Aromas residents filled the town’s Grange Hall Sunday united not
as three counties but as a community of one to show support for the
proposed A.R. Wilson Quarry Sports Park.
Aromas residents filled the town’s Grange Hall Sunday united not as three counties but as a community of one to show support for the proposed A.R. Wilson Quarry Sports Park.
The proposed sports park would include two soccer fields and two softball fields along Aromas Road on the Monterey County side.
Grange member and Aromas resident Richard Saxe said the proposed project was needed for the community.
“These kids need a place to go and it makes sense to have it there,” he said.
After hearing presentations by community leaders, residents signed petitions – and some even made arrangements to carpool to attend the Monterey County Planning Commission’s meeting Wednesday to urge commissioners to approve the facility. The meeting begins at 9 a.m.
The meeting was termed “critical” by local organizations such as the library, the Aromas Eagles and the Aromas Grange.
Aromas-San Juan Unified School District Superintendent Jackie Munoz asked residents to attend the planning commission meeting.
She said because the playing fields at Anzar High School are being used as both a community field and a school field, the ground becomes muddy and it was difficult to keep the fields green.
“We need another playing field,” she said.
Munoz also said she would be attending the meeting.
The project has been in the planning stages for 12 years, and spending $300,000 to have a local sports park in Aromas was needed, Saxe said.
He said the last time the issue was in front of the Monterey County Planning Commission it was denied.
“No one showed up because they didn’t think they had to,” he said. “This time we made sure they got the word.”
San Benito County Supervisor Ruth Kesler and Monterey County Supervisor Lou Calcagno also attended the meeting and listened to residents’ concerns about cutbacks in library hours and how parents had to drive to Prunedale, San Juan Bautista or Watsonville so their children could participate in soccer programs.
