Petaluma youth soccer and lacrosse players may have new fields as early as this fall after the City Council voted unanimously Monday night to award a construction contract for the long-awaited East Washington Park.
But baseball and softball players will remain on the sidelines for now, until the city can cobble together more funding for the planned two-phase, six-field park on 26 acres of land near the municipal airport.
After 20 years of planning and seven years of trying to assemble funding for the park, Monday's vote was the most significant advance for the park, which has seen several plans come and go.
"I'm really happy to see this move forward," said Councilwoman Kathy Miller, who worked on an unsuccessful 2012 parcel tax measure, which could have raised $6.1 million to fund the entire first phase of the park.
The council voted 6-0 with Gabe Kearney absent to award Ghilotti Bros. Inc. of San Rafael a $3.8 million construction contract for phase one of the park, which in total is envisioned to cost $23 million.
Construction work to build the two artificial turf fields is tentatively scheduled to begin next month and finish by September, said city projects manager Larry Zimmer.
Last year, the city approved a contract for design and engineering work on the $5.2 million first segment, which had been planned to include a third multi-use field, restrooms and sewer hookups.
But the scope of the first phase was reduced to move forward without the third field and bathrooms until additional funding can be found.
Since Ghilotti's bid came in lower than the city engineer's $4.75 million estimate, some items may be returned to the plan, Zimmer said. A volunteer effort is also underway to pay for restrooms.
Funding for the park comes from $3.6 million park impact fees collected from developers, a $2 million grant from the county's Open Space District and a $550,000 housing-parks grant.
"I hope that we're able to do the third (field) because there's a real need for it in town," Miller said.
The third field would also be rectangular and striped for soccer, lacrosse and maybe football, Assistant City Manager Scott Brodhun said. The next phase would be three baseball/softball fields.
In addition to funding, wetlands on the site create challenges for building those fields.
"It's unlikely we'll have funds to move forward (on the third field)," Zimmer said. "But we will make a run at it with the contractor."
East Washington Park began as a $2.1 million public-private partnership concept in 1990.
A proposal by a retired Berkeley firefighter and volleyball coach envisioned the Redwood Empire Sportsplex as a regional sports facility with six lighted softball fields, four sand volleyball pits, six batting cages, a playground, indoor basketball courts, 294 parking spaces and an 8,000-square-foot clubhouse.
The city was exploring a revenue-sharing agreement with the private investors, but funding fell through and the plan died.
It was resurrected in 2000, and after various city boards signed off on airport safety, traffic and nighttime lighting, construction work began in August 2003.
By then, the price tag had risen to $3.6 million, which included a restaurant. But a year into it, after the area had been graded and some preliminary work had been done, financing collapsed again.
By 2006, the public-private partnership was dead and the city decided it would move ahead on its own. A year later, the city approved the $23 million conceptual master plan and in 2010 approved engineering plans for the first phase.
"Even though this is just phase one, I'm delighted we're here," said Councilwoman Teresa Barrett.
"It's taken ages, but it's a reality."
You can reach Staff Writer Lori A. Carter at 762-7297 or lori.carter@pressdemocrat.com.
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