School is back in session, and Fall Sports programs are already practicing on our fields. At the same time, those fields are finally going to get the renovations Sunnyvale parents have spent years asking for, and we can’t use the fields while they’re under construction. So this week, with our Town Manager, Assistant Town Manager, and Parks Director positions all sitting unfilled or only staffed on an interim basis, the logistical challenge of keeping our sports programs running is becoming critical.
Recently, our remaining Town staff decided to move almost all parks scheduling to a first-come first-serve basis. This was a staffing-level decision, and like most non-strategic decisions it was made without informing the Town Council. However, it’s likely to be a big issue at the upcoming Town Council meeting Monday, August 25th.
Vineyard Park Construction Starts September 2025
Our town has two main sports fields: Vineyard Park and Jobson Park. Basically, Vineyard Park handles soccer practices and Jobson Park handles baseball. Our school system has its own fields as well for track, football, cheer, basketball, etc. and the Sunnyvale Raiders Youth Sport Association (SRYSA) administers 65+ sports teams across both Town of Sunnyvale and Sunnyvale Independent School District facilities.
Vineyard Park has been moving forward all Spring and Summer. The site surveys are done, drainage issues have been figured out, and the $1.9 Million project is being funded by the Town’s 4B Corporation as part of the Town’s proposed budget and $36 Million bond issuance. Actual digging and construction will begin in September 2025, the fields are going to be given new lighting and artificial turf, with 4 large soccer fields for older kids and 3 smaller soccer fields for younger kids (and the ability to quickly convert in to 4 baseball practice fields). All this is expected to be done by January 2026–so Vineyard Park will be unavailable for the Fall Season, but back in action for the Spring.
Jobson Park Construction Won’t Start Until May 2026 But Will Take Until October 2027
Jobson Park has been under a design contract since April 2025. The designer is currently doing land surveys and the required geotechnical analysis, and they’re expected to finish the design by Spring 2026, with construction starting in May and tentatively completed by October 2027. It’s going to take so long because they’re adding lights, bathrooms, playgrounds, and potentially other amenities. Depending on the final design, the field will have 2-3 baseball fields, and potentially 2 mixed-use fields–and the price tag for this project is ranging from $7 Million to $13 Million depending on the features we add.
This means Jobson Park will be out of commission for baseball practice next summer, but I think we can keep using it for the Fall 2025 and Spring 2026 seasons for the 12-14 Sunnyvale teams currently practicing there.
Interim Town Management Is Not Staffed to Handle Sports Practice Scheduling
If our only issue was having one field at a time under renovation, that would seem like a tight but workable problem. SRYSA has a good relationship with the Sunnyvale school system (their official address is inside the SISD admin offices), and our Town and School are currently racing to finish a whole new sports field by Sunnyvale Intermediate School that should be completed October 1st, 2025. Given that the Town of Sunnyvale has paid about $2 Million to finish these fields, I’d hope SISD will share them with our Soccer and other teams who will be displaced by our field renovations. We also have some (unmarked) field space at Town Center park and Samuell Farm North park1. In a town built around preserving a rural feel, we ought to be able to find a few open green spaces for sports.
However, we have a scheduling problem.
Until now, if you wanted to reserve space for a sports field, you filled out this form and sent it to the Parks Department. The form notes that Town of Sunnyvale teams (SRYSA) can play for free, but non-residents can’t reserve a field more than 2 weeks in advance, and no more than once per month. Given that the metadata in that PDF form shows it was created in May 2022, this has been the standing policy for quite some time. Managing reservations was a manual process, and with Parks Department Director Kari Pacheco abruptly leaving this summer, Parks and Facilities Superintendent Chad Krajca has informed the Sunnyvale Raiders Soccer Association that park scheduling is moving to a first-come, first-served basis. From Chad’s message (shared with me by a SRSA member, bold emphasis mine):
“As we talked about during the phone call, we are about to lose the use of Vineyard Park due to construction of the new synthetic turf. Not too long after that, we are going to lose Jobson Park due to construction. With this happening, we became aware that we would have to take a different approach to the way the Town provides use of the parks. With Town Center Park and Samuel Farm North soon to be the only two options for, not just athletic use, but for all recreational activities for the entire town, it was determined that having the parks available on a first come, first serve was the only way to fairly provide for all residents. On the call, you also brought up some concerns about if you would be able set out goals in the other parks and if you would be able to mark athletic field lines on them.
As part of our meeting, TM Vegas and I discussed your concerns and we came up with some guidelines that we would use to help residents better understand the Town’s role as we transition to the reduced availability of park space. I put it in a Q&A format.
Can I reserve a park for my sports team’s practice or a special event?
Outside of the pavilion at Town Center Park, park areas and amenities are not eligible for reservation. The availability and use of the parks by park patrons is determined on a first come, first serve basis.
How do I schedule my sports team’s practice?
A: Due to staffing concerns, at this time, the Town employees are unable to handle scheduling of sports practices. Finding a day, time and location for practices is handled by the team coaches, assisted by the player’s parents.
Q: Can I bring soccer goals to the park and leave them there?
A: Soccer goals can be brought to the parks and left in the parks from day to day at the discretion of the owner of the goals, but the owner takes sole responsibility for them. The Town is not responsible for their wellbeing or theft. The Town reserves the right to remove goals from the parks if they are found to be left orphaned, to have become hazardous, to have been vandalized or are left in an area that is causing an obstruction.
Q: Can I chalk or paint athletic field markings in the parks?
A: Sports teams may mark out open grass areas in the parks with athletic field striping
As for the Town staff informing other groups that they can use SRSA’s goals, I can tell you neither I nor TM Vegas have given that permission. If there has been an instance you know of where I have done this or inferred this inadvertently, please let me know when or where I did it or who I gave permission to, so I can correct it.
I know this is a break from what everyone is used to, and again, I apologize for not getting this to you sooner. There have been a lot of changes over the last month. It seems we have barely had a chance to catch our breath. Ultimately, the Town staff is tasked with providing service to the whole Town of Sunnyvale and that can be a delicate balance. We are always looking for ways we can improve our service. There may be things we are missing or haven’t thought of. Your feedback and suggestions play a key role in this, so we value your input. Please do continue to provide it.”
Reading this, it’s clear that Town staff are overstretched. With Kari Pacheco gone, it’s up to Chad to handle
- running our existing parks programs
- coordinating with SISD on the completion of the new field by Sunnyvale Intermediate School
- planning for two multi-million dollar field renovations (Vineyard & Jobson)
It’s important we don’t overwork our last remaining Parks official to the point that he up & quits. But first-come first-serve isn’t going to work.
Already, SRSA members are reporting a “select soccer club” team from outside Sunnyvale is showing up to practice fields and claiming them. Our Sunnyvale coaches are parents and volunteers, we can’t go to the fields early to reserve them because we have jobs and other commitments, but a private club’s coach can make the time to get there early because that is literally their job. The Sunnyvale Raider Soccer Association has also posted their concerns in a letter to Town Council and staff, and a public FAQ document.
The Town needs a solution to handle this. Our neighboring town of Mesquite uses an online reservation system (CivicPlus) to allow bookings of all their sports facilities, but those are expensive–from what I can gather looking at published contracts of other towns with these services, we’d have to spend upwards of $25,000 just to get their system set up, then a percentage of booking revenues in perpetuity. With just a handful of sports facilities and pavilions to worry about, that seems like overkill for our town.
Instead, the Town could enlist one or two volunteers from SRYSA to manage field reservations on a volunteer basis. We surely don’t get that many inquiries per week about field rentals, why not have a parent who already uses the fields for sports spend a few hours per week updating the reservations in a Google spreadsheet, and still have all the payments go through the Town’s Finance Department? We’d take the burden off our staff, but they could have full transparency of all reservations, and we’d keep the fair and predictable system that prioritizes our own residents.
Additionally, the Town should get an agreement from SISD to let SRYSA teams use the new field while Vineyard is under construction. The Town is spending $2 Million to build that field; regardless whatever SISD plans to do with those fields long-term, it seems appropriate to repay the gesture by taking the pressure off our Sunnyvale sports teams.
- Although, I will note that I live near Samuell Farm North park, and I think there are quite a few animal burrow holes in the open fields, so don’t twist your ankle there! ↩︎
