Forest Grove board sends youth-sports facility use-forms to city after split vote

The Forest Grove SD 15 Board of Directors on an operational item said it is deferring final decisions about youth-sports facility use-forms and related rental fees to the City of Forest Grove, which will convene listening sessions of youth-sports representatives before setting a final fee structure.

The discussion mattered because the district and city have been negotiating a common fee structure for managing athletic fields and other facilities used by youth sports and nonprofit groups. The board adopted most recreational-program fees and structures but did not reach agreement on the district’s use-forms and rental-fee details and decided to send that portion to the city council for final action.

A board member who presented the update said the board had “been working on the pay to play or the rental fees for the city of Forest Grove, managing athletic fields, and and some of the other areas.” That presenter also described a board motion “to align it with the the school district's fee structure, in terms of youth, sports and nonprofits,” and added, “And that went down 4 3. So that's where it ended up in town city council.”

Board members asked for clarity about who the city will hear from. A board member asked whether the city’s listening sessions are open to the broader community or only to youth-sports representatives; the presenter replied the sessions are “targeted youth, representatives from the people that are currently using facilities.”

According to the board update, the City of Forest Grove is pulling in youth-sports representatives and planning listening sessions before it makes a final decision on how fee structures will apply to youth sports groups.

No statute, ordinance, or other legal citation was referenced during the board’s remarks about the referral, and no detailed dollar amounts or revised fee schedules were presented at the meeting. The board’s discussion and the described vote were recorded in the meeting transcript and the item was referred to the city for the city council’s decision.

The board also noted ongoing community partnerships in other items on the agenda; one member referenced an ongoing partnership between Oak Ridge Avenue and the Gales Creek Garden Club but did not connect that partnership to the youth-sports fees discussion.

Next steps: the City of Forest Grove will hold listening sessions with current youth-sports representatives and then determine the fee structure for youth sports facilities, per the board’s update and referral.