ALBANY — A growing soccer club is seeking better-quality fields and more space to play as the city crafts its 2020 budget and the capital improvement projects that encompass park enhancements.

The Albany Soccer Club has been in existence since 1996, and has held its youth soccer leagues at Hoffman Park for years. In 1999, then-Mayor Jerry Jennings dedicated the city-owned park as the official home of the club — but coaches say that as the league has grown, they’ve had to fight for space on fields that have become deteriorated.

“Soccer is exploding in Albany and it is bringing together kids from all walks of life to play the ‘beautiful game’ together. However, the lack of suitable playing conditions is setting our program back,” said Josh Caldon, the club's president. “The fields we play on are on an old landfill that is neither flat or irrigated, and debris is slowly working its way through the landfill's lining onto the playing field. Additionally, we compete with other recreational programs to get playing space on the fields.”

The soccer club provides an affordable outlet for youth in Albany and across the Capital Region. It offers scholarships and funding for those who may not be able to afford membership fees.

While Hoffman Park saw over $150,000 in upgrades to its playground equipment in 2017, youth soccer players spoke up about the field conditions during a recent Common Council meeting.

“We have bad drainage. This makes it dangerous for us because the other people that are there use the better parts of the field,” 10-year-old Maria Marcou-O’Malley said. “ ... Our fields are swampy, dangerous and crowded. Because we don’t own our fields the problems just get worse.”

Soccer club officials say they are working with Jonathan Jones, Albany’s Recreation, Youth & Workforce Services commissioner, to come up with a solution — which might involve improving the current fields at Hoffman Park, or relocating the club’s home base to another city park. Nothing has been finalized.

“The extra cost incurred to play at local private venues is a struggle for many of our families to cover,” Caldon said. “If the city of Albany is to build a more integrated and healthy community, funding more and better soccer fields would be a clear first step that would reap many beneficial results."

David Galin, Mayor Kathy Sheehan's deputy chief of staff, confirmed the city is working with the soccer club on a resolution. He said the playing fields of Bleecker Stadium might serve as a temporary location, while nearby Beverwyck Park could be a more permanent location.

Elected officials and community leaders often lament over the conditions of city parks across Albany, objecting to improvements for some parks while demanding further enhancements at others. Most notably, council members earlier this year voted against borrowing money to help bring the riverfront Albany Skyway to fruition, arguing existing infrastructure should be the focus.

Next year, the city plans to borrow up to $1 million for improvements at Lincoln Park, which is the site of a planned $45 million sewer facility that would be built across from the Thomas O'Brien Academy of Science and Technology. Money is budgeted for disability compliance as well as playground and spray pad equipment, according to the city’s 2020 capital plan.

“... You’re really going to see that in the capital spend, with respect to the parks, we’re focusing on areas where there has been disinvestment to ensure those parks are parks that get revitalized quickly,” Sheehan said during her budget address on Oct. 1.

The mayor has made park improvements a focus of her administration, spending over $1 million in playground improvements since 2016 for 13 parks across Albany. City officials said they’ve spent additional funds to improve basketball courts and fields.

Albany also spent about $400,000 to create a skateboard park in Washington Park and another $750,000 to revitalize the Arbor Hill Softball Field and Sports Complex.

Earlier this year, residents called for the city to turn over the softball fields to the Arbor Hill Neighborhood Association after a confrontation ensued between city recreation staff and the mayor about use of the fields. Meanwhile, community leaders continue to question how significant the improvements were, and when the next phase will be completed.

Galin said the city determines which parks will see improvements based on each facility's level of use, the last time it was updated and if there's broken equipment.

"Using the equity agenda as our guiding principle, we determine that based on usage and areas of need," he said, referring to the city's attempt to use data to ensure that city resources are distributed as evenly as possible.

With limited resources available, officials must weigh the needs of each park. The city's Department of

General Services is tasked with maintaining roughly 140 green spaces, which include parks and sports fields, pocket parks and space with playgrounds.

The commissioner “has been trying to be proactive to fix some of those parks, but given the resources it’s hard to focus primarily on all of the parks,” Councilwoman Dorcey Applyrs said. “There is an issue with parks needing improvements across the city, but given historic neglect there are parks that need a lot more.”