that 65 kids play youth soccer in the fall and that nearly 100 play the sport in the spring.

?For between $5,000 and $7,000, we can seed it and maintain it,? Ryan said. ?Almost all of the costs would be incurred by the Washington Soccer Club. The Washington Betterment Foundation said that, as long as we get approval to use the land, we would get somewhere between $500 and $5,000 for seed and such. We?ve already raised $500 for this park. There is a lot of support for it. If we go over the amount we need for seed, we would use it for other things such as a storage shed or new goals or new nets.?

Ryan asked that the city provide mowing and water to the green space.

?The labor to grade the fields would be donated by Michael Escher and Troy Suchan will do the seeding for us,? he said. ?I know it?s going to take some money away because the city has this as rental ground now. I hope the city will see the benefit that this is going to give our young children.?

Councilor Fred Stark asked how the club covers its insurance. Ryan said the club has insurance through the Iowa Soccer Association, of which it is a member.

?If the field is designated an Iowa Soccer Association field, anyone who walks out there is insured,? Ryan said. ?When we play tournaments and league games, if the other team is not a member, we can?t play with them. That?s part of the rules.?

Councilor Bob Shepherd said he supports the creation of soccer fields because the soccer club has nowhere else to play. However, he said that he wanted the soccer club members to understand that the green space the city would allot to it would be temporary.

Councilor Mike Roth said he was worried that the 12 acres of land the club is asking for to play soccer on will balloon to 40 acres once other youth athletic groups find out the city is allowing its acres to be used in that way.

At the Sept. 21 council meeting, Don Pfeiffer announced that the park board approved a proposed layout for three soccer fields on the 90 acres. He said the area for the soccer fields would consume 12 acres. He said it could be taken out of the lease with the FFA and put into grass next spring. He said it could be ready to play on next fall. The field would have a dirt parking lot.

Steve Troyer of Fox Engineering told the council he would investigate whether the 90 acres would be a candidate for the site of the future water tower. He will report back to the council with a verdict Oct. 19. The council took no other action on the 90 acres.