How big should Corona del Mar High sports complex be? Trustees to vote today

Should a high school sports complex include seating for 1,000 or 1,375? How about an elevator?

Newport-Mesa Unified School District trustees are to vote Tuesday on the scope of the Corona del Mar sports complex project.

The $7.4 million project would add 600 seats on the field’s home side, bringing the total seats to 1,000, according to a staff report.

The project also would replace the aging grass field with all-weather turf.

But boosters have offered to raise an estimated $6.75 million more to expand the sports complex to 1,375 seats and build new facilities, according to plans detailed in a letter sent Friday by the Corona del Mar Foundation.

They would like to include a field building for concessions, team rooms, restrooms and ticket sales; new lighting; a sound system; and a press box with an elevator (if the state code requires one).

Expanding the sports complex has been a divisive subject since trustees allocated money for the project last year.

Homeowners from the Eastbluff, Bluffs and Plaza communities, which border the high school, have argued that their small neighborhoods are already plagued by noise, gridlock and parking problems generated by the school’s students and visitors.

In November, trustees discussed the controversial project before a standing-room-only crowd.

Some residents told trustees the project would “destroy the neighborhood.” Proponents called the existing facility “tired, worn and overused.”

Coaches, parents and students shared stories about an increase in ankle and other injuries caused by students playing on worn fields.

Last month, trustees delayed a vote on the project’s scope to Tuesday’s meeting.

Trustees authorized adding 600 seats and replacing the track and playing field at their September 2013 meeting, according to a staff report.

The 6 p.m. meeting will be held in the Roderick H. MacMillian Board Room at 2985-A Bear Street in Costa Mesa.