Indoor Soccer Field

On Monday, Council will be debating the construction of an indoor sport field. The proposal is to build a 135,000 square foot dome in the Trader Ridge Area. It will have artificial turf large enough to host a full-size, FIFA compliant 11v11 soccer game. However, it will have netting to allow the field to be divided into smaller configurations and markings to accommodate multiple sports. There are also plans for a secondary building containing locker rooms with showers, washrooms, reception, and storage. It is also hoped that a perimeter track can be included.

It is estimated that this will cost $16.4 million to build. The annual budget impact, not including debt repayment, would be an estimated $660,000/year (equivalent to a tax increase of ~0.4%).

You can find a staff report with more information here.

Some longer thoughts can be found below.

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Some longer thoughts:

Some of you are probably thinking “I thought this was going in Avondale…?” That was the plan before: in May, Administration was tasked to do high level design work to fit it in Avondale. However, as engineering was undertaken, it became apparent that there would be high land costs to develop in Avondale. Additionally, land ownership is complicated in the area: multiple school boards own needed land. And last fall, the provincial government introduced legislation that requires obtaining its approval for schoolboards to transfer or long-term lease land to the City. This unknown process  makes the Avondale site a lot more complicated. Therefore, Administration is instead recommending that we acquire land in Trader Ridge.

My personal take: we are a growing and young city. Many of our recreation facilities bursting at the seams from use. We also last an indoor field space with the demolition of the old Leisure Center. So I 100% support the building of an indoor field space of SOME sort.

And if our community is building a full size FIFA field in a dome structure: Trader Ridge is the way to go. I never supported a structure that big being built in Avondale. Lower value land on the outskirts is where a build like that belongs.

That being said: I’m very disappointed in how this process has gone. I don’t think we have properly investigated all options. Some think we should do a large field that stands on its own, in which case this process has been a good one. But personally, I would've loved work put into also looking at a business case for a smaller field that was designed to add other amenities in the future.

A full size FIFA dome is great for hosting large, provincial scale tournaments. But a field that is located near two high schools and NWP, in the middle of several residential neighbourhoods, and well connected to both transit and pathways (ie: in Avondale) would be MUCH better for day-to-day use. Even if it had to be smaller.

I also don’t know if a dome is the most cash efficient way to build recreation in the long-term. A more traditional build would have higher upfront costs. But it would have lower operational costs and would last much longer. Additionally, as we grow, we are also going to need future facilities like a pool, more gym space, or more ice surfaces. Even if they are years in the future, we should start thinking about them now. I would love to see us build an indoor field facility with larger washrooms/changerooms/reception areas/etc… designed to have additional facilities added on in the future. This might save significant costs, both in terms of upfront building and ongoing operations.

What exactly could a non-dome build that supports future add-ons look like? And what would it cost? I couldn’t tell you. Because Council hasn’t done any real study of options besides a dome with single use support facilities. Which I’ve flagged every single time we have talked about the dome.

So, I am torn on my vote on Monday.

I completely support an indoor field. And if it is going to be FIFA size, the dome in Trader Ridge is the way to go.  And there are many who have watched Council working on this for years and (understandably) are frustrated. They just want SOMETHING to happen. And soon. I get that. Part of me really agrees with that.

But I also have this niggling sense that we might be able to do better. It’s hard for me to support an investment this large when other options haven’t been properly explored.

So I still have a lot of thinking to do this weekend. And I’m confident I will be going into debate on Monday with an open mind. So as we head to this important vote: I’d love to hear your thoughts! Comment below. Or send me an email at dbressey@cityofgp.com

Thanks for reading!

-Dylan

EDIT: I originally indicated this would have a cost of $660,000/year including debt repayment. It should've read NOT including debt.