VENICE — More than 600 youngsters are learning both the game of football and life lessons as members of the Venice Soccer Club — and the number is growing every year, David Jarvis, the club’s president, told Venice City Council on Tuesday.
All of those practices and games took a toll on the city’s three soccer fields at Wellfield Park, Jarvis said, with a $25,000 patch job on Field 2 taking only about 30 days before poor conditions destroyed the nematode-infested field for the game made dangerous.
Related:Venice Police are investigating security at Wellfield and Chuck Reiter parks
“If our fields are where they are today, that’s where it’s at where it’s unsafe now,” Jarvis said. “Our kids are breaking their ankles now, they’re breaking their wrists.
“I had a lot of injuries last season,” he added. “My son lacerated his leg as a goalkeeper – it was just a very difficult season for us.”
Jarvis and Charlie Mopps, director of public works in Venice, approached the council with a request to spend up to $65,000 to improve Field 2.
“Rather than just doing patches, we’re actually going to scrape up all of the sod that’s in place and then nematode treatment would be done,” Mopps said. “Then it would be laser leveled and rolled.”
Field 3, the easternmost of the three fields, is in better condition than Field 2, while Field 1 is somewhere in the middle, Mopps and Jarvis told the board.
Venice City Council member Jim Boldt agreed.
“I walked through these fields myself a few weeks ago and to be honest I was appalled at how bad they really got,” said Boldt, who appeared at the gathering via Zoom on Tuesday. “Having two kids who played soccer through college, I’m pretty used to looking at soccer fields and these two are in bad shape.”
A new agreement may mean new park ownership
Technically, under an agreement, Sarasota County handles maintenance issues at Wellfield Park — an 80-acre complex owned by the City of Venice that’s home to youth leagues in baseball, football, softball and soccer, a disc golf course and Sarasota County’s croquet club.
As part of the agreement, Sarasota County is only obligated to spend $5,000 annually to maintain the entire park, with the City of Venice responsible for major capital improvements.
Mopps pointed out that the district regularly exceeds this sum – especially when patching the soccer field last year.
Beforehand:Venice City Council approves a new park maintenance contract
For several years, both governments have been working on a new agreement that will likely give ownership of the park to Sarasota County.
The county doesn’t like investing in assets it doesn’t own, and Venice has been reluctant to invest in improvements destined for demolition as Sarasota County eventually redesigns the entire park to best make it a regional park -Master plan fits.
With the prospect of a new park maintenance agreement being shelved until Sarasota County voters decide whether to extend a 1% sales tax on investment projects, Venice City Manager Ed Lavallee said there should be a three-year window for all Improvements are useful.
Lavallee said that Sarasota County’s preliminary vision for Wellfield Park would have the football fields roughly in the same location where they are now.
“Any improvements we are making to football fields now are money well spent as they will not be demolished,” Lavallee said. “Maybe improved to some degree, but the football fields are where the football fields will be.”
Alternative practice sites
Jarvis told the council that the league has been working with Sarasota County officials to find alternative practice areas – basically flat areas of grass treated for fire ants and big enough for fields – that the league can use for practice, with a view to using the wellfield fields only for games.
That field may still be in Wellfield Park, between the easternmost softball field and the Venice Public Works facility.
To ensure the fields are rested, the league would still rent the field space in the same time slots “so nobody else uses them, but I’ll take some of the foot traffic off them.”
The league, Jarvis said, continues to grow. He referred to the fact that in Venice there are currently almost 10,000 students in schools, with an expected annual growth rate of 5% to 10%.
The football club has grown by 10% year on year from 2020 to 2021-22 and next year Jarvis expects further growth of 10% to 15%.
“That’s a lot of kids coming through,” Jarvis said.
Fields are scheduled to close after May 14 through the summer.
The council did not have to formally vote, as Lavallee said the $65,000 sum was small enough to be dealt with within budget.
It was not yet known what percentage of those costs would be borne by Sarasota County or the football club.
The council briefly discussed installing an artificial turf field at one site – but the $1 million installation cost made this a non-starter.
Earle Kimel covers primarily South Sarasota County for the Herald-Tribune and can be reached at earle.kimel@heraldtribune.com. Support local journalism with a digital subscription to the Herald-Tribune.