Sports park-like facility in Norco closer to reality
Jeanine Adams has long awaited the day when more practice fields were in Norco.
Her dream moved closer to reality this week when the permit to operate a sports park-like facility on the Silverlakes property received approval from two of the city's commissions.
It will now be discussed in January by the Planning Commission.
"I'm so excited about this," Adams said. "This is beyond what we ever imagined, what we worked so hard (for). What we dreamed about, it's being overshot."
The Silverlakes Equestrian Sports Park would provide 122 acres of equestrian and sports fields on the Silverlakes property on the east side of Hamner Avenue, north of the Santa Ana River and north of the Rivertrails Riding Stables.
Her dream moved closer to reality this week when the permit to operate a sports park-like facility on the Silverlakes property received approval from two of the city's commissions.
It will now be discussed in January by the Planning Commission.
"I'm so excited about this," Adams said. "This is beyond what we ever imagined, what we worked so hard (for). What we dreamed about, it's being overshot."
The Silverlakes Equestrian Sports Park would provide 122 acres of equestrian and sports fields on the Silverlakes property on the east side of Hamner Avenue, north of the Santa Ana River and north of the Rivertrails Riding Stables.
The Norco Redevelopment Agency, which owns the property, has entered
into an agreement with Belstarr Sports Management LLC to develop the
project.
For the past 16 years, Belstarr has been operating a park-like facility in San Juan Capistrano. Developers said they are taking what they learned there and incorporating it in Norco. The Orange County facility has eight soccer fields. Norco will have 28.
"We have an understanding of what it takes to run a park facility," said RJ Brandes, CEO and chairman of Belstarr.
Planned on the 122-acre site:
2.2 million square feet of grass.
7 soccer fields with synthetic turf.
A 128,000-square-foot barn facility.
What sets the Silverlakes project apart is the property has been designed for multiple uses from concerts to lacrosse on the fields or in the barn, Brandes said.
The grass fields will have what Brandes referred to as flex space. There will not be a field dedicated to only one sport such as baseball but could be transformed into a baseball field for the day.
"When the weekend is over, it is our goal that it looks like a park. That's what we did in San Juan (Capistrano), it's what we're committed to in Norco and it's what we're going to do," Brandes said.
Brandes said he has been fielding a lot of inquiries from not only agencies but city managers in the region about the Norco facility.
"This model, if it works, will be done in many other places in the United States," Brandes said.
liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com
For the past 16 years, Belstarr has been operating a park-like facility in San Juan Capistrano. Developers said they are taking what they learned there and incorporating it in Norco. The Orange County facility has eight soccer fields. Norco will have 28.
"We have an understanding of what it takes to run a park facility," said RJ Brandes, CEO and chairman of Belstarr.
Planned on the 122-acre site:
2.2 million square feet of grass.
7 soccer fields with synthetic turf.
A 128,000-square-foot barn facility.
What sets the Silverlakes project apart is the property has been designed for multiple uses from concerts to lacrosse on the fields or in the barn, Brandes said.
The grass fields will have what Brandes referred to as flex space. There will not be a field dedicated to only one sport such as baseball but could be transformed into a baseball field for the day.
"When the weekend is over, it is our goal that it looks like a park. That's what we did in San Juan (Capistrano), it's what we're committed to in Norco and it's what we're going to do," Brandes said.
Brandes said he has been fielding a lot of inquiries from not only agencies but city managers in the region about the Norco facility.
"This model, if it works, will be done in many other places in the United States," Brandes said.
liset.marquez@inlandnewspapers.com
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