ITEM: 5.3
Title
Fogerty Curling Rink and Aquatore Park
Background
In 2008, Fogerty Arena staff presented to the City Council a proposal for a curling rink facility that would be attached to the existing south arena and extend into Aquatore Park Field #1. However, after a cost of $3.1 million dollars was estimated for the new curling rink it became prohibitive at that time to move forward with construction. Now, after four years of numbers crunching and construction revisions the curling rink plan is active again. At the January 5, 2012 City Council Workshop, Fogerty Arena staff presented a new proposal and the City Council responded favorably to moving forward with the curling rink facility, including the removal and replacement of Aquatore Field #1. Construction could begin in April of this year.
Prior to their presentation to City Council, Fogerty Arena staff met with City staff in December to determine the impact of removing the lighted ball field. Staff prepared the attached report on how the
field use would be redistributed to the other six lighted ball fields. It showed that through the months of May, June and July the fields were near or over capacity for adult and youth athletic use. This information was also presented to City Council. To accommodate adequate field use without Field #1, staff can limit the registration of adult softball teams.
As a result, City Council realized Field #1 needs to be replaced and directed staff to begin developing strategies to move the field to another location within Aquatore Park. In anticipation of this directive, staff tabulated the attached rough estimate from costs calculated in 2008 by SRF Consultants at $193,675. The lights and fencing would be salvaged form the existing field reducing the cost of new replacement. Also location of the actual field within the park is the biggest consideration. In 2008, soil borings were taken in the areas north and west of Fields #2 and #3. The results of these boring are attached and show that undesirable soil is deepest the farther west that they were taken. This adds to the cost by making soil corrections and with 15-17' of bad soils the cost would be unacceptable. The best location is north of Field #2 where the soil correction would only be 1½ feet. However, further soil samples would have to be conducted to insure the footprint of a same sized field would be built on solid ground. The field is planned for play in 2013.
At this time, funding for this project is in question and staff is not recommending the use of Park Fund dollars.
Recommendation
Information and discussion.