Soccer field access creates dispute in The Woodlands

The Dynamo/Dash youth soccer club is embroiled in a controversy over soccer field access in The Woodlands. Township officials expect a large crowd of interested people at the June 27 meeting of The Woodlands Township Board of Directors, when the issue is expected to be discussed. This is a 2010 file image of the Houston Dynamo U-17 soccer team facing off against other elite youth teams. less The Dynamo/Dash youth soccer club is embroiled in a controversy over soccer field access in The Woodlands. Township officials expect a large crowd of interested people at the June 27 meeting of The Woodlands ... more Photo: Thomas B. Shea, Freelance / For The Houston Chronicle Photo: Thomas B. Shea, Freelance / For The Houston Chronicle Image 1 of / 3 Caption Close Soccer field access creates dispute in The Woodlands 1 / 3 Back to Gallery

Conflicts over the use of public-access athletics and soccer fields may be coming to a head in The Woodlands.

According to a memorandum of understanding adopted between The Woodlands Township and the Montgomery County Dynamo/ Dash Youth Soccer Club first signed in 2010 and later renewed in 2016, the club is “permitted” certain rights over the community’s multipurpose fields.

Now, eight years after the initial contract was approved without discussion, John McMullan—The Woodlands Township Board of Directors Vice Chairman—said the vague wording has allowed the Dynamo/ Dash to effectively monopolize youth soccer in the area and heavily control the use of publicly-funded sports fields by other soccer clubs.

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“We didn’t know,” McMullan said of the restrictions. “To the best of my knowledge, no one on the board knew that this contract was being used to kick other clubs off of unused fields in the Woodlands.”

The subject is up for discussion at the June 27 township Board of Directors meeting according to McMullan, who said he has introduced an item on the agenda to terminate the city’s contract with Dynamo/ Dash Youth Soccer. One of the contract stipulations is unconditional termination given by either the Dynamo/ Dash or the Township with 180 days notice.

On Wednesday, the Dynamo/ Dash sent out a memo to its players, warning them of McMullan’s intentions to have the township board reconsider the contract and supplied the email addresses of each board member, asking families to both email them positive experiences they’ve had with the team and to show up at the June 27 meeting to speak on behalf of the club.

“At this time, we are requesting your support by sending a personal email to The Woodlands Township Board of Directors listed below as soon as possible stating the following,” the email read. “Please communicate the positive benefits that your family has experienced while participating in the Texas Rush/Dynamo/Dash Youth Soccer Club. Communicate your displeasure regarding the serious possibility of losing your current soccer fields to outside user groups which will negatively impact your son or daughter’s development.”

Continuing conflict

Every other club soccer team wanting to use any of The Woodlands’s multipurpose sports fields — defined as township-owned fields that can be reserved for organized activities — is restricted to 50 hours of use per calendar year and depends on approval from the Dynamo/Dash.

The resulting disputes have led to at least three major complaints from other soccer clubs to the Township Board of Directors.

Dutch Lions FC President Deb Keller spoke to the Board of Directors at their May 17 meeting, using the public comment portion of the meeting to express her concerns.

“Public fields should be for the use of the entire public,” Keller told the board. “Their use should not be restricted to the enrichment of only one group or company.”

In October 2017, a local soccer team was confronted by representatives of the Dynamo/Dash, formerly known as the Texas Rush, when the team was using an empty field at Lakeside Park. The team was asked to leave, citing the 50-hour threshold triggering approval by the Dynamo/Dash.

John Powers, the township’s assistant general manager of community services, said even though the fields were not being used by the club, Lakeside Park and the fields there was still subject to the MOU. The Dynamo/ Dash do not use the Lakeside Park fields and the township advised the club that the Lakeside Park field would reopen to other teams.

“They believe this is counter to the understanding of the agreement and past practice, but they will comply/agree,” Powers wrote in an Oct. 12 email explaining the resolution to McMullan.

For other teams, Keller said, the trouble doesn’t end with field access. The 50-hour time restriction essentially limits any other soccer team from having meaningful playing time, she added.

“Kids are playing two to three times a week and have games on the weekends,” Keller said. “That’s at least five hours a week for any team — they would use that up in no time at all.”

Keller’s club, the Dutch Lions, plays at its own facilities north of the Woodlands, but the weight of the restrictions falls heavy on local parents who don’t have the time or resources to drive their children to soccer practice in Conroe or Kingwood.

Some smaller teams, unable to secure a field in the township, hold practices in church fields or parking lots.

The 2010 MOU with The Woodlands and the Dynamo/Dash said the then-Texas Rush could reserve the pavilions at Bear Branch at any time and at no cost. The 2016 MOU renewal expanded that stipulation to include the Gosling Sports Fields, as at the time of the original contract, Bear Branch was the only lighted sports complex.

Powers said the Dynamo/Dash contributed “some” capital funds to the Gosling lighting project, but the maintenance of the Bear Branch, Gosling and Lakeside Park fields and grounds all remain publicly funded.

The 2010 contract expired in June 2015, and between then and its renewal in February 2016, the Dynamo/ Dash continued to operate — and restrict field use — as normal.

At the same 2016 township board meeting when the Dynamo/Dash MOU was up for renewal, township staff presented an agenda item from Dynamo/Dash requesting that the Township build a two-story, 7,600 square foot facility in the Bear Branch Sports Fields that would be leased exclusively to the Dynamo/Dash.

Had it been built, the building would have cost the township more than $1 million.

“With its presence, the Club will be the informal stewards of the Bear Branch Sports Fields in support of (The Woodlands Township) staff and contractors,” the 2016 building proposal read.

The initial proposal was tabled until the 2016 budget process, per records, and was eventually rejected. A second proposal, where the township would pay for half of the facility was presented in the 2017 budget process and was also rejected.

Don Gemmell, technical director for the Dynamo/Dash Youth, said the rejected building project, “Had to do with legislation of private organizations having assets on public land,”

“We still hope one day we’re able to do that with the township, but not at this time,” Gemmell added.

With almost 3,000 team members, the Montgomery Dynamo/Dash Youth Soccer Club is one of the biggest players in youth soccer in the county.

The club contributes $6 million every year to the community in programming and events, Gemmell said and, as is required of organizations wishing to reserve fields in the township, about 70 percent of the participants are residents of the Woodlands.

“We’ve always been mindful of having Woodlands residents in Woodlands soccer fields,” Gemmell said.

The club has faced accusations of impropriety regarding the use of the fields, but Gemmell said those claims are false.

Gemmell also declined to comment on whether the club is considering opening the fields to teams without their own fields, explaining that several clubs that have requested to use the public fields have facilities of their own.

“To nitpick about some documents somebody found on the website is highly unfair to the contribution this club has made to this community,” Gemmell said.

For the 2017-2018 season, the Dynamo/Dash Youth “competitive” teams in the age groups of Under-11 through Under-19 have club fees ranging from $1,550 to $2,105, not including league fees, pre-season camps, uniforms or other expenses like social events and team gear, according to a club registration form.

In all, the cost of participation for a competitive Dynamo/Dash Youth player could total almost $3,000 before travel and lodging for away games is added on.

In the 2017-2018 season, the club paid $11.98 an hour to use the Gosling and Bear Branch fields — about $80 an hour less than the average market rate for fields in the greater Houston area.

McMullan addressed the issue in a guest editorial in The Woodlands Villager June 20 edition.

“The Township Board, including myself, made a bad decision approving a contract and it is time to fix it, as the contract permits,” McMullan said in the guest column. “The Township fields, including the all-weather turf fields, are public fields paid for by our tax dollars, and our government should not allow one competitive soccer club exclusive use of our fields at a tremendously discounted price.”