City Likely to Reject Blair Park Soccer Field

Piedmont City Adminitrator Geoffrey Grote and the Piedmont Recreational Facilities Organization (PRFO) announced in a press release today that they will recommend that the City Council rescind its approval of plans to construct a sports field and park facility in Moraga Canyon, otherwise known as Blair Park.

The City Council’s May 7 agenda will include an item rescinding the approval of the project, and the council will hold a public hearing on the matter during that meeting.

According to the press release:

"The cost to complete the environmental work leading to project approval, including the cost of City oversight, was many times greater than the City and PRFO had anticipated, and the parties have not yet reached agreement on how to apportion the significant costs, although discussions are ongoing.

"In addition, while PRFO has agreed to indemnify the City against third party legal action, the City and PRFO cannot agree on who should absorb other future costs that the City has determined should be reimbursed by PRFO. Those costs include direct and indirect project approval costs, including such items as site lease development, a second set of story poles required by the City’s Story Pole Policy, and internal and external labor for supplementary City oversight during the project implementation.

"Because of the significant administrative costs that have already been paid by PRFO to the City and its lawyers, and indications that there could be further unanticipated and significant future costs, as well as an inability to resolve the need for such services and who will manage and pay for these services, and after extended negotiations with the leadership of PRFO, the City Council
will consider rescinding its approval of the project at its May 7th meeting."

The plan to build a soccer field next to busy Moraga Avenue has embroiled Piedmont in controversy. Friends of Moraga Canyon (FOMC), a group opposed to the plan, has filed a lawsuit challenging the environmental impact report (EIR) on the project, and the Oakland City Council has approved filing of a similar lawsuit, although the filing has been on hold for several months through a "tolling agreement" with the City of Piedmont.

Neither the announcement nor the city's public notice of the city council's consideration of a resolution "to formally rescind the approval granted for the Blair Park element of the Moraga Canyon Sports Fields Project" specifically mentions the project's EIR.

Some critics of the proposal have urged the city council to decertifty the existing EIR in addition to rescinding project approval, to prevent it being used to meet state EIR requirements if the proposal re-emerges in less extensive form.

Jessica Berg, PRFO president, said by phone this afternoon that it's important to note that PRFO took the initiative in withdrawing its proposal.

"We are taking some time to regroup," she said. "We had to be good stewards of the donations we have received. The costs were much greater than we anticipated."

You may read more about the project here.