Community Forum Opens Public Planning for Moreno Valley College's First Athletic Field
Residents, students, local business owners, school representatives and college employees gathered Sept. 23 in Room 121 of the Student Academic Services building to learn more about Moreno Valley College's planned athletic field and provide input as design moves forward. The forum was also available online.
The Athletic Field and Parking Lot Improvement Project is a $26.7 million Measure CC project that will provide the college with its first athletic field and the facilities needed to launch its first intercollegiate athletics program. The Riverside Community College District Board of Trustees approved the project's contract and budget in August, with construction currently projected for completion in February 2029.
Moreno Valley College has never competed in the California Community College Athletic Association, the governing body for community college athletics in the state.
"Once this is complete, we will have a field that is sufficient in size for Moreno Valley College to launch its inaugural athletics program," said Rudy Besikof, president of Moreno Valley College. "That is one of the biggest gains of this project."
Besikof opened the forum by setting the tone for the evening. Recalling advice he received as a dean, he said a productive conversation should be about 75% listening and 25% talking. Following a brief project presentation, he invited attendees to ask questions and share their concerns and ideas.
Majd Askar, vice president of business services at Moreno Valley College, explained that the athletic field will remain near its current location on the upper soccer fields. The decision aligns with the college's Comprehensive Master Plan and educational planning developed with faculty.
"The field remains essentially in the same location, and we did that intentionally," Askar said. "We wanted to preserve the open character of College Park and support our long-term planning goals."
The location also preserves the area across from College Park for future campus development. Long-term plans anticipate a kinesiology building adjacent to the athletic zone.
Hussain Agah, associate vice chancellor of facilities planning and development for the district, outlined the major elements of the project. The athletic field will include synthetic turf, Musco lighting, team locker rooms, equipment storage, team benches, men's and women's restrooms, 500-seat bleachers, perimeter fencing, ambulance access, scoreboards and a public-address system.
The project also includes a new parking lot on an area currently used for overflow parking. The lot will provide more than 200 paved spaces, including accessible parking and electric vehicle charging stations. Additional site improvements will include grading, soil stabilization, stormwater management, full accessibility compliance and directional signage.
The project is currently in the design phase, scheduled to continue through March 2027. Plans will then undergo review by the Division of the State Architect, with approval anticipated in September 2027. Construction bids are expected to be awarded in December 2027. Parking lot construction is scheduled from January through June 2028, followed by athletic field construction from June 2028 through February 2029.
Building for Student Interest
When asked which sports the field could accommodate, Besikof said the initial focus is soccer and women's flag football, while recognizing that student interest and community college athletics can change over time. He pointed to tennis courts that have been divided into pickleball courts over the past decade and noted that pickleball has come up in discussions as a possible community college sport.
Professor Tanya Brown, who also leads the women’s flag football team, said faculty are still early in their planning.
"There's still a lot of planning that has to go into place, but we would love to bring men's and women's soccer and women's flag football," Brown said.
She added that men's and women's cross country are also under discussion, along with other sports that would require a gymnasium down the line.
Trustee Keri Then noted that women's flag football competition involving Norco College has taken place on the Moreno Valley campus for the past two years, even though Moreno Valley College has not yet competed in the athletic association. Riverside City College will now compete in the sport as well. She added that final decisions on sports will rest with faculty, administration and the Board of Trustees.
Hearing From Neighbors
Several questions came from neighbors. A resident who lives at the end of College Park asked whether walls or sound barriers would be built. Agah said there will be no walls and that the field lights will be aimed directly at the playing surface.
"The lights will be directional toward the field itself, so they will not create glare or direct reflection on the houses around the area," Agah said. He added that the field sits against the hillside and that the design team may lower the light poles from 50 feet to 30 feet.
The resident said the college already handles safety and cleanup well at commencement each year, but that regular events would be a different matter.
"This is bigger. It's more often, more frequent. It's not just once a year," the resident said, pointing to neighbors who leave for work early or return late. "I'm trusting the process."
Askar said the college is consulting its sister colleges to set hours of operation and will adopt a formal procedure before the field opens.
Other speakers asked about traffic, parking and food. College officials said the narrow access road, now one-way, will be widened to allow two-way traffic, and that a concession stand is part of the plan. The campus has about 1,250 parking stalls, and campus police and community service aides will manage traffic and security during events. The new lot will also replace roughly 150 stalls in Parking Lot B that will be lost when the new Library Learning Resource Center is built.
A community member named Irma said interest in soccer has grown since the World Cup and asked how a Moreno Valley program would relate to Norco College's soccer program and to city parks. Besikof said colleges in a multi-college district typically complement one another's athletic offerings based on student demand, though two colleges sharing a sport "makes for some good-spirited rivalries." He said the college remains a partner with the City of Moreno Valley and will continue that dialogue.
Trustee Mary Figueroa told residents the board raised lighting, noise and traffic when it approved the project, drawing on the district's experience with Wheelock Field at Riverside City College, which sits in a residential neighborhood.
"We're very aware of the issues that something the size of an athletic field could bring to a community," Figueroa said. "This is a working relationship. For all of the individuals who live in and around Moreno Valley College, this is your college. You need to be involved in how we develop it, and if we have to make adjustments along the way, we can do that."
A student raised a separate concern about the dark walkway leading from the Humanities building to the portable classrooms. Besikof said the college would look into adding lighting there.
A Broader Campus Investment
The athletic field is one of six capital projects planned for the campus, representing $341 million in total investment, with $256 million from Measure CC and $85 million in state funding.
The projects include the $114.3 million Library Learning Resource Center, scheduled to open in summer 2030; the $111.4 million Biological and Physical Science (STEM) building; the $48.3 million Ben Clark Training Center Education Building 2A for the School of Public Safety, scheduled to open in fall 2029; a $26.5 million reconstruction of the existing library for performing arts; and a $13.8 million expansion of Mechanical Plant 2.
Besikof described the work as part of the college's move toward becoming a comprehensive college.
Because design continues through March 2027, comments submitted now can still shape the final plans. Residents and students can share questions or feedback anonymously.