It’s becoming clear that building a turf field in Cochrane is more complicated than you’d think.
What started as a joint effort between the Cochrane minor sports leagues (soccer, rugby and football) to create a multi-sport turf that would meet the needs of the many, has been approved by town council to meet the narrow needs of few.
The football group within the Turf Association seemed to think they could go at it alone, breaking away from the Turf Association, asking council to give them the entire $600,000 funding from the town and take it away from the Turf Association.
For the most part, council listened and gave them most of what they asked for ($500,000), despite councillors Tara McFadden and Gaynor Levisky opposing the motion to move the full amount of funding, instead offering to split the $600K between the two groups.
That would have been a fair way of dealing with the issue, but that did not happen.
Now, to understand the issue between the two groups you need to look at what they both offer.
The Turf Association is looking to build a facility with a retractable dome, with a brand new turf that has a shock absorption pad, lasting 10-12 years, making the field approved for all sports including rugby. This brand new facility would come together for the projected grand total of $1.5 million.
The Lions Football plan?
Build a dedicated outdoor facility, which will likely sit unused for part of the year, with used turf donated by the Calgary Stampeders, only dig down two feet, not bypassing the frost line, with lines stitched in for football, soccer and rugby and not including a shock pad or the requirements for rugby to safely play on the field. This is expected to come together for the grand total of $1.4 million.
Now why do I look at the used turf as such a down side?
A brand new turf comes in at a cost of roughly $400,000-$500,000 and we’re taking an eight-year-old turf and still coming in at a cost roughly the same as the Turf Association?
This would be a good option if the turf were newer than eight years old, out of warranty and only a few years left on its life.
I say a few years because this is where it gets tricky.
The football group proposed to council that the turf should last through the first five years, by which time they expect to have money for a new turf.
But, after speaking with both Gord Norrie, president of the Calgary Stampeders and Kevan Pipe, a sales rep with FieldTurf, the company that makes the turf being donated, it’s clear that neither the Stamps nor the company that makes the turf can come up with a guarantee on how long this turf will last.
At eight years old and out of warranty, Pipe confirms that the company only gives a life of up to 10 years, in some rare cases he’s seen them last as long as 12 years.
“Depending on the answers to a whole series of questions, the turf can last anywhere from eight to 10, to 12 years of age,” said Pipe.
I received a far different answer from Mr. Norrie, who, not being an expert on turf will be excused from the argument with an estimate that the field could last 6-7 years. I think I’ll take the word of the rep from the company who built the turf.
While the people from Lions Football would like to think the used, worn down, UV damaged, out of warranty field will be sufficient to last the next 5-7 years, the chances of that seem pretty slim.
Despite the football guys efforts to take away from the years of planning the Turf Association had put in, Turf Association representative Dominic Hickey said it’s all going to be OK and the dream of a multi-use indoor/outdoor turf is still alive and well.
“It’s OK, let them have their outdoor turf,” said Hickey, adding they want to do the job right and create a facility that would last for a long time to come.
In the meantime, minor soccer would still like to use the proposed turf, but the plan is to come back to council and make their proposal March 10, hopefully finding a renewed commitment from the town for funding on a second, truly multi-sport turf.
“They (the football contingent) definitely walked away from us because of the “golden egg”, a donated turf,” Hickey said. “But to be honest, it would have been tempting, but I’m a details man. Does it make sense to buy a million dollar house and outfit it with cheap fixtures and no warranty?”
