Three Phases, Seven Years : Cerritos Sports Complex Could Get Major Facelift

RENOVATION: a proposed storm water capture facility will transform the Cerritos Sports Complex while also upgrading the playing fields and other amenities.

BY BRIAN HEWS

 The Safe, Clean Water Program, known as Measure W, was passed by Los Angeles county voters in November 2018 providing dedicated funding to “increase local water supply, improve water quality, and protect public health.”

The measure generates $300 million annually countywide, with portions of that money allocated to cities to fund storm water programs only; Cerritos’ allocation is approximately $1 million a year.

Seeking to take advantage of the money, Cerritos retained Craft Water Engineering in June 2019 to complete a feasibility study and preliminary design of a potential regional storm water capture facility at the Cerritos Sports Complex (CSC) inside Don Knabe Regional Park.

Craft completed the report one month prior to the December 2019 deadline, with the city subsequently submitting the proposal to the Los Angeles County Flood control District for approval. 

If awarded, the funding will not only be used to construct a regional storm water capture system at the CSC, but the park, built in 1990, will get a major renovation including all the playing fields, replacement of the problematic landfill sub-surface, and new amenities such as bleachers, scoreboard, and lighting.

And the renovation will be a welcome addition for both the City and the residents who use the CSC.

The 25-acre CSC was partially located on a site that, in 1963, was permitted to sell dirt and accept landfill material. When the city began building the CSC, soil was imported to maintain a level surface for the turf on the sports fields.

As with any landfill, some areas are compacted while others are not, and this is the case with the CSC. Residents often see uneven playing fields and flooding which costs the city money to repair while creating a major hazard.

The city received estimates averaging $625,000 for each field but that only addressed the top soil problems and not the sub-surface materials; in addition the work would need to be repeated in four or five years.

There is also methane gas present on the field which the city must pay an engineering firm to monitor once a quarter; the project would eliminate the methane gas problem and the corresponding payment to the firm.

The preliminary design report related to the CSC estimates that the cost of the storm water project would be nearly $39 million, with an additional  $6.6 million added to account for the new amenities.

If the project is approved, Craft estimates that it will take approximately one year to complete design. The city has proposed to break the construction into three phases which will minimize the impact on residents by ensuring that there is adequate field space available for public use at all times during construction.

Each phase will last two years, with the total project timeline anticipated to be approximately seven years.

The CSC sits at the bottom of a 6,472 acre drainage area consisting of residential, commercial, industrial, and transportation land uses. Storm water runoff from Artesia, Cerritos, Norwalk, Santa Fe Springs, and parts unincorporated LA County drains to the area, so the project will also help those cities meet their mandated water standards.