City, school district may be key to getting more sports fields, new complex in Napa

With a dearth of quality sports fields in Napa, a group of local parents and youth sports officials have for years been exploring ways to add new fields and shape up old ones, though they’ve been unsuccessful so far.

But a reinvigorated push has come together to hopefully solve the local sports fields needs.

At the center of that plan is reviving an early 2000s city idea to add fields to the currently non-existent South Jefferson Park at the southern end of South Jefferson Street, creating a sports complex.

But there are hurdles in the way to making that happen.

Adam Housely, a Napa native and baseball coach who’s been part of the push for sports fields since returning to the city prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, organized a meeting Monday at Barnhouse Napa Brews to discuss the issue.

“We have several thousand kids trying to play soccer, lacrosse, baseball, softball and other sports, and we don’t have the facilities that are in the proper shape,” Housely told the audience of over 50 people.

Using private land for sports fields is one possibility, Housely said, but private land is hard to find in Napa and efforts by the group have found “there’s really nothing available.” He said there’s a need for at least 20 acres, ideally 30 acres.

As far as public land goes, Housely said there didn’t seem to be much hope using either state-owned or county land for sports fields.

People have suggested using the state-owned Napa State Hospital for sports fields, Housely said. But he argued they don’t have the necessary open space to fulfill the needs of the sports groups — and the state likely wouldn’t be open to tearing down old buildings to make room.

Housely also said he thought Skyline Park — currently owned by the state, and identified by the county as a potential site for housing — wasn’t big enough to fulfill the needs of the sports groups.

That leaves the group with the possibility of using land — or revamping existing fields — owned by the city of Napa or the Napa Valley Unified School District, Housely said.

Working with the school district on the sports field question has been “very difficult” for the past three years, Housely said. But recently, the district’s assistant superintendent of business services, Rob Mangewala, has said he’s open to working with the group, according to Housely.

There’s multiple possibilities with city land. The most significant of those is South Jefferson Park, which Housely said is best overall.

“There’s no other place to do it,” Housely said. “I mean, we’ve looked everywhere.”

Another possibility is Kennedy Park, which Housely said the city is open to building courts for. But he said there’s likely environmental impact issues with building there.

Yet another possibility is undeveloped land in Garfield Park, which Housely said has room for two sports fields and a walking area.

But Housely said the South Jefferson land is likely the only place to build a sufficient number of sports fields to satisfy the community’s needs.

He suggested, however, that baseball and softball courts shouldn’t be installed alongside soccer courts — that he visited a complex in Elk Grove where that was the case, and “balls were flying everywhere on a Saturday, it’s crazy.”

That means a multipronged approach to add fields to Kennedy Park, South Jefferson and Garfield Park is needed, Housely suggested.

There were plans to build sports fields in the 58-acre South Jefferson area in 2004, but neighbors expressed concerns about noise and traffic and subsequent designs removed the sports fields, Parks and Recreation Director Breyana Brandt previously said. That version of the park was abandoned.

But Napa United Soccer recently submitted a design to the city to use the space for six sports fields. Karl Frisinger, president of Napa United, said the group has interest in working with the city to build the fields.

According to city spokesperson Jaina French, there are multiple steps the city would need to go through to prepare to build in the South Jefferson Area. That includes initial environmental review, which French said would take roughly nine to 12 months.

The city would to annex the property into city limits, French said. And given that the property was originally purchased using a Federal Emergency Management Agency grant, no structures other than restrooms would be allowed on the land, unless authorized by FEMA.

French added that the estimated timeline to potentially develop a project at the South Jefferson property is four to six years. The city also estimates that building a single sports field — without amenities — would cost about $2 million.

Housely said the group is seeking volunteers, and to raise money for the sports fields — he estimated the South Jefferson Complex would cost around $30 million. Frisinger said the proposal Napa United submitted to the city, with six full-size fields, a playground area, and a place for a dog park was estimated to cost $36 million, including a 10% reserve.

“It sounds like a crazy number, but when you look at the number of people we have in this valley, the big business in this valley, it’s really not unattainable,” Housely said.

You can reach Staff Writer Edward Booth at 707-521-5281 or edward.booth@pressdemocrat.com.