Fields get the majority of their in-season use from the permitted users, and fields are generally permitted 7 days a week during the season(s), so the "wear and tear" argument is really shorthand for some other grievance. Fields don't need to be permitted out of season. After all, they do belong to all taxpayers.

As for them opening paragraph: "At none of them would it be unusual for a team with a permit for the field to arrive and find it already occupied." What's the problem then? The person with the permit invites the unpermittted occupier to leave. If he/she refuses, you call the county and/or cops. That ususally does the trick (I say this from lots of experience).

The system works, so lets enforce the laws we already have (sound like a familiar argument?).

We could have used this law (or actually, one more strict) 20 years ago. The non-paying locals used to tear up the fields everyday, creating terrible playing surfaces for organized games. However, now many of the fields are turf which can take a beating. This law might have a chance of helping if it is restricted to grass fields only. If no one's using a turf field for organized games, anyone should be able to get out on it.

If "it’s been a lengthy and public process in terms of vetting this" then why, as a participant in both an organized league and pick-up games, am I just hearing about it, via the Vienna Patch, on the day of the hearing? I suspect the overwhelmingly 1-sided email responses have been because only 1 side has been informed. How were informal, unregistered, pick-up users of the fields informed?

Also, I agree with Luis. The existing rules work. Permitted users have priority, whether the unpermitted group has 4 or 34 participants. If the unpermitted group doesn't yield, call the appropriate officials.

@Luis & Mike- a team with a permit who has a one hour practice scheduled will spend the entire hour trying to get on the field if it is not yielded. A group of 20 just doesn't materialize without planning or scheduling, no matter how informal. If you want to play pick up soccer than get a permit and invite your friends. A team having to call the police to chase off a pick up game is a poor use of resources and a lousy argument against the new rule.

The real issue here is the stated intention of some members of the Athletic Council, in particular Lula Bauer. She has made a public point that she wants the county to adopt a zero-tolerance policy on walkons: nobody, on any field, at any time, for any reason, without a permit. If we start yielding to the athletic council, your friendly family touch-football game will suddenly become an illegal activity.
This was done in almost complete secrecy. Only team and club officials were ever notified that a change was in the works, and they have a vested interest on one side of the issue. So, it's no surprise the comments were one-sided.

To whom specifically do we complain about this regulation? The permit fees are only a small portion of the construction and maintenance of these fields. Our sales taxes and property taxes fund a major share. Certainly permit-holding groups and leagues deserve priority, but we must not allow a state where groups of neighbors, friends, children, and young people are prohibited via bureaucracy from using fields and parks to play pick-up sports. What better activity can be imagined than that? Should we send these young people back to their living rooms, computers, televisions and street corners rather than have them out getting exercise and having constructive fun? Would this create yet another petty crime that causes conflict with law enforcement officers? They have more important things to do than to ask a group of neighbors and young people if they've paid the fee. Our property taxes fund these parks. If I and my neighbors wish to use them a few times a year when leagues are not using them we certainly deserve to without any additional fees. Everyone, please speak out against this needless increase in red tape and selfish hoarding of community property for special purposes.