Competing Urbandale Soccer Clubs Vie for Space; More Fields Needed Say Officials

Competition for space between two Urbandale soccer clubs has complicated plans to pave the parking lot at the Urbandale Girls Recreation Association soccer-softball complex.

Last week, the Urbandale City Council refused to grant a 15-year lease to the Urbandale Soccer Club and the UGRA, according to DesMoinesRegister.com.

The new J-Hawk Soccer Club opposed the long-term lease in February.

The city could add 10 more fields and it wouldn’t be enough space for the growing sport, said Urbandale Parks and Recreation Jan Herke.

The City Council has approved plans to pave the parking lot at the complex, which city staff for years has said would require USC and UGRA to share the costs.

Improvements are to be completed in 2015 and each organization had agreed to contribute $200,000 to the estimated $640,000 project cost with an arrangement of having a multi-year lease, which are normally reviewed annually.

Councilman John Forbes said that although the city plans to pave the lot, “we don’t know if we’ll have the funding to fund a parking lot in 2015 because of unknown tax implications from the Legislature.”