A new regional youth sports complex may very well be coming to Yuba City. The metropolis’s public works division is planning to use for a state grant that might award as much as $8.5 million by a revitalization program.
The grant is designed to fund new parks and recreation alternatives in underserved communities.
“But also communities that don’t have a lot of parks or availability of open spaces for people. So we saw this as an opportunity,” stated Josh Wolffe, public works director with Yuba City.
One choice can be to create a regional sports complex by working with the county to amass the outdated Ok-Mart and merge it with Sam Brannon Park.
“It would be a 24-acre-in-total complex. In terms of fields, six to eight baseball fields, numerous soccer fields and all sorts of amenities. We’ve even considered things like food truck parking,” Wolffe stated.
The grant permits for a lot of choices. Besides the sports complex, the town can be contemplating a canine park, a mini-golf course on the aquatic park, or a new park alongside Bridge Street to honor veterans.
“I like the idea of a sports complex just because we have so many kids that enjoy sports. It would have a place for them all to come and do good things instead of things they shouldn’t be doing,” stated Liz Williams, who lives close to Yuba City.
“A lot of our kids travel out of the area to participate in soccer, baseball, other things. Having something here would definitely be a thing that keeps our people home but we also want to attract the outside folks too, to get the restaurant business, the hotel business,” stated Mayor Marc Boomgaarden.
What’s distinctive about this grant is that there is no such thing as a matching requirement.
“We haven’t committed to a single location yet, and we’re really doing our research to see what would work best, what would be the most competitive and what would work for the community overall,” Wolffe stated.
The grant software deadline is not till September, so the town says it needs to listen to from neighborhood members. The metropolis hasn’t nailed down any dates, however plans to carry about 5 public outreach conferences.
“Well, I am excited. I think it’s a wonderful idea,” Yuba City resident Sharon Hardman stated. “We need more parks.”