College of Marin goes off 'track'

Tuesday night, the College of Marin Board of Trustees will hear a report on the state of the track and field facilities. They will also be met by an overwhelming number of black and gold shirts, urging them to "Save the COM Track!"

The goal of the Friends of the College of Marin Track – made up of local runners, race walkers, Kentfield residents, public finance watchdogs, and high school and middle school coaches – is to preserve and restore a regulation track and multi-use field at COM.

"To me, it's a vital community resource," said Tamalpa Runners President Ken Grebenstein.

The concern for these residents is that the facilities, which were condemned in June 2009, may be replaced by a proposal from the Branson School for two lacrosse fields in the space currently occupied by the football field and a long, narrow track/path that would wind around the new fields.

San Anselmo resident, Cynthia Watson, has been coming to the COM track for six years to workout with friends and run. She used to take a bootcamp class at the track too, but after the facilities were condemned the trainer who ran the bootcamp had to move the class to a gym and cut back on his sessions.

"It's not just about our track club," said Watson. Though she has run there once a week "like clock-work," she said, there are other groups like the Special Olympics, home-schooled families, youth groups, and walkers who have historically used the track, as well.

In 2009, the facilities were officially condemned. Though the track, field, and bleachers have long been in disrepair, the school closed them last year to official use. In March 2009, the Board of Trustees also voted to suspend the school's football program. And the handful of people that make up the school's track team now must use Marin Catholic's facilities, nearby.

"There's no funding that's been identified to do the repairs," said Cathy Summa-Wolfe, COM's director of communications and community relations. And though the school recently opened its brand new Physical Education building and facilities, paid for with Measure C funds, the track was not included when those plans were made years ago.

This means that the funds to repair and restore the football field and track facilities have to come from somewhere else.

A plan was brought forward in January by the Ross Valley Lacrosse Club to renovate the field, track, and bleachers. The club would have paid for the repairs and then had an arrangement with the college to use the facility. Such arrangements are common in community colleges, providing funding for the schools and facilities for local groups.

In fact, COM already had one such arrangement with the Branson School.

There are conflicting reports of how the Ross Valley Lacrosse Club's plan failed to come to fruition, but it is clear that the group was told a joint use agreement between the college and Branson meant that the lacrosse club needed to work with Branson on the proposal.

At a Jan. 19 meeting, then college President Frances White said the college would honor the agreement with Branson and that the groups should work together.

However, Mimi Williard – who heads the Friends of the COM Track group – said, the part of the joint use agreement between Branson and the college that covered the football field and track had actually expired in 2005.

Still, Branson came back with a new proposal, one that would place two lacrosse fields across where the current football field is.

That proposal lacked any type of track to replace the one that would be torn up. The Academic Senate of the college, in response, issued an official memo stating that a track was necessary for the college's P.E. Department and for students to take athletic classes. Under state regulations, this constitutes an official need of the college that must be met.

"So, they drew this walking path around the perimeter and called it a track," said Williard.

The proposed path/track would be 12-feet wide, 600 yards long, and a pentagonal-type shape with a number of sharp turns around the two lacrosse fields.

In addition, said Williard, the narrow track runs directly behind and only a few feet away from where the goalposts are positioned, putting users at risk of getting hit with a lacrosse ball.

"You couldn't possibly safely walk on this walking path when the fields were in use for any sport," she said.

In addition to the safety concerns and the oddity of the proposed path/track, Grebenstein said, the field and track are one of the last remaining large flat pieces of land in central Marin. There is concern that if the rights to community college property are given to a private school then it would become virtually inaccessible to the public.

The track and field facilities have historically been used by the Special Olympics and the Marin Memorial Day Races. Middle schools around the county use the facilities. And the argument has been made that there are local students who must attend a community college for a few years – for financial or personal reasons – before transferring to a four-year university. Those students that hope to have a few more years of development in track before having a chance to earn a scholarship or spot at a bigger university must now look somewhere besides the College of Marin.

"This is a community resource in an area where the alternatives are not significant," said Grebenstein.

In addition, every other track facility in the county is connected to a high school, which means it is closed and inaccessible to the public during the day.

"It really is the only track in Marin that's available during the day," said Frank Ruona, who used to run track workouts at COM before moving them to evenings at San Rafael High School.

If the Branson proposal, or one similar to it, is adopted, then it will make it nearly impossible to bring a football or track program back to the school down the road, said Ruona, when there will be no football field or track to speak of.

Despite the fact that COM President Al Harrison will make a report on the status of the track facilities on Tuesday, no actual action has yet been taken by the board.

"Nothing official is in the works," said Summa-Wolfe, who said that the Board of Trustees would have to take official action and make a request for proposals. At the point a request for proposals is made, then every group or organization would have the opportunity to submit a proposal.

The parameters that the board can put on the proposals – for example, requiring that it include a regulation, standard track – is what remains to be decided.

"I do not support any modification of the current layout," said James Namnath, vice president of the board. Namnath said the college must support its programs and students, and that it also has an obligation to offer its facilities for reasonable use to the general public, who help fund much of the school. "My personal position is that the physical education facilities, including the track and stadium, are a high priority for the college to maintain and must do so."