While Cochrane council begged the question, “Why can’t we all just work together?” the smoke took time to clear following a heated debate over what direction is the correct one to take for the creation of an outdoor turf field.
Presenting its side of the story Jan. 27, Cochrane Lions Minor Football approached council to reconfirm the town’s commitment of $600,000 toward the project. Council had provided the funding last year to the Turf Association to help the group (then made up of Lions Football, the Cochrane Rangers and Cochrane Minor Soccer and Cochrane Coyote Rugby) construct an outdoor turf field on the grounds of Bow Valley High School. The problem now, however, is that Lions Football has separated from the Turf Association and aims to build the turf field on its own.
Dean Lang and Cam Cote of Lions Football said the group has been offered turf at no cost for the proposed field from McMahon Stadium, which will be replacing its field this spring.
Originally the project was expected to cost $2.7 million, but with the free turf coupled with the organization hiring a new engineering firm, Morrison Hershfield, to design the field, Cote said the cost has been trimmed to $1.4 million.
“It’s important to keep this thing moving,” said Lang, explaining that once complete, a user-pay model would provide for future renewal and expansion.
The Turf Association has a drastically dissimilar opinion on this matter.
Dominic Hickey, the technical director for the Cochrane Rangers, was given his chance to speak to council on behalf of the Turf Association.
“Keep your money in your pockets,” was Hickey’s advice to council, as he proceeded to counter each of arguments presented by Lions Football. “Be wary of what you’ve been told.”
Hickey said the field Lions Football was proposing would be useless for rugby play, as it did not include a shock pad, which he said was essential for the sport. Hickey said he believes Lions Football was looking to construct a field that would cater only to football, and would not be a safe, viable option for other sports, like soccer and rugby.
More importantly for Hickey, however, was his contention that the engineer hired to construct the field did not feel it was necessary to dig below the frost line, which Hickey – and other engineering firms, like the initial firm hired to do the field – said was essential if the field was going to stand up to Cochrane temperatures and remain level.
Jack Vanstone of Morrison Hershfield explained the process of how his firm would construct the field. Hershfield is currently constructing a new turf field at Edge School for Athletics and has built fields at Shouldice, which have been open since 2009.
Hickey said that when turf fields are not properly installed in the ground, frost could cause the field the warp, which typically occurs sometime after the five-year mark.
The Turf Association, therefore, put forward an alternative plan, one that would see the construction of an outdoor turf field that would be covered by a dome during the winter months, protecting it from the frost and, according to Hickey, truly making it a year-around, multi-sport facility. The dome would be removed for the summer.
The cost: $1.5 million.
Following arguments from Lions Football (which included support from Cochrane Toyota owner Alex Baum and former Rocky View Council councillor Paul McLean) and the Turf Association, council decided to delay any decision until both parties could bring forward more geotechnical information on the project – something Hickey said Lions Football has not yet completed, but the Turf Association had – which would clarify the financials of a turf field and its probability of success.
Both parties said they could bring more information to council in a couple of weeks.
