GRIDLEY, CA (MPG) – The City of Gridley and the Gridley Parks and Recreation Department received some fantastic news on August 22, 2022.

A grant application submitted to the Rural Recreation and Tourism Program (RRT), relating to Prop 68, was approved, earmarking $3 million for the development of a sports complex at Gridley’s Industrial Park.

This is huge news for Gridley’s sports leagues such as soccer, Titans football, and even the Gridley Little League. These leagues have been greatly impacted by the lack of playing space over the years. Play and practice space located on the Sycamore School Campus has been restricted due to the recent replanting of their field, which allegedly needs additional years to root before it can be used for sports play. Sycamore’s field was heavily utilized by youth league teams before it’s refurbishing – Its loss has left little other options and even then, those spaces are already being used.

To put things into perspective, Parks and Recreation Director Trina Leishman says that since she joined the department, she has seen enrollment in city soccer leagues almost double and currently there are nearly 500 registered soccer players between the ages of 4-14 that do not have adequate space to practice.

This is not limited to soccer, but also to the Gridley Little League and our Titans Football teams, some of which have playing seasons that overlap and cause more strain on coaches to find practice space. Reportedly, coaches have even turned to using their own property for practice. Leishman shares that current available space is being over utilized by multiple sports leagues and ultimately creating more damage to playing fields.

Now that this grant has been awarded, the public, parents and players can expect to see some exciting changes coming to the Industrial Park and Gridley’s future sports complex.

Gridley city engineer Dave Harden shared a general plan that was submitted with the grant application in January. Although this is in the initial planning stages, the grant would allow for two full sized soccer fields and one practice field, fit within a multi-use playing field. The playing field can be utilized for other sports throughout the year. 

As far as practicing space, Leishman says that she can fit five soccer teams in one and a half full-sized fields. With two full sized soccer fields and one practice field, the new sports complex would drastically improve the current condition for players and coaches. 

In addition to this, the area will also include a concessions stand, restrooms and a safe area for changing, lighting, picnic tables and the planting of 50 trees for shade. Since the RRT grant includes a tourism aspect, there will be educational signage throughout the complex. 

Harden says that this is one of multiple grants that the City of Gridley has been applying for to upgrade their recreational areas. A series of public outreach meetings were held in the fall/winter months of 2021 to identify what updates Gridley residents would like to see to our parks. A $5.2 million grant was pursued by the city for upgrades to Manuel Vierra Park but was not awarded. Currently, Gridley has two other grants for $3 million through Prop 68 and the RRT program in the process of review. Gridley has been awarded one for the sports complex and the other grant, if awarded, would be used for upgrades to Vierra Park. 

Leishman reiterates that the City of Gridley, staff and council have dedicated a lot of time and energy into the procurement of grants to facilitate the development of much needed play areas and upgrades to parks within our community.

About this newest win for Gridley, the sports complex, Harden added, “I think that is why we were successful - because of that impact to the community.” He went on to say, “It’s going to be pretty amazing.”

As far as this $3 million grant is concerned, Harden says that there were 80 applications and only 12 grants awarded, one being to Gridley. There is still a lot of work to be done to realize this project, but the RRT Grant stipulates that the project must be completed and open for public use by March 2025.