The Chula Vista National Little League may lose another one of its baseball fields.
A petition with over 800 signatures has been circulating around the tightknit baseball community, as parents attempt to stop the Chula Vista Elementary School District from turning their baseball field into a parking lot.
In 2018, one field was already paved over leading to the withdrawal of their Little League Challenger Division for children with disabilities due to lack of space.
Members of the Little League community said attendance has gone down, and they fear their league will vanish.
If that happened, Little League player Theo said, “I would be just sad.” His mom, Carla, is the coach for his team.
The Chula Vista Elementary School District is prepared to make one of the three remaining spaces, near Harborside Elementary School, into a parking lot.
Spokesperson Anthony Millican said parking is a priority for the district, because Harborside Elementary School has 89 staff members but only 29 parking spots on campus.
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Though, Carla said removing the field isn’t the best option.
“There’s a lot of ways you can configure parking. There is not a lot of places you can put a baseball field,” she told NBC 7.
The school has been doing everything it could to support the Little League teams, and it’s in talks with the city to help the league move to Harborside Park, which is steps away.
"We've been actively dialoguing with city officials that are coming up with alternatives to replace the one t-ball field, which is frankly a very small field,” said Millican. “We're doing everything we can to help accommodate the need of little league baseball and the harbor side community while also being mindful that our student staff parent and community needs really have to come first on the school side.”
The City of Chula Vista responded with the following statement:
“City of Chula Vista is aware of the issues between Harborside Elementary School and National Little League. National Little League has used Harborside Park, although the field is a multipurpose field more suitable for soccer. The City is happy to work with National Little League to identify potential solutions.”
Parents and children involved with Little League hope to keep their field and find a different solution.
