The city's decision has been made, but the battle over a park expansion plan may not be over.
The City Council voted unanimously Tuesday night to approve the addition of four softball diamonds, three soccer fields, a road, parking lots and, eventually, bright lights to the existing Redwood Road Park.Mitch Winegar, who has spearheaded opposition by residents of the Mountain Farms subdivision and other nearby homeowners, said Wednesday his group might follow through with threats to sue the city over the matter.
The site plan approved Tuesday calls for the park road and softball complex parking lot to be moved farther away from the subdivision than was originally proposed. But the revision didn't go far enough to satisfy Winegar and a handful of residents who attended Tuesday's meeting.
"If you see the final plan and compare it to the original plan, we don't feel there's been much progress made," Winegar said. "We think there are a lot of things that still can be done to lessen the impact of this thing, and they haven't even looked at any of those alternatives."
Approval was granted under the condition that a study be conducted to determine whether a block wall should be built between the subdivision and the city fire station, which fronts Redwood Road at the planned new entrance to the park.
"A week ago they said they would definitely include a 6-foot brick wall all along the backside of the property. Now they're back to a study of the block wall along the fire station," Winegar said. "Their credibility is already in the gutter with us. We don't believe a word they say anymore."
Winegar said the residents will meet this week to decide whether enough of them are willing to contribute money to pay for legal action against the city.
"If it were up to me, I'd have an attorney over there right now serving them with the papers," he said.
Councilman Doug Carlile said the city made a good-faith effort to consider input from all citizens and make changes in the plan accord-ing-ly.
"Those are facilities that our community desperately needs to have, and we need them quickly," Carlile said Wednesday. "I think this strikes a good balance. I'm sure there are some people in Mountain Farms who are not going to be very happy with it and some who will look at it and say it's the best compromise that can be worked out. You can never please everyone."
Carlile said construction of the four softball fields would begin as soon as possible. He said they could be available for use this summer.
Not all neighboring residents have opposed the park expansion, which also has received overwhelming support from youth sports organizers and participants.
Lisa Stocking, whose Redwood Road home is located just east of the softball complex, said her family is willing to put up with some noise and traffic congestion and didn't mind having the softball parking lot moved closer to their back yard.
"I know there's tons of people and kids in the community who need it," Stocking, who attended the meeting, said of the park expansion. "I think it's wonderful that they finally got something approved. They spent over a year getting all this put together. If the time delay has allowed them to come up with a better plan and made it more functional, then I'm all for it."