Huntington Beach council sends $18 million sports-complex proposal to finance commission for review

The Huntington Beach City Council on July 7 voted to refer a proposed multi‑million-dollar overhaul of the Huntington Beach Sports Complex to the city’s finance commission for review, after a study session that featured a detailed operator presentation and more than an hour of council, commissioner and public questions.

City staff and HBSC Partners presented a plan that would add a RISE training center (a batting‑cage and indoor training facility), convert several grass fields to multiuse synthetic turf, complete LED lighting retrofits and fund related capital work. Presenters said the full package totals about $18.2 million in improvements and proposed financing that would redirect parking revenue generated at the complex (about $14.5 million of the package) toward project costs while the operator would cover the remaining gap and ongoing maintenance under a proposed 20‑year operations agreement.

The proposal’s backers, including Jerry Marchbank of HBSC Partners, said the complex’s usage has grown and that turf and the training center would increase both flexibility and revenue. “We’ve invested about $650,000 of our own capital to improve the facility, and we’ve seen parking revenue increase sevenfold,” Marchbank said, urging the council to consider the forecast that the site could generate material additional revenue and reduce some city maintenance costs.

Opponents and some commissioners pressed back on the financial assumptions and public‑health questions. Members of the finance commission and council raised concerns about how the pro forma treats savings (water and landscape maintenance), how much parking revenue can be reliably redirected, and whether the operator’s revenue share—proposed to decrease from 16% to 15% of top‑line—properly compensates the city for a long‑term capital contribution. “We’re being asked to put $14.5 million of revenue toward a project that still leaves the city less than whole under some scenarios,” a council member said during deliberations.

Council members and public speakers also highlighted safety and environmental questions tied to synthetic turf: heat on artificial surfaces, injury rates, and chemical composition of some infill materials. In response, city staff and HBSC Partners noted that turf technology has advanced and that alternative, non‑rubber infills and fully recyclable turf systems exist. “There are organic and coated infill options,” Ashley Wysocki, the city’s Director of Community Library Services who introduced the study session, said. Operators said the fields converted so far had become the most requested and produced higher utilization and revenue.

The council’s motion—moved by a council member in open session and seconded from the dais—directed a finance‑commission subtask committee to review the proposal, with staff assistance and a requested written recommendation to return to the council by August 18. The referral carries clear deliverables: further financial scrutiny, review of assumptions about parking revenue and maintenance savings, and evaluation of procurement and contract terms (license vs. lease, contract length, and performance guarantees).

What happens next: the finance commission’s subtask committee will examine the operator pro forma, compare projected savings and revenues with current city expenses, and advise whether a competitive procurement or alternative models should be pursued. The council did not approve a final contract, and several council members said they expect further negotiations on funding structure and safeguards before any long‑term agreement is adopted.