Schools

School District Eyes Turning 'TBD Area' at Edna Maguire into a Sports Field

Staffers intend to recommend to the school board Dec. 13 that undesignated 21,000-square-foot space in new campus be used for sports, though its user must come up with the money to build it.

The people in charge of rebuilding the Edna Maguire Elementary School campus to the tune of more than $35 million have decided what to do with the so-called “TBD Area,” a 21,000-square-foot area in the northeastern section of the new campus: turn it into a sports field.

Now they just need the Mill Valley School District board to sign off on the idea on Dec. 13, and hope that those who intend to use the field - Mill Valley Little LeagueMill Valley Soccer Club and Southern Marin Lacrosse - can raise the money to build it. District officials have said from the outset that whatever the area's use, it didn't have the funds to pay for it.

The district held its second public input meeting this week on the TBD Area, which is now home to Marin Day School’s interim campus. Unlike last month's first meeting, a free-form affair without an agenda, this week's meeting saw Tim Ryan, the district’s director of maintenance and operations, reveal that he plans to recommend to the school board that area be used as a sports field. The move would bring the number of fields at Edna to two, the same number of fields on the old Edna campus.

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Reps from the three sports programs said though they are interested in raising money to help build the field - estimated at between $500,000 and $650,000 by district officials - they have made no moves yet to do so. Each group is dealing with steady growth and limited local sports fields to accommodate that growth, they said.

Parking and the impact on neighbors has dominated the feedback from meeting attendees. The new Edna campus will have more parking regardless of what the district decides to put in the TBD area. The old campus had 67 spaces, while the existing campus has 59. If the TBD area is turned into a field, the new campus will have 125 spaces, and 175 spaces if that area is utilized for more parking, according to district estimates.

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The board will take up the recommendation at its Dec. 13 meeting.

What do you think of the staff recommendation? Should the TBD Area be used as a sports field? Tell us in the Comments.

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