For years, athletes who have turned an ankle or tripped over an uneven surface, have been complaining about the field conditions in New Castle County parks.
But it's not that park workers are neglecting them. They just can't keep up.
With a record number of teams enrolled in county football and soccer leagues, combined with private youth leagues and pickup games, there's virtually no time when the fields go unused.
Two years ago, $1.4 million was set aside to build two turf fields in county parks, with the hope that the synthetic surfaces would be easier to maintain and more palatable to players.
But they never were built.
Faced with steep revenue shortfalls, County Executive Chris Coons cut $75 million in projects from the government's five-year capital program. The new fields were among the casualties.
But now, park officials say they want to revisit the plans.
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NCCo Fields By the Numbers 116 soccer teams |
Bob Fischer, who coordinates the county's recreational sports leagues, points to other municipalities like Fairfax County, Va., where a significant investment has been made to install turf fields.
Officials in Fairfax estimate that turf fields can host 62 percent more play than grass fields because weather would force far fewer cancellations. By the end of 2010, Fairfax hopes to have 18 synthetic fields, according to a Washington Post story.
Turf fields can be permanently lined with different colors to accommodate multiple sports by simply swapping out the appropriate portable goals, Fischer said.
"It really would be a long-range improvement, not just for the user today," he said.
They'd cost a pretty penny up front, but long-term maintenance savings, coupled with the ever-increasing demand for more field space, could make them a worthwhile investment, said Community Services General Manager Anne Farley.
Farley said she will likely put turf fields back in her department's budget proposal for the next fiscal year.
Coons' spokesman C.R. McLeod said the administration would re-consider the fields and other long-range projects.
"With stimulus funding being made available, we are now taking a look at capital projects that have been delayed," he said. "But we have not yet made a decision about which projects will move forward."
