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Public Document Library Table of Contents

Sport Field Need, Capacity, Scheduling, and Lighting Studies

 

Needs, Capacity, and Scheduling Studies

Title / Dates / Link

Summary

Title: Scheduling Attributes by Sport

Date: February 4, 2004

Publisher: Seattle Parks Department

Link: 031704_ParksCommitteePacket_AttachA.pdf (49 KB)

Lists the peak season (i.e., times of the year) and peak hours (i.e., days of the week and hours of the day) for youth soccer, adult soccer, youth softball, little league baseball, adult softball, adult baseball, youth football, adult rugby, youth & adult ultimate frisbee, and youth & adult lacrosse

Note: This chart was part of a info packet distributed at the March 17, 2004 Seattle City Council Parks Committee Meeting.

Title: 2003 Field Use Statistics

Date: February 13, 2004

Publisher: Seattle Parks Department

Link: 031704_ParksCommitteePacket_AttachB.pdf (535 KB)

Lists 2003 usage statistics for all 200+ Park Department fields as well as 67 school district fields. Statistics include: district (central, north, south), # games played, game hours, # of practices, practice hours, and total hours of use.

Note: This chart was part of a info packet distributed at the March 17, 2004 Seattle City Council Parks Committee Meeting.

Title: [Sport] Field Inventory

Date: January 29, 2004

Publisher: Seattle Parks Department

Link: 031704_ParksCommitteePacket_AttachC.pdf (430 KB)

Lists the address, primary usage type (i.e., soccer, softball, baseball, T-ball, etc.), surface type (grass, synthetic, sand), presence of lights, and primary user group (youth only or youth & adult) for all 200+ Park Department fields.

Note: This chart was part of a info packet distributed at the March 17, 2004 Seattle City Council Parks Committee Meeting.

Title: Unmet Demand for Sports Fields & Magnuson Park Fields Capacity

Date: February 26, 2004

Publisher: Seattle Parks Department

Link: 030304_ParksCommitteePacket.pdf (1,097 KB), pages 4-11

This document was created in response to questions submitted by the Seattle City Council's Parks Committee. It contains:

  • A summary of the Seattle Park Department's conclusions (re. sportfield demand) based on a city-wide demand study conducted in late 2000 (by the Parks Department), a northend survey conducted in summer 2003 (by the Seattle Youth Soccer Assocation), and the conclusion of the City Auditor in the January 2002 audit of athletic field scheduling.
  • Net capacity estimates for Magnuson Park (if project is fully built) and what amount of field demand is met with the addition of the proposed Magnuson fields

Title: North End Demand Study

Date: September 2003

Publisher: Ed D'Alessandro, Seattle Youth Soccer Association

Links:
SYSA Survey Report.pdf (135 KB)
SYSA field needs assessment, by sport.xls (37 KB)

*

Title: Athletic Fields Capacity Analysis

Date: February 27, 2002

Publisher: Seattle City Auditor

Link: www.cityofseattle.net/audit/report_
files/Athletic_Fields_Capacity_Analysis.pdf
(212 KB)

City Auditor's Summary: This supplement to the 2002 Parks and Recreation Athletic Fields Scheduling Review (see below) analyzed field capacity for two athletic fields, BF Day 1 and Lower Woodland 2, during the months of January and April in 2000. The analysis illustrated the difficulty in quantifying athletic field capacity given the unique variables affecting each field. The City Auditor determined that field capacity varied throughout the year based on environmental conditions, field characteristics, and user group demands. The City Auditor concluded that the Department of Parks and Recreation athletic field scheduling practices were reasonable based on these variables.

Title: Athletic Field Scheduling Review

Date: January 25, 2002

Publisher: Seattle City Auditor

Link: www.cityofseattle.net/audit/
report_files/02-ParkPlayFields.pdf
(1,210 KB)

City Auditor's Summary: This report evaluated the athletic field scheduling function of the Department of Parks and Recreation. The Department scheduled over 116,000 field events per year on 203 City and 115 Seattle School District athletic fields during the review period. The City Auditor found that City athletic field use was at or near capacity during peak times, which restricted future field scheduling expansion. The Department also consistently scheduled athletic fields in compliance with established policies for the prioritization and assignment of fields, but could improve the efficiency of field scheduling. The City Auditor recommended that Department improve its athletic field scheduling software, develop standard operating procedures, enhance and clarify scheduling policies for field users, and resolve complaints more efficiently.

Title: Field User Survey

Date: December 2000

Publisher: Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation

Links:
Survey sent to field user groups (56 KB)
Survey mailing list (189 KB)
Survey Data (262 KB)

"Currently the athletic facility system is scheduled to capacity on evenings and most weekends. In an effort to better understand how much demand for scheduled time on field exists among user groups, a survey was sent out to all organizations that schedule through the Department. A 23% return was received on the survey and there was interest in access to significantly more field time that we currently provide, particularly for practices. The Department does not believe that we should meet the huge demand demonstrated by the surveys but believes we should make strides towards a reasonable accommodation of additional field time, particularly for youth." [Quote is from August 9, 2001 Parks Board Meeting Minutes, "2001-2001 Joint Athletic Facilities Development Program Update" section.]

Lighting Studies

Title / Dates / Link

Summary

Title: Recommended Outdoor [Sports] Illuminance Levels

Date: August 2001

Publisher: Illuminating Engineering Society of North America (IESNA)

Link: IESNA_OutdoorLightLevels.pdf (153 KB)

The table provides recommended outdoor sports illumination levels for many sports, including soccer, baseball, and lacrosse. For each sport, the table gives recommended levels for four "classes of play", which are defined mainly by the number of spectators. (The more spectators, the greater their distance from the playing surface, and thus the greater the need for increased illuminance to see the players.) The proposed fields for Magnuson Park are purportedly the lowest level, "Class IV," which is defined as competition or recreational play with no provision for spectators. However, according to lighting levels defined in Chapter 3.9 ("Light and Glare") of the Jul. 2002 Final Environmental Impact Statement, lighting levels for the proposed Magnuson Park soccer fields are 25% higher than Class IV guidelines.

Note: This table was taken from the IESNA document RP-6-01, "Recommended Practice for Sports and Recreational Area Lighting."

Title: Ballfield Lighting Study

Date: June 2001

Publisher: McGowen Broz Engineers, on behalf of the Seattle Department of Parks and Recreation

Links:
Table of Contents (62 KB)
Chapter 1* (417 KB)
Chapter 2 (761 KB)
Appendix (540KB)
[* Extract only, too large to scan to completion]

CHAPTER 1 gives a condition assessment of 19 existing lighted fields. With exception of High Point Soccer Field and Interbay Stadium, the current lighting systems don't meet recommended light level performanc standards and are nearing their "useful life."

CHAPTER 2 provides general background on sports field lighting:

  • lighting terms (luminance, light trespass, glare, sky glow, etc.)
  • types of luminaires & their beam spread (full-cutoff, cutoff, semi cutoff, non-cutoff)
  • a review of existing light standards by various national organizations such as IESNA.org and darkskys.org
  • comparison of performance (overall light, lumen depreciation, life time cost) of different bulb wattages
  • a very brief summary (a few bullet points for each) of lighted field stats (# fields, condition, budget policies) for King County, Portland Oregon, Medford Oregon, LA, Long Beach CA, Anaheim CA.
  • background on Competitive Class III and Recreational Class IV illumination standards (authored by IESNA)

CHAPTER 3 (not included on this page) gives a review of alternative ballfield lighting systems (this is mostly just copied literative from various manufacturers and isn't worth scanning)

APPENDIX is a one page summary of field conditions for fields covered in Chapter 1.

CD-ROM (not included on this page). The report also included a CD-ROM containing 49.2 MB of pictures of night time conditions at most of the fields covered in the report. The photos, intended to record light trespass and glare conditions, are generally of poor quality and limited utility.

[Page last updated 4/11/04]