City Council Members, AVCA Spar Over $2 Million Park Fund

Questions about a controversial $2-million Aliso Viejo Community Association fund will be answered at the upcoming Sept. 7 City Council meeting, city and association officials say.

The controversy arose after an Aug. 17 City Council meeting in which Councilman Donald Garcia said AVCA had left officials and local sports leagues unaware of money in the HOA's Park Improvement Fund that could have been used to support sports park renovations.

The city is currently working with AVCA and local sports groups to renovate city sports fields, specifically Woodfield, Foxborough and Aliso Viejo Community Park, and the sports leagues plan to pitch in about 25 percent.

The combined cost estimates for the park renovations is $995,000, according to City Manager Mark Pulone, and the local sports leagues are AYSO, Aliso Viejo Girls softball and Aliso Viejo Little League.

A fourth project, the installation of lights at Aliso Niguel High School field, has already been completed and was funded by the city and by the Capistrano Unified School District.  

Garcia said it seemed curious that local little leagues had to use their own money, “all the while a group of which we’re all members of has $2 million sitting in an account that we never knew [about].”

“I don’t think we’ve been misled,” Garcia said, “but I do think we have been misinformed.”

At the meeting, Councilman Phil Tsunoda echoed some of Garcia’s concerns.

“It would be nice to hear from our 'quote, unquote' partner for what they are doing to help with all these great groups, to be a true partner in getting all these projects finished,” Tsunoda said.

The council members' comments led the Aliso Viejo Community Association .

In the release, AVCA President Ross Chun said that the $2 million had not been hidden from the residents or the council.

“I hope the committee recognizes that these figures are contained in the financial documents provided to them several times over the past three months and recently requested again and is available to our membership at any time,” Chun wrote. “AVCA has been completely transparent. There is nothing to hide here.”

To read the full release .

After Patch posted the release, a number of local commenters criticized Garcia and Tsunoda for taking issue with AVCA.

“I am just floored by the allocations made by Mr. Garcia and Mr. Tsunoda. Something smells fishy; they definitely have a hidden agenda regarding AVCA,” wrote a commenter who identified himself Darren Hall.

“Why is the City's Recreation Ad Hoc Committee (Garcia & Tsunoda) getting involved with making decisions regarding AVCA parks??” wrote someone identified as Nancy Conley. “This Committee has had meetings with the sports teams telling them that they could get things done off their wish lists at the AVCA parks.”

"I think it’s important for everyone to realize when we talk about AVCA not being involved and not having any say in this, frankly, they’ve been involved with this since Day One," Garcia said in a phone interview.

AVCA President Chun said the argument that the city had been open and transparent “couldn’t be further from the truth.”

Chun said many of the decisions made by the Recreation Ad Hoc Committee—the committee that put together the local renovation plan—were made without AVCA input. 

In a phone interview, Chun said that board members were allowed to attend the committee meetings but that they weren’t specifically invited. 

Tsunoda said there had been “ample opportunity” for AVCA involvement.

“It’s a little disingenuous, to scream, ‘We were never part of the process, we were never asked to fund the projects,' when all through this process there were examples of where they did weigh in,” Tsunoda said.

Tsunoda said that while the $2-million park improvement figure may have been listed as a line item in AVCA agendas, the local sports team stakeholders, he and Garcia were not made aware of it.

As for the $2 million, Chun said, the money has been held in reserve for a number of reasons, including because the park project the money was originally earmarked for turned out to be too expensive and the money could be used in an emergency to offset the rising expense of homeowners who can’t pay their dues.

“It’s not as simple as on this audio," Chun said, referring to the  recording of the City Council meeting. “It is a complex decision. It’s not just ‘if you got, it spend it.’ "

Chun also said the city never asked the HOA to pay any money for the projects. He added that the HOA had nothing to do with the decision to ask local little leagues to pay 25 percent.

“That’s another part of this story that’s been so surprising,” Chun said. “They never asked us, and we never offered. We weren’t part of any of those negotiations.”

According to Chun, everyone is invited to attend the upcoming AVCA board meeting if they have questions, and board members will also attend the upcoming City Council meeting Sept. 7 to answer questions from officials and residents.

In an interview Tuesday, Councilman Garcia said he still wants answers to the questions about the fund.

“I guess in hindsight,” Garcia said, “that number has always been available on their agenda, but candidly, what does it say? ‘Capital park improvement fund, then a number.’ We never knew what that fund could be used for."

Despite his questions about the issue, Garcia said, the city has partnered with AVCA since the beginning and will continue working with it.

“This is all some growing pains,” Garcia said, who hopes that after Sept. 7, "this will all go away, and we’ll just all get back to work."

Darryl Ross, Aliso Viejo resident and commissioner of the Aliso Viejo AYSO region, said that the whole process had been "open and transparent" from the start and that the real story is that these parks are getting updates.

“The city has done a historic thing,” Ross said. “A tremendous benefit is going to bestowed on all the residents. They [the upgrades] are going to be benefiting people who aren’t even on sports leagues.”

Ross added, however, that he would like to know more about the $2-million fund and what the AVCA bylaws say about it.

The next meeting of the Aliso Viejo Council is at 7 p.m. Sept. 7 in the council chambers, and the next meeting of the Aliso Viejo Community Association will be held at 7 p.m. Sept. 12 at 12 Journey in the council chambers.

The ongoing projects include installation of shade structures at Aliso Viejo Community Park and Woodfield Park and installation of restrooms and sports field lighting at Foxborough Park.