04-1: Draft Recommendation on Improving Access to Ball Fields — original pdf

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DRAFT FOR REVIEW — 08.25.25 Improving Public Access to City of Austin Baseball, Softball, and Soccer Fields WHEREAS, the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Department (PARD) manages numerous baseball, softball, and soccer fields through contracts with 25 organizations across 28 active agreements; WHEREAS, these contracts were developed over many years to address specific localized needs and maintenance challenges, but have inadvertently created barriers to public access to public recreational baseball, softball, and soccer facilities; WHEREAS, community members have expressed concern with inconsistent and unclear processes for accessing city-owned baseball, softball, and soccer fields, including difficulty determining which fields are available for public use, when these fields are available, who to contact to reserve or otherwise access these fields, and what constitutes guaranteed public access; WHEREAS, the Office of the City Auditor’s Special Report on Ball and Soccer Field Contracts [1] found that contract language specifying public access requirements is often vague, with little guidance on how public access should be managed or what it means in practice; WHEREAS, there is currently no centralized system for the public to easily determine field availability, contact information, or reservation procedures across the various contracted facilities; WHEREAS, maintaining quality baseball, softball, and soccer fields requires significant time, labor, and financial resources, necessitating partnerships with organizations willing to provide such maintenance; WHEREAS, the City’s commitment to equitable access to public recreational facilities requires balancing the guarantees embedded in these maintenance partnerships with a commitment to ongoing public access; WHEREAS, improving public access to these facilities aligns with the City’s broader efforts to make public services more accessible and user-friendly; and WHEREAS, PARD staff have acknowledged these recreational field access challenges and are actively working to address them; THEREFORE, the City of Austin Parks and Recreation Board (PARB) recommends: 1. A Centralized Information Source. The City of Austin and PARD should centralize and publicize information about public access to all baseball, softball, and soccer fields, including contracted fields. Access to this information should be shared in an easily discoverable online format as well as adjacent to the relevant public fields and in any other environments that are deemed appropriate, and should include at least: a. Contact information for field reservations; b. Available time slots for public use; c. Clear procedures for accessing fields; and d. Standardized definitions of “public access.” 2. A Robust Online Scheduling Platform. The City of Austin and PARD should undertake the development of a technology solution to simplify access to public baseball, softball, and soccer fields, which should provide real-time information about all public field locations and availability, as well as a simple, standardized, and consistent online reservation process for gaining access to public fields when they are available. PARD should consider expanding the functionality of the City’s existing Interactive Soccer Map [2], which was mandated by council resolution No. 20240229-059 [3], to achieve this. 3. Standardized Contract Language. PARD should standardize contract language regarding public access requirements across all field use agreements, taking into consideration the varying sizes and capacities of partner organizations as well as the different types of relevant contracts as outlined on page 3 of the Office of the City Auditor's Special Report on Ball and Soccer Field Contracts, in order to apply this standardized language in all partner contracts going forward, whether for new partnerships or for the continuation of existing partnerships. This language should clearly specify the roles and responsibilities of both the City and the contracting organization regarding: a. The division of responsibility between the City and the contracting organization regarding field maintenance, including the types of maintenance required, the frequency with which maintenance is required, and who is obligated to do what; b. The division of responsibility between the City and the contracting organization regarding the payment of costs associated with field maintenance; c. The scope, duration, benefits, and limitations related to priority access to fields for the contracting organization; d. The minimum number of days these fields are expected to be made available to the public, which may vary between fields but should have a standard minimum number of days that all fields must support; and e. The expected responsibilities of the contracting organization regarding interactions with the public to support field access, including any reservation management, record-keeping, and/or data entry required to support public awareness of field availability and access, such as keeping the publications and technology solutions outlined in this recommendation up-to-date. 4. A Revised Agreement for Youth Sports Organizations. PARD should further revise the “Youth Field Agreement for Athletic Facility Use” [4] contract, which specifies that during agreed-upon timeframes certain city fields can only be used by contractually identified Youth Sports Organizations (YSOs). Instead, PARD should guarantee a standard and reasonable minimum number of days that non-YSO organizations must be granted exclusive access to reserve these fields, which should be consistent across all agreements. For all other agreed-upon time periods, PARD should offer priority access to YSOs to reserve contractually specified fields, but should still allow other individuals and organizations to register to use these fields for any availability not claimed by the YSOs during the priority registration process. 5. Clear and Consistent Performance Metrics and Accountability Measures. PARD should develop clear performance metrics and accountability measures for contracted partner organizations regarding their obligations to provide public access, including but not limited to the roles and responsibilities outlined in this recommendation, and include these requirements, with appropriate penalties for noncompliance, in all partner contract agreements going forward. [1] https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=447584 [2] https://experience.arcgis.com/experience/cb20ac9a4c16416bb1af59a520bea074/ [3] https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=425176 [4] https://services.austintexas.gov/edims/document.cfm?id=403145