Youth teams seek a level playing field

On an average day, it would seem out of place for kids to play ball on City Hall’s front lawn.

But youth teams from Palm Coast played pick-up games in front of City Hall on May 2 before filing into the building to have their voices heard at the City Council’s business meeting.

Jarrod Maxwell, president of the Mad Dogs flag football team, said he brought parents, players and coaches from youth teams to speak about the poor state of the city’s fields.

“What I want doesn’t matter; what City Council wants doesn’t matter,” Maxwell said. “It’s what these kids need and want. They need a safe place to play.”

Almost a dozen people spoke about the fields during the meeting’s public comment period, and 100 more filled the meeting room, cheering loudly after each speaker.

Parents and coaches asked repeatedly for the City Council to address the issues at the city parks — especially Ralph Carter Park.

Ralph Carter Park, at 1385 Rymfire Drive, serves multiple youth sports teams.

It is one of only two city parks with lighted sports fields, and is the park most used by the local youth teams, Maxwell said.

Dozens of youth organizations use Ralph Carter Park, he said, with over 1,000 kids getting on the field during the year.

“So, when you take 1,000 kids throughout the year, and you put them in one park, well, it’s going to ruin the fields,” Maxwell said. “It creates a lot of divots, a lot of holes, a lot of unsafe areas out on the field.”

Safety was a major concern for the parents and coaches who spoke during public comment — from a lack of available parking at Ralph Carter, to the holes on the fields.

William Roberts, a Mad Dogs coach, told the City Council that there have been several knee and ankle injuries on his team just within a year. Matthew Struhar, vice president of Mad Dogs, said he severely injured his own leg on the fields, and, over three months later, it still isn’t the same.

“The fields have gotten progressively worse over the years,” Struhar said.

The state of fields is not the only safety concern, Maxwell said. The park — like many Palm Coast areas — doesn’t have enough parking. That means families with young kids have to walk down and cross a busy street just to get to the field, he said. Maxwell said the city has been throwing seeds on the grass hoping it will grow, but seeds won’t fix the problems.

The city closed Ralph Carter Park on May 2 for the remainder of the football season because of the recent concerns, Parks and Recreation Director James Hirst said.

Hirst said the city transitions the grass coverage every fall and spring. But this year, because of weather conditions and increased traffic, the grass isn’t growing.

The problem isn’t the lack of grass, Maxwell said — it’s that water doesn’t drain properly when it rains.

Hirst said safety is a priority for Parks and Recreation, but some issues — like drainage or adding lighting — require projects that are more involved than the department can immediately handle.

“If there’s conditions that we can control, we will fix them immediate- ly,” he said. “A lot of things are more of the capital project kind of area.”

Staff does do routine inspections, he said. He encouraged residents to tell Parks and Recreation about any problems they find.

Dell Arneaud, owner of Winnerz Circle Youth Sports, said he has canceled multiple practices and games at Ralph Carter Park due to poor field conditions after it rains.

Ralph Carter Park, Arneaud said, is the most accessible park for his teams. It’s in a central location, has lighting and is the largest of the other available city parks except for Indian Trails Sports Complex — which, he said, is often fully booked.

Arneaud said he wants the city to put a plan in action that can help kids now — like adding a turf field or addressing the drainage and safety problems.

Neither Arneaud nor Maxwell expected an immediate response from the city, but they want the city to improve safety at the fields: more lighting, more parking and better grading at Ralph Carter Park.

“It’s nice that we have the ideas,” Maxwell said. “But now it’s time to actually put things to work.”

Stormwater rate decision delayed

The Palm Coast City Council will wait to vote on whether to increase the city’s stormwater rates, the council decided at a May 2 meeting.

Although city staff members have reduced the maximum proposed increases from $23 over a five-year period to $17 over a five-year period, City Council members want to consider adding a requirement that the City Council review and approve rate increases every year, while the current proposal is for a five-year plan.

The proposed rate increase has been before the council at two previous workshop meetings. The council directed staff to rework the proposed rate hikes each time. They did. Each version of the proposal broke the rates down into tiered options with increases over a five-year period. The first tier covers only basic maintenance, while the fifth includes recommended staffing and equipment additions.

The proposal presented at the May 2 meeting eliminated tier five and capped the most costly optional increase to $16.83 over a five-year period. The least costly increase, covering just maintenance and operations, would be $9.93 over five years.

Council member Theresa Carli Pontieri said she would also like to explore capping any further rate increases, barring emergencies, after these increases are finished.

“In my mind,” she said, “this is this is a lot of money for stormwater.”

Council member Nick Klufas said a cap could make it harder for future City Councils to address unforeseen problems.

The council will discuss the potential rate hikes again at the workshop at 9 a.m. May 9.

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