CITY TO REAP WINDFALL : PROP. A'S PASSAGE MEANS $9 MILLION FOR UPGRADING OF SANTA CLARITA PARKS.

Byline: Mary Schubert Daily News Staff Writer

With voters' approval of the $319 million county parks bond measure, proponents were thrilled Wednesday that funding will be available to build a 130-acre recreational facility on Bouquet Canyon Road.

County Proposition A set aside $9 million for Santa Clarita Valley park projects, including the proposed Santa Clarita Central Park and Sports Complex.

Plans call for the land, leased by the Castaic Lake Water Agency to the city for $100 per year, to be developed with a dozen tennis courts, six soccer fields, an Olympic-size swimming pool, a gymnasium, eight basketball courts, two sand volleyball courts, a 5,000-seat amphitheater and 50 acres for hiking trails and picnic areas.

Rick Putnam, city director of Parks, Recreation and Community Services, said voters' 65 percent approval of the Los Angeles County proposition was welcome news in Santa Clarita, where youth soccer teams vie for practice field space, often alongside adult softball league games.

``We're obviously elated,'' Putnam said. ``That's great news for this valley. I'm so pleased for the community, for the kids, for everybody who has worked so hard at creating the type of recreation facilities that this community needs. So it's been a real battle in attempting to accommodate everyone,'' he said.

``The city has approximately 90 acres of usable parkland - flat, open, play space. At our current population, we're about 500 acres shy of what a community our size should have in usable parklands,'' Putnam said.

Laurene Weste was a volunteer on the Proposition A campaign. She said the electorate approved the bond measure because it spelled out exactly how the funds would be spent. ``It's all in the text of the bond - it's all project specific, and I think that's one of the reasons the voters were comfortable,'' she said. ``They know what they're getting.''

Central Park could be ready for use by next summer. ``We could be out there playing in eight or 10 months,'' Weste said.

``We were working on the master plan for the park when Proposition A was being drawn up,'' she added. ``We're just ecstatic that we have funding to go ahead with it now.''

Jerry Gladbach, on the CLWA board of directors, said the agency made the land available to the city, for a token sum, to be a good neighbor.

``We knew that the city was in dire need of parks,'' Gladbach said. ``We didn't want to sell it to a developer because they would build houses on it,'' he said.

``I think (the park bonds) are a real blessing for the community. Lots of times, you either have the money or the site, but you don't have both,'' Gladbach said.

Putnam noted that the city is barely able to perform the needed maintenance on park turf because the usage is so high. ``We would close every one of our facilities on a staggered basis two to three weeks every year,'' he said. ``But we're going every day, 12 months out of the year. The only break (in use) we get is when it rains. There's such a demand.''

CAPTION(S):

Photo, Photo/Map

Photo: (Color) From left, Rick Putnam, Robert Sagehorn, Laurene Weste and Jerry Gladbach backed the measure to improve city park space.

Shaun Dyer/Special to the Daily News

Photo/Map: (Color) Part of the funding from approved Proposition A will go to the creation of a 130-acre recreational facility on Bouquet Canyon Road.