Saint John approves $3,500 soccer-club field rental agreement after parking, schedule assurances

The Saint John Park and Recreation Board on March 17 approved a 2026 field-rental agreement with the Saint John's soccer club for $3,500.

Daniel Napoles, who introduced himself to the board as "director Daniel Napoles of the Saint John soccer program," described the proposed recreational youth league as morning-only play, with home-game windows roughly 8 a.m. to noon and short 35-minute games. Napoles said the program will use small-sided formats (9v9) and, at startup, does not plan to host tournaments. "We don't anticipate anything of large numbers over 50 cars," he said, adding that the program expects about 25 to 35 cars for typical home-game sessions.

Board members expressed concern about parking overlap with community-center events and asked whether the club would ever hold tournaments; Napoles said not for the initial season. Staff noted a parking mitigation option: using the opposite side of Gates Park when the community center lot conflicts with soccer arrival times.

The board discussed whether the $3,500 rental should be handled differently because the club is a nonprofit and whether the town could offer a write-off or payment schedule; Napoles said the club requested installment options because registration numbers were low while the league starts up. A motion to approve the Saint John's soccer-club agreement for 2026 at $3,500 was made, seconded and carried 3-0.

The approval allows the club to begin organizing and requires staff to finalize scheduling and parking arrangements with the applicant. Napoles said he expects to provide a schedule to the board by the end of the week.