Increase in youth sports teams prompts Redmond to update field reservation policy

REDMOND, Ore. (KTVZ) -- The City of Redmond is updating it's park policy, mostly having to do with field registration.

The city is growing, and with growth comes more sports teams needing field access. 

In the last three years, Redmond has seen record-breaking registrations in all youth sports and recreation programs.

Redmond has 10 total softball and baseball fields, and the city wants to prioritize local youth programs while also ensuring fair access to other organizations.

Dusty Hood, the parks and facilities division manager for the city, said the new policy requires teams to reserve a field online through the city's website.

"We felt it was time to actually make some changes to the policy,” Hood said. “The old policy was basically a first-come, first-serve policy. We thought by changing it to our current policy we just sent out will actually benefit the community as a whole."

The priority reservation window is from January 1- 31, 2024. 

There is a 6-hour reservation limit per field per day.

Requests and fee costs will be evaluated based on the type of organization, such as a Little League team, private club, nonprofit , etc.

Specific fields will be set aside for community sports leagues.