The Pacific Forest and Watershed Lands Stewardship Council has awarded the park $200,000 for the construction of a regulation soccer field, two smaller soccer fields, a regulation baseball field, and a combination Little League/softball field at Westside Community Park, a regional park in Lakeport.
The San Mateo-based group said the project will increase the quantity, quality and safety of playing fields for youth in Lake County.
Dennis Rollins, chair of the park's committee, announced the grant to the Lakeport City Council at its Tuesday night meeting.
The committee, which formed an agreement with the city to take over the park's development, has two years to spend the money, said Rollins.
The park's master plan calls for variety of uses, from softball and baseball fields to a dog park, pedestrian trails, a skate park and BMX track, equestrian facility, basketball and tennis courts, even kitchen and restroom facilities.
Phase two includes plans for baseball fields, parking, restrooms and a BMX track, according to a map of the site on the city of Lakeport's Web site, www.cityoflakeport.com/departments/home.aspx?deptID=85 .
The Stewardship Council reported that it received 78 proposals for grants totaling more than $14.4 million from its 2009 Infrastructure Fund.
Already this year the group had awarded $1,013,000 to support outdoor programs and initiatives to reduce barriers to the outdoors through its Catalyst, Impact, and Initiative Fund grants.
The grant to Westside Community Park was one of six infrastructure grants totaling $956,000 that the Stewardship Council awarded to develop safe and accessible outdoor facilities, and improve access to outdoor programs and activities for economically disadvantaged and underserved youth around the state.
“We felt very fortunate to be one of the six,” Rollins told the council Tuesday.
Other award recipients included the city of Merced's Ray Flanagan Neighborhood Park restoration, $200,000; the city of Oakland's Lincoln Square Outdoor Recreation Corridor, $200,000; the city of Oroville's youth basketball courts construction, $61,000; the county of Santa Cruz's Pinto Lake County Park Children’s Playground and Accessible Pathway Project, $95,000; and the Spanish Speaking Unity Council's Oakland Schoolyard Initiative Phase II, $200,000.
The private nonprofit Stewardship Council (www.stewardshipcouncil.org) formed in 2004 to protect and enhance more than 140,000 acres of watershed lands owned by Pacific Gas & Electric Co.
Part of its mission is to connect young people to the outdoors by supporting park and recreation projects, which it does by funding projects like Westside Community Park through its Infrastructure Fund, which is part of the Stewardship Council’s Youth Investment Program.
Steve Hagler, director of the Stewardship Council's Youth Investment Program, told Lake County News that the grants go through a multistep review process.
Stewardship Council staff members first examine the applications before sending them to an external advisory panel composed of regional parks and recreation experts, who read them and then make proposals to the council's Youth Investment Committee, Hagler explained.
That committee also goes through the applications, discussing their strengths and weaknesses, before making a final proposal to the council's board, he said.
By the time the process is completed, the grants have been reviewed by 12 to 15 people, Hagler said.
Rollins told the council Tuesday, “They were very impressed with the community involvement, the community participation in this project,” adding that they also were impressed with Lakeport's need to expand its playfields.
Hagler said one of the things the committee commented on was Westside Community Park's community support, including the work that went into its grant application.
“It was impressive that it was done mostly by volunteers,” said Hagler, noting that many grants come in from professional and organization staffs.
“This was very much a passionate plea by a group of citizens working together to improve their community,” he added.
Hagler said there's a clear need for more safe and accessible outdoor infrastructure in California, which will give youth and their families the chance to come together and spend time outdoors.
Rollins said the funds for the park came at a critical time.
“We were down to about our last $4,000, so this was a big infusion of capital,” he said.
He assured the council that every penny will be spent in Lake County. Over the last two years, the committee has only spent a small amount of money outside of the county's borders, when it needed to order some special equipment that it couldn't get here, he said.
The committee's total estimated budget for the park's phase two is just over $334,000, said Rollins. With the grant in hand, the group now needs to focus on fundraising efforts to raise another $135,000.
Rollins said the committee's goal is that two years from now they will have the final grading done, topsoil added, the irrigation system and electricity installations will be complete, and the dugouts and backstops for the fields in place.
E-mail Elizabeth Larson at
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