Athletic foundation gears up for improvements

Danette Goulet

COSTA MESA -- With the $163-million school bond passed by voters,

Costa Mesa community leaders are back to work in an effort to bring their

schools up to par with those in Newport Beach.

For years, officials at Costa Mesa High School have wanted to install

a 50-meter pool similar to those at Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor

high schools, and to improve its ragged practice fields.

At Estancia High School, supporters there want better athletic fields

and have considered expanding its football field into a 2,500-seat

stadium.

The cost of the pool is estimated at $2 million. No estimates have

been made for the stadium expansion.

To accomplish these goals, the foundations of the two high schools

joined forces to form a third foundation: the Costa Mesa Community

Athletic Foundation.

Although the group put its work on hold to concentrate on the school

bond, efforts are back in full swing, said Jim Scott Jr., foundation

treasurer.

“I think everybody’s focus was on [the bond],” he said. “It would have

been hard for us to fund-raise. This gives us a clear window to go

forward without any overshadowing of the bond.”

The group continued to work behind the scenes, however, in an effort

to set up the new foundation, have architectural drawings prepared and

have environmental studies conducted while the community was busy passing

the bond.

Now, with those jobs almost completed, the road is clear for

fund-raising efforts to resume.

And those efforts are going better than ever expected, said Jim

Ferryman, a foundation member and a Newport-Mesa Unified school board

trustee.

“Harbor Boulevard of Cars will be presenting a check for around

$50,000 in October, with the majority of it going to this project,”

Ferryman said. “The city has also expressed an interest in helping, so

we’re in the process of doing a survey of potential users so that we can

arrive at some sort of funding level.”

The school board pledged $500,000 to the undertaking, Scott said, some

of which has already been doled out to an architect.

“I think the 50-meter pool will happen sooner rather than later,”

Ferryman said. “It’s something that’s exciting to me and something the

Costa Mesa community needs.”