Mayor Pat Hale asked council to wait until all seven council members were present to discuss what direction to take. Two members were absent from the Feb. 1 meeting.
Soccer organizers told the city Parks Advisory Board and council last year they had growing concerns about field conditions and injuries including broken bones to players who tripped in holes and fell. The council discussions last year began with soccer representatives but was expanded to also include baseball facilities.
Eric Mack, deputy director of municipal services, Feb. 1 reviewed options whose estimated costs ranged from $48,000 to $315,000.
The options included:
- Tapping into the city water system using water from the water plant and using mobile irrigation units that would have to be physically moved between fields,
- Installing irrigation wells and using the mobile irrigation units,
- Installing irrigation wells to feed an underground irrigation system.
Hale said he would have no interest in using treated water from the city water system for irrigation.
Mack said the cost of tapping into the water system, running a PVC main and using the mobile units would be $48,200 to put in place. The water for this option would cost an estimated $19,000 if minimum recommended watering schedules were followed. The mobile systems would require someone, who hasn’t been identified, to move them.
The irrigation wells option using mobile units would require drilling two irrigation wells and buying the units for an estimated $70,000. This option also would be labor intensive for whoever would be charged with moving the irrigation units.
The third option also would require drilling the wells. The underground system could be programmed to water a few fields each night and could be built in phases, Mack said.
Troy has a similar system at Paul G. Duke Park. It, too, uses irrigation wells and the city spends around $3,000 a year for operation and maintenance, Mack said.
Council President Joe Gibson said he would like to find out how organizations using fields would collaborate on a project.
A soccer representative said at an earlier meeting the organizations are willing to pitch in where they can. The organizations already work with the parks department on providing materials and volunteering time to help care for fields.
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