Prescott council approves 25-year lease with OJBF Football Club to install artificial turf at Ken Lindley Field

The Prescott City Council voted 5-0 Oct. 14 to adopt ordinance No. 2025-1912 and approve City Contract No. 2020Six-one14 with OJBF Football Club (OJBFC), an Arizona 501(c)(3), to install and maintain an artificial turf system at Ken Lindley Park.

Council members and staff told the council that the project will replace the park’s natural turf with a three-layer sand-and-rubber field system, which the city and the applicant say will substantially reduce annual water use and support organized tournaments and programming.

City parks staff said the campus has about 150 on-site parking spaces and approximately 50 additional on-street spaces if parked correctly. “So in general, that space has about 200 parking spaces,” Christy Diaz Trahan, parks and recreation director, told the council. She said the department coordinates scheduling with the nearby museum and other users to avoid overlapping large events and can arrange overflow parking with neighboring properties or Prescott College when needed.

Council members pressed the applicant and staff on neighborhood impacts. Councilwoman Freeworth said residents had raised concerns about parking, event hours and loudspeaker noise. Diaz Trahan responded that park hours will remain 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. and that the city and OJBFC will “work with the community, to develop a good relationship” around announcing and scheduling events.

Concerns about long-term upkeep and material lifespan also came up. Councilman Grady asked what would happen if OJBFC were not operating when the turf required replacement. Diaz Trahan said the city would then decide whether to fund replacement, pursue grants or remove turf and return to natural grass. Council members noted the turf manufacturer’s advertised lifespan and that replacements or renewals could be considered at the time.

The council and staff emphasized a water-use case for the conversion. A council member calculated the current annual watering for the natural turf at roughly 2 million gallons (about seven acre-feet), and said that would be saved annually after conversion; the city’s parks director and others agreed that the reduction will reduce the water budget impact at scale over the life of the field.

Public commenters who live across from the park said they value the facility and suggested clearer signage, curb striping and painted red curbs in fire lanes to reduce driveway blocking. Kathy Rusing, who said she spoke with long-term neighbors, told the council they “love living across the street from Ken Linley Park” and said occasional parking problems had been resolved by calling the athletic director or the city.

After the discussion, Councilman Gamboge moved to adopt the ordinance approving the contract with OJBF Football Club; the motion passed 5-0.

The approved ordinance and contract require OJBFC to complete installation, to maintain the field over the agreement term and to coordinate scheduling and community outreach as the park’s use increases. The vote ends council deliberation; implementation details such as maintenance scheduling and any future replacement funding would be addressed in follow-up staff work and agreements with OJBFC.