Santa Maria holds groundbreaking for long-planned new sports complex
SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Santa Maria officials celebrated the official start of construction of the city's long-planned new sports complex with a groundbreaking ceremony held Wednesday morning.
With several Santa Maria elected officials and other city employees on hand, a small ceremony that included a ceremonial groundbreaking, was held at the construction site.
"It is a long time coming," said Alex Posada, Santa Maria Recreation and Parks Department Director. "I think having it available to us today, being the groundbreaking today, it's just a lot of work that was done by a lot of people over the last, really ten years almost."
The new facility will be built at the corner of Battles Road and Depot Street on what was previously agriculture land in the heart of the city.
When completed, the sports complex will feature four athletic fields, which will be used primarily for soccer, as well as a handful of other amenities.
"It will have parking for about 200 vehicles," said Posada. "There will be a small maintenance facility, public restrooms, snack bar and a playground area in the middle of the complex."
The sports complex has been in the works for nearly 10 years, formed as a goal established by the Mayor's Task Force on Youth Safety, which was created in 2016.
"We knew we needed all these fields," said Santa Maria Mayor Alice Patino, who created the task force. "We've known that for a long time. We needed more football fields. We needed baseball fields. We need soccer fields. When you have a median age of 29-years-old, you've got a lot of kids out there in our community because they're using our parks. They need to be using this and so I'm just really excited."
The cost of the project has increased significantly over years, and according to Posada, is currently listed between $14 to $15 million.
"It's mostly grant funded," said Posada. "We were able to secure grants from the state of California, the County of Santa Barbara, the State Parks propositions and also from some private donors in the community."
The new Santa Maria Sports Complex is scheduled to be completed sometime in summer 2026.
