Feeling Kicked Around
LAGUNA BEACH — Wayne Horton’s nightmare begins in the morning, sometimes as early as 7:30 on Saturdays.
There is screaming: “Two, four, six, eight, who do we appreciate?†There is honking: The sport utility vehicles drop off kids in the middle of the street and then snarl traffic in search of a parking spot. There is cat-calling and whistle-blowing. And when it’s over, there is a mess of trash and roughed-up grass at Moulton Meadows Park.
This fall, soccer moved into the Arch Beach Heights neighborhood, but Horton and his neighbors haven’t sent the Welcome Wagon.
“For people who live near the park, it’s like having 500 uninvited people in your living room. Screaming,†said Horton, who lives across from Moulton Meadows on Balboa Avenue. “It’s enough to ruin your day.â€
Soccer’s increasing popularity isn’t winning any fans in communities across Orange County that lack sufficient playing fields. Games often spill into neighborhoods, creating clashes with residents hoping for a peaceful weekend.
Until last weekend, soccer games were played at Moulton Meadows Park for as many as eight hours on Saturday and four hours on Sunday. The season is officially over, but games resume intermittently from January through March, said Jon Jenett, commissioner of the city’s American Youth Soccer Organization chapter.
The neighbors want fewer games played at Moulton Meadows, a park that also features a bike trail, tennis courts and a playground--but no parking lot. Soccer games have been played there for years, but residents said it is just this season that the park began to resemble a “soccer stadium.â€
“They’re up here by 7:30 every Saturday morning,†said Claudia Redfern, who also lives on Balboa Avenue.
“It doesn’t allow other people to use it because soccer’s monopolizing the park,†she said.
And there are other complaints.
Stuart Trautenberg, who lives on nearby Capistrano Avenue, has walked to the park after games are finished for the day. He said he has found empty water bottles, pizza boxes and soccer balls littered across the green.
Most importantly, the neighbors say, is that the soccer organization is using the park far more than it’s allowed to, under a 1993 agreement with the city. Even though Moulton Meadows is public property, it has been used almost exclusively by the neighbors, whose $300,000 homes have great views but little backyard space.
“That park is our backyard,†said Lee Kucera, who lives on Balboa Avenue.
“This is the only place we have to have a birthday party, to play with a dog,†she said.
The neighbors, about 30 of whom have signed a petition seeking help from the City Council, are taking on a tough opponent. The sport has exploded in Laguna Beach. More than 900 5- to 18-year-olds--almost double the number involved five years ago--play on a soccer league in Laguna Beach, Jenett said.
Which is precisely the problem.
“We are so limited on field space,†he said.
The league uses open space behind two elementary schools, the middle school and three city-owned parks. But Moulton Meadows is the only field large enough to accommodate the teen leagues.
“In the meantime, we have to deal with what we have,†said Jenett, who volunteers his time as commissioner of the nonprofit organization.
Jenett said he accepts blame for many of the charges leveled by the neighborhood.
“We have to be responsible citizens and we also have to respect the wishes of our neighbors out there,†he said.
Demand to play soccer has forced him to schedule additional games at Moulton Meadows. Parents have created numerous parking problems along the neighborhood’s narrow and winding streets. But he denies that the soccer teams, alone, are responsible for litter on the field.
City officials are working to resolve the differences between the two groups and hope to do so before the first of the year so the issue won’t reappear for the 1998 season.
“There’s no question that [the soccer organization] abused what agreement they had,†said Pat Barry, the director of community services. But “residents have to be aware that they live across from a park.â€
It is something they won’t let be forgotten.
“We live up here because we want to have some privacy,†Trautenberg said. “You work hard and on the weekends you want to be able to sleep in until 8:30--please.â€
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NEIGHBORHOODS / Arch Beach Heights
Bounded by: Summit Drive on the north, Alisos Avenue on the south, Balboa Avenue on the east and Inez Street on the west
Population: 1,600
Hot topic: Residents say that soccer leagues monopolize Moulton Meadows Park on the weekends, preventing neighbors from using the park
