The Seaside City Council approved entering a lease agreement with the Seaside School District for the sports fields at Broadway Park on May 8.

The agreement replaces a three-way intergovernmental agreement originally signed in 2013 by the city, school district and Sunset Empire Park and Recreation District, which owns a part of the property and maintains the fields. The intergovernmental agreement will be formally dissolved at a later date as the city enters into a separate lease with the park district for the property they currently use and maintain.

The school district will enter into a separate agreement with the park district for how they will continue to maintain and operate and work together on the fields.

This lease will be needed with the current intergovernmental agreement going away and will “better articulate responsibilities,” City Manager Spencer Kyle said.

The school district and park district are the main users of the sports fields. The fields are open to the public for use when they are not programmed for activities.

By entering into the lease, the school district will assume the city’s portion of future costs, which currently includes an estimated $250,000 in this budget year to replace the field’s artificial turf and future operations maintenance costs.

Staff from all three organizations have worked on the language of the lease, Kyle said in a staff report.

The lease gives the school district full control over the activity and development of the property for 15 years but is renewable for two additional 15-year periods with the approval of both entities.

According to the terms of the lease agreement, the park must remain open to the public during standard park hours when activities are not being programmed by either the park or school district.

Uses must conform to the city’s land use and building codes and adhere to all other city ordinances and codes.

“Basically, we lease it to them, and in exchange, our residents get all the benefits they receive today,” Kyle said. “I think this is a fantastic opportunity for our city, and I hope it’s a good one for the school district as well.”

The plan will enable the school district to address requirements of a Title IX lawsuit to provide equitable playing fields for Seaside’s softball players.

The school district is still working to identify a plan to relocate the Sunny Hunt Community Garden, which will be unavailable after the softball field relocation.

The Herche Batting Facility, which is being moved during the field reconfiguration, will not be included in the lease and the organizations will work out an ownership solution at a later date.

All three entities will need to rescind the current intergovernmental agreement, he said. Since the agreement between three entities and the lease is between only two of the entities, it is likely that this will need to be a separate action from the lease.

Mayor Steve Wright said the lease deal gives both the city and the school district “a clear step forward.”

The City Council authorized conditional approval subject to the city attorney’s review of final edits.

The school district is nearing completion of a revised intergovernmental agreement with the park district to manage the fields, Seaside School District Superintendent Susan Penrod said.

“We really appreciate the collaboration with Mr. Kyle and Sunset Empire through this process and we feel that this will benefit everybody in our community,” Penrod said.

The lease agreement will go to the school board at their May 16 meeting for approval, she said. Returfing the field is set to begin May 22, with the relocation of the Herche Family Training Facility and the softball field reconstruction to follow.