GLENDALE : Plans for Sports Park Bring Mixed Reactions

Plans for a $4.5-million sports park featuring three baseball diamonds and two soccer fields are scoring a home run with parents and Glendale officials who say new recreation space is badly needed, but are striking out with nearby residents.

The Freeway Park Sports Complex, which is planned on 25 acres of city-owned land just east of the Glendale Freeway, would provide space for local Little League teams and the American Youth Soccer Organization, proponents say. But some residents along Fern Lane, the only road leading to the park, are worried that sporting events would bring traffic and other problems.

“We recognize the need for recreation, but we also recognize this project is in a neighborhood with 200 to 250 homes,” said Ray Carroll, a member of the homeowners committee monitoring the project.

Carroll said the homeowners want the city to consider construction of a new freeway off-ramp so that their street will not become the only entrance to the park. He said the homeowners’ fears have not been allayed by city traffic estimates, which show that Fern Lane now carries less than half the amount of cars it can handle and that the project would pose no significant traffic problems.

Scott Reese, the city’s assistant parks director, said Glendale has also considered building a second access road to the park from the east but determined that it would actually increase traffic because a new thoroughfare between Chevy Chase Canyon and Verdugo Road would be created.

An environmental impact report is being prepared on the park, which would be built with a combination of Los Angeles County park bond and city funds. City officials say the report is expected to be completed by June and the project could be approved by the City Council by the end of summer. It would take up to 18 months to build.

About 200 people attended an informational meeting on the project Wednesday night at the Glendale Civic Auditorium, divided nearly evenly between supporters and critics.

Tom Bistagne, a businessman who lives in the Glenoaks Canyon area, where the Scholl Canyon Park baseball fields are, said his neighborhood has not been adversely affected by the athletic activities there and encouraged residents to support the complex.

“This project is perfect,” he said. “It’s so far away from the residential area. You’ve got a freeway between you and the park. What else do you want?”

Sal Gangi, a local real estate developer, said he helped organized Wednesday’s meeting to gather support for the park, which has been in the planning stages since 1979 but has been stalled in recent years.

“Up until now, it’s only been the residents who are opposed to it that have been talking about it,” said Gangi, who has an 11-year-old son in Little League. “We have to let people know what’s being proposed and how sorely it’s needed.”

According to standards set by the National Park and Recreation Assn., Glendale should have about 38 baseball and 38 softball fields, city officials said. The city now has 36 combined baseball / softball fields.