Title
Review and Approve Recreation and Parks Department Athletic Facility Allocation Policy
Body
To: Honorable Chair and Members of the Recreation and Park Commission
From: Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Re: Review and Approve Recreation and Parks Department Athletic Facility Allocation Policy
BACKGROUND
The Alameda Recreation and Parks Department (ARPD) coordinates, allocates, and permits the use of all City athletic fields, AUSD swim centers, outdoor court facilities and the Alameda Point Gymnasium. The ARPD Athletic Facility Allocation Policy (Policy), Exhibit 1, provides the guidelines for how ARPD schedules these facilities.
Currently, there are two separate athletic facility allocation policies that have many similarities. One is the Field Facility Allocation Policy and Procedures which was created in 2006 and revised in 2010. The second policy is the Gym Allocation policy, which sets forth guidelines for use at the Alameda Point Gymnasium and was created in 2006. These policies outlined the general operating procedures and practices that had been in place for many years. There currently is no policy for allocating court facilities including tennis, pickleball and outdoor basketball other than the individual rental procedure.
This proposed Policy will replace these existing policies with the intent to streamline and standardize the process for all athletic facilities owned and/or managed by ARPD. This Policy also supports ARPD’s goal of making recreational facilities available to the widest range of Alameda residents.
The draft Policy was emailed to all facility users on Dec. 16, 2021 for review and comment, including all school Athletic Directors and nonprofit organizations that currently utilize City athletic facilities. ARPD staff held a meeting with user group representatives on January 5, 2022 to further explain the policy details and solicit feedback. All feedback received was incorporated into the Policy.
DISCUSSION
The overarching guiding principal of the Policy and goal of ARPD is to make public athletic facilities available to as many youth as possible to play a wide variety of sports, to prioritize access to Alameda residents and organizations, establish clear policies and procedures and to ensure girls under the age of 18 are prioritized per the State of California Fair Play Act (AB2404).
It is important to note that the Fair Play Act requirement for equal access for girls now overlays all scheduling for public facilities. The impact is that regardless of the of allocation priority levels, an organization’s team could get scheduled before a higher priority level team if the city has not yet allocated at least 50% of the available time to girls’ teams. For example, an Alameda non-profit recreational girls’ team may get time scheduled on a field before a school boys’ team in order to ensure allocation of 50% of athletic facilities to girls.
In addition, this proposed policy defines recreation and competitive teams and separates Alameda non-profit teams/groups into different allocation categories. Previously, an entire league was considered within one category. Now, for example, if a league has younger teams that accept all registrations without tryouts as well as teams for older youth that are more competitive with tryouts, then these will be scheduled in different priority levels. This gives the opportunity for younger teams to be prioritized first which fulfills ARPD’s goal to provide these facilities to a wide range of youth and create opportunities for many youth to be involved and try different sports. It will be more effort for ARPD staff who schedule the facilities but we believe it is important and necessary to fulfill our primary mission for youth to have access to many sports.
Based on this, the proposed allocation priority levels are:
|
Priority 1 |
City |
|
Priority 2 |
Alameda Schools (public, private and charter) with teams with at least 75% resident players |
|
Priority 3 |
Alameda Recreational Youth (non-profit organizations with an everyone plays philosophy and generally equal playing time) |
|
Priority 4 |
Alameda Competitive Youth (non-profit with tryouts and not guaranteed equal playing time) |
|
Priority 5 |
Alameda Adult Organization or Individual |
|
Priority 6 |
For-Profit Specialty Events - Alameda Youth Organizations (camps, clinics, tournaments) |
|
Priority 7 |
Non-Alameda Youth Teams |
|
Priority 8 |
Non-Alameda Adult Organization or Individual |
This Policy also includes the following:
• Clearly defined payment and cancellation requirements
• No exchange or subleasing of facilities allowed
• Clearly defines when fields are not in playable condition
• ARPD’s rules and expectations for groups using fields and facilities
• Requires users to confirm the organization requires background checks for all adults working with minors (as required by State law)
• Strongly encourages (and provides resources) for concussion protocols and positive coaching.
Another notable change to the policy includes clear consequences for not following policy requirements. Examples for violating the policy include not submitting required paperwork on time, requesting time as an Alameda organization when it is known that the roster is significantly less than 75% resident players, or subletting time to another organization.
Overall, ARPD strives to serve all Alameda youth equitably in the 10 or more sports that utilize our facilities.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no financial impact from approving this policy.
RECOMMENDATION
To review and approve the Recreation and Parks Department Athletic Facility Allocation Policy.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Recreation and Parks Director
Exhibits:
1. 2022 ARPD Athletic Facility Allocation Policy