Sunrise Manor advisory board approves design review for park expansion with three baseball fields

The Sunrise Manor Town Advisory Board on May 15 approved design review DR250302 for an expansion of the regional park on an 87.3-acre portion of a 207-acre parcel at the northeast corner of Hollywood Boulevard and Sahara Avenue in Sunrise Manor.

The board approved the proposal "per staff recommendation," the presiding official said, after a presentation from the project representative and brief public comment. The proposal covers a phase 2 layout that adds three baseball fields, parking and support facilities to an existing phase 1 park footprint that already includes soccer fields, pickleball courts, a dog park, native garden areas, turf areas and trails.

Justin Van Cleef, the project representative, described the plan during the public hearing. He said the proposal would add three baseball fields with fence distances of about 400 feet in center field and 350 feet in left and right fields; a continuation of the roadway with landscape and a center median; a centralized prefabricated restroom; two warm-up areas between the fields; roughly 231 parking spaces plus RV parking alongside the road for traveling teams; a drop-off area; ADA-accessible access walkways; a gathering pavilion north of the drop-off; multiple 16-by-16 shade structures; a food-truck parking area sized for three trucks with electrical hookups; and a monument or sculpture near the drop-off. He also said two existing ball fields immediately north of the expansion would connect to the new work via a small roundabout for pedestrian and maintenance access.

Why it matters: the approved design increases organized-sport capacity in Sunrise Manor and changes circulation and parking near surrounding neighborhoods and nearby schools. Board members and residents asked questions about who would use the fields, traffic impacts and how the plan fits into a larger master plan that includes additional amenities in later phases.

During public comment, resident Al Rojas asked whether the county was building now because it might need to return the land to the Bureau of Land Management, saying, "are we doing this now because we might have to return the land back to BLM?" Van Cleef replied that phase 1 is already built and that phase 2 is proceeding as part of the overall phased development; he said the larger master plan could change in future phases but that picnic and gathering areas already exist in phase 1 and additional amenities such as playgrounds and an amphitheater were contemplated for later phases. Rojas also asked why the design included three baseball fields instead of more picnic space; Van Cleef pointed to existing large gathering areas and shade structures in phase 1 and said the park will include more passive amenities in future phases.

Resident Dan Latt raised concerns about traffic and school use, asking, "Would this baseball field be also be used by the school, and how would traffic affect?" Van Cleef said the fields were intended for broad public use but that much of the organized play would be for tournaments, typically on weekends, and said the design aims to disperse arrivals and departures and ease congestion.

The board took a motion to approve the design review "per staff recommendation." The presiding official called for the aye vote and the motion passed; no individual vote tally or named mover was recorded in the meeting transcript.

Planning details recorded in the presentation show: three baseball fields with stated fence dimensions, a centralized restroom, approximately 231 parking spaces, an RV parking strip for traveling teams, a gathering pavilion and multiple shade structures. The plan is described as phase 2 of a multi-phase master plan; phase 3 elements (playgrounds, amphitheater, basketball/volleyball, possible frisbee-golf) were discussed as potential future work and not decided in this hearing.

The board also approved routine meeting minutes and the agenda earlier in the session. The advisory board set its next meeting date for May 29, 2025.

Ending: The design review passed at the May 15 advisory board meeting; further design work and any additional approvals required to build later phases will follow county processes and were not decided during this meeting.