Residents urge city to prioritize sports field lighting, pump track and parks upgrades

More than a dozen residents and leaders of local youth sports organizations pressed the Claremont City Council at a special priorities workshop to boost investments in parks and athletic fields, extend lighting seasons and study a pump track that advocates said would give older children safe places to ride.

"My ask for you today is to include a pump track feasibility study in this year's budget priorities," said Anna Jacobson, board president of Play Collective (Better Claremont Playgrounds), who told the council she has been talking with families about a persistent gap in spaces for older youth.

Parents, nonprofit sports leaders and youth described crowded fields, canceled practices and safety concerns that arise when lights are turned off in early autumn. Thomas Brady, who identified himself as representing AYSO and speaking as a longtime resident, asked the council to "extend the lighting season to August 1 through May 31 or remove the seasonal restrictions altogether," saying the current municipal code limits lights at La Puerta and Padua and forces teams to scramble for practice space.

Several speakers gave specific examples: a parent recounted repeatedly reporting a low, frequently knocked‑down crosswalk sign near Yale and Harrison and urged the city to prioritize pedestrian and bicycle safety; young players described squeezed practices and the emotional benefit of team sport. Seven‑year‑old Tyler Terrell told the council: "Can you please add more lights so that other people have room to play soccer too."

Representatives of multiple clubs — Claremont Stars, Claremont Little League, Hurricane Soccer Academy and others — urged targeted investments such as additional lighting at Lower Padua, Lower Larkin and Griffith Park and revisiting long‑standing neighborhood agreements that restrict light use. Amity Swain, a volunteer coach, proposed revisiting those agreements and using modern LED fixtures and limited‑duration lighting to reduce impacts on neighborhoods.

Council members did not take formal votes but asked staff to return with objective language and implementation options. Steve Perry, the city manager, noted some lighting limits are embedded in environmental mitigation or neighborhood agreements and said staff would detail the legal or procedural steps required to change them.

The workshop also surfaced other park priorities: skateboard facility upgrades, pump track feasibility, expanded youth space and an ongoing parks improvement plan. Council members repeatedly linked those asks to budget and staffing realities, asking staff to prioritize objectives that can be achieved within a two‑year horizon and to return with cost estimates and proposed timelines.

What happens next: staff will fold the public input into a draft 2026–28 priorities and objectives document that the council expects to review and refine at a future meeting; the city manager indicated the council could see proposed objectives as soon as the first meeting in March.