photo by: City of Lawrence

A rendering of a proposed project at the city's Clinton Lake Sport Complex shows the installation of turf and other improvements to the complex's two full-sized fields and the adjoining parking lot.

City leaders will soon consider authorizing a $1.5 million project to resurface two grass soccer fields with turf and make other improvements at the Clinton Lake Youth Sports Complex.

As part of its meeting Tuesday, the commission will consider authorizing a contract with Mammoth Sports Construction to resurface the fields and an amendment to the city’s Capital Improvement Plan to include the project. Rental fees paid by Sporting Kaw Valley over the next 10.5 years would cover $1.36 million of the installation cost, and city staff are also seeking direction from commissioners about a point of disagreement in the outstanding user agreement. The city would continue to be responsible for the cost of maintaining the fields.

The city states in a memo that revenue from hourly field rental fees, primarily from Sporting Kaw Valley, will substantially offset the city’s debt payments for the project, making it budget neutral. Under the proposed user agreement, Sporting Kaw Valley will be the primary user of the new turf fields, renting them for 1,800 hours per year, or an average of about five hours per day. The proposed schedule generally leaves Sundays open, and Parks and Recreation Director Derek Rogers said the city could rent the hours left open to other leagues or sports.

The point of disagreement is that the soccer league has asked the city not to lease any of the fields at the complex, both the two new turf fields as well the grass fields, to other youth soccer leagues, according to a city staff memo to the commission.

There are 23 soccer fields within the sports complex, and the City of Lawrence has had a land lease with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers since 1995 to operate the complex, according to the city’s website. Sporting Kaw Valley, formerly Kaw Valley Soccer Association, also has a long-running agreement with the city to use the fields.

As part of its proposed agreement for the turf fields, the league has requested that the city not “permit other youth soccer-related activities by third party user groups, that conflict directly with the programming of (the league).” The league also proposes that the city agree that it will not offer its own youth soccer program. By contrast, the city is proposing that the user agreement specify that the agreement does not grant Sporting Kaw Valley exclusive right to the complex.

Marcus Dudley, executive director of Sporting Kaw Valley, said the league is asking for the limited exclusivity due to the large financial commitment it will be making to help support the turf fields. Dudley said the league, which is nonprofit, will be raising fees to help pay for the added costs, and if another youth soccer league moves onto the space freed up on the grass fields, that could draw players away and threaten the league’s ability to cover the rental costs.

“We feel that if we’re committing this large (amount) of money to create a community asset, there needs to be some sort of protection built in that doesn’t undercut the sacrifices that we are making to get these fields built,” Dudley said.

However, the city states in the memo that it generally does not grant exclusive rights for use of public property and that exclusionary rights also conflict with the terms of the city’s land lease with the corps of engineers. Regarding the request for the city not to operate a competing league, the city states that it does not currently and has not previously provided outdoor youth soccer programming.

Commissioners previously indicated they were interested in moving forward on the proposal, which league representatives have said would improve player safety on the fields and provide competitive facilities that some players currently travel to other cities to use. About 80 parents, players and others involved with Sporting Kaw Valley previously wrote letters supporting the proposal. Though the league has long had primary use of all the complex’s fields and it was anticipated that would continue as part of the new agreement, the commission did not previously discuss the issue of an exclusivity provision.

In other business, the commission will discuss the first draft of the city’s 2022 Legislative Priority Statement.

The Lawrence City Commission will meet virtually at 5:45 p.m. Tuesday, and some staff will be in place at City Hall, 6 E. Sixth St. The public may attend the meeting in person at City Hall or participate virtually by following directions included in the commission’s meeting agenda, which is available on the city’s website, lawrenceks.org.