Are the tall trees lining the perimeter of the George Costa Baseball Complex interfering with newly installed lights?

City staff members say they are and propose to remove them following complaints about the uneven lighting on the fields. But officials with Ceres Youth Baseball (CYB) organization say the trees aren’t the problem and think an adjustment will do the trick.

It’s been a back-and-forth dispute that was not resolved at Monday’s Ceres City Council meeting. The council considered but tabled a request to pay West Coast Arborists $57,060 to remove 39 large mature trees around the complex’s perimeter. Councilmembers expressed concern about how the loss of shade may affect residents opposite the ball park and want the city to first consult with them.

The city recently replaced all the aerial lights around the fields with energy efficient LED lights partially paid for by a grant from the Turlock Irrigation District. But officials with the CYB complained about dark spots on the field and about the brightness of some lights blinding player looking up for the ball. It was a final irritation for CYV President Jorge Guerrero and Vice President Ismael Ontiveras who insisted that only the lights on field #3 needed to be replaced.

The city’s solution is now to cut down the interfering trees.

City Engineer Michael Beltran said the trees have a “snow cap” and shading parts of the fields. He said city staff evaluated alternatives such as selective trimming and fixture adjustment but decided those measures would not sufficiently resolve the light obstruction because of the size, location and growth patterns of the trees.

Councilman James Casey remains concerned that the trees aren’t the real problem and about the costs of removing them.

Councilwoman Cerina Otero said she went to the complex and came away thinking, “I don’t know that 39 trees need to actually be removed. I think maybe there are some around the lighting that need to be removed, but that cost of 39 trees is quite expensive at this time. I think that we need to focus on how we’re gonna resolve the issue with the lights, since we’ve taken a step back instead of a step forward.”

Beltran rhetorically asked, “Are there some spots that could be adjusted? I believe that there are, but I don’t know that that needs to be done until after the trees are removed. We’ll talk to the company about coming back out and making adjustments right after that, but we do need to do something with the trees.”

He said trimming the trees is not an answer since it would create the problem of them being lopsided.

Councilwoman Rosalinda Vierra said she has seen the whitecaps on the tree tops and suggested that “something does need to be done” but wants the city needs to reach out to the park’s neighbors. Vierra also expressed concern about the loss of shade the trees provide on hot days.

The matter will return on the March 9 agenda. If the council decides to bring down the trees that night, West Coast Arborists could leave only the stumps before the March 28 opening of the youth baseball season.

Ismael Ontiveras, vice president of CYB, spoke on Monday and reiterated his claims that removing the trees will not “improve the lighting other than at the fence line.

“Those lights that are surrounding the infield are not being blocked by any trees. I feel like it’s gonna really bring down the neighborhood if you do tear down these trees. They do need some trimming, of course… but the old lights – which were a lot brighter – were all over those trees, and we still got enough lighting into the infield.”

John Warren was criticized the plan to chop down the trees and chided the city for not heeding the advice of CYB officials who were adamant about only one field needing new lighting, not all of them.

“They clearly told you there was only one field that needed to be taken care of,” said Warren, “and the city chose to redo the whole thing and basically screw things up. So fix it. Don’t cut these trees down, get somebody in here that knows what they’re doing.”

City Manager Doug Dunford answered Warren, saying “nobody screwed up.” He explained the situation that led to all the fields being retrofitted with new energy saving lighting.

CYB President Jorge Guerrero said he was dismayed after learning that city officials were irritated with his January protest over the tree removal plan.

“Whoever is upset about us coming here, that gives me another concern … that you guys don’t accept somebody to come and give you an opinion on something that is going on that affects the city,” said Guerrero.