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47 <br />devastating in a park that is already over its capacity in use. A draintile system, placed <br />in the most water -prone portions of the southern ballfields of the park, including the <br />varsity softball field, will help to return fields to safe, playable condition significantly <br />faster, thus preventing cancellations and the nightmare of scheduling make-up games <br />and practices during already busy times of year. Referenced with this application to the <br />Hennepin County Youth Sports Program are the professional opinions of some of the <br />most respected turf and drainage specialists in Minnesota. Each professional agrees; <br />Central Park's sand -based fields are ineffective without drain tile and the addition of a <br />drainage system will result in increased playabilify, reduced wear, and less required <br />maintenance. <br />WILSHIRE PARK ELEMENTARY <br />St, Anthony's Wilshire Park Elementary is a recreational/ open space facility devoted <br />entirely to elementary -aged children. Its playground and swing -set is popular with <br />toddlers through middle-schoolers, and its soccer field is appropriately sized for youth <br />only games. Its tee-ball/softball field is heavily used by the softball program as their <br />youth facility. The property also contains an acre of ungraded open space, occupied <br />only by two ash trees, which, because of topography, current elementary school safety <br />standards and the lack of a dividing barrier from the streets bordering the property, is <br />currently unusable for elementary school use other than for limited free -play space. As <br />in Central Park, the School District provides scheduling services for reservation of <br />Wilshire Park facilities, which are used by School District Community Services <br />programs and city residents alike, and entirely cater the facilities at Wilshire Park to <br />youth use. <br />By a simple reorientation of the current layout of the tee-ball/softball field and minor <br />re -grading of the site, combined with the placement of a fenceline around this area, <br />what is now essentially "dead" space can be re -utilized as soccer -only fields for youth, <br />quadrupling the number of dedicated youth soccer fields in the city and providing <br />places for safe play, while enabling simultaneous tee-ball/softball play to occur—and at <br />the same time providing the ability to mark the area for a regulation -sized soccer field, <br />which would be the only dedicated regulation -sized soccer field in the city. This would <br />enable middle- and high school summer and fall teams with an appropriate place to <br />practice and play—at the same time expanding the use for elementary school children <br />for free -play during the schooldays. It is our goal to meet the changing demographics <br />and demands of our community's recreational needs, we need greater access to soccer <br />field space. <br />31. <br />