{"id":201410,"date":"2026-03-22T13:59:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:59:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201410\/"},"modified":"2026-03-22T13:59:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-22T13:59:12","slug":"city-commission-approves-soccer-field-rental-agreements","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/201410\/","title":{"rendered":"City Commission approves soccer field rental agreements"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Apopka City Commission\u00a0unanimously\u00a0approved\u00a0two soccer field rental agreements<\/a>\u00a0during\u00a0its\u00a0Wednesday\u00a0meeting<\/a>,\u00a0allowing Central Florida Soccer Club\u00a0(CFSC)\u00a0and Central Florida United Academy\u00a0(CFU)\u00a0to rent\u00a0Northwest Recreation Complex soccer fields\u00a0based on a rate of $25 per hour.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe fourth budget agreement includes a five-year term agreement that was established from August 1, 2026, to July 31, 2031,\u201d said Blanche Sherman, city finance director. \u201cAny field rentals outside of the agreement will be charged at $25 an hour.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

The city\u00a0had\u00a0issued<\/a>\u00a0a Request for Proposals (RFP) in January, intending to award up to two contracts.\u00a0Although CFSC\u00a0and\u00a0CFU\u00a0were the only two bidders, the former was disqualified under the \u201ccone\u00a0of silence\u201d\u00a0rule,\u00a0since\u00a0the club president had contacted at least one commissioner about the contract while it was out for bidding.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIf we don\u2019t have the cone of silence for soccer fields, then we might as well forget about it,\u201d Mayor Bryan Nelson\u00a0said<\/a>\u00a0at\u00a0a previous meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The disqualification had\u00a0caused controversy<\/a>\u00a0amongst CFSC\u00a0supporters, though representatives from both clubs did not\u00a0comment at Wednesday\u2019s\u00a0meeting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

According to Nelson, the city is sodding four fields that should be ready by Aug. 1. Two additional fields should be completed by the end of the year.<\/p>\n

Wyld Oaks developer Joseph Beninati, who had previously spoken\u00a0about\u00a0the Kelly Park Road widening project, asked the\u00a0commission\u00a0to keep his property in mind for extra soccer field space.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNot to put my nose into the middle of things, but I understand there\u2019s some limitations on fields right now,\u201d\u00a0Beninati said. \u201cWe do have property that, if people are interested in contacting me, we would certainly welcome, while the other fields are being completed, to have some of the kids use some of the property. I know\u00a0probably we\u00a0have to\u00a0do some insurance matters, etc., but\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0a huge youth sports fan and would hate to see the kids not be able to play without the fields.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

After\u00a0Commissioner Nick\u00a0Nesta\u00a0confirmed with Sherman that amending the agreements would be possible should all parties agree, resident Rod Olsen encouraged the commission to lower the rental rates.\u00a0He called attention to the disparity\u00a0between the $25\u00a0an\u00a0hour charge for the\u00a0soccer fields and\u00a0a\u00a0$2-$3 per hour rate for other youth sports.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cLook at the hours that go into baseball and softball fields compared to what goes into the multi-purpose field,\u201d Olsen said. \u201cThis disparity should not continue. You should not rubber stamp this ongoing policy. You should direct parks and recreation to do $2 to $3\u00a0an hour, matching what they do for the other programs for these two organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Sarah Merly is an editorial assistant and reporter for The Apopka Chief. She joined the Chief in May 2025 after graduating from Patrick Henry College’s journalism program in Washington, D.C. In her spare time, Sarah loves watching rom-coms, visiting Disney, and throwing parties.<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Apopka City Commission\u00a0unanimously\u00a0approved\u00a0two soccer field rental agreements\u00a0during\u00a0its\u00a0Wednesday\u00a0meeting,\u00a0allowing Central Florida Soccer Club\u00a0(CFSC)\u00a0and Central Florida United Academy\u00a0(CFU)\u00a0to rent\u00a0Northwest Recreation…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":201411,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[139,141,140],"class_list":["post-201410","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201410","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=201410"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/201410\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/201411"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=201410"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=201410"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=201410"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}