At a recent Sparwood Council meeting, $35,000 was approved for the design of a multi-use pad. The project is in the infancy stage and has yet to be tendered. The project has a quick deadline of completion according to Sparwood’s Director of Community and Facility Services, Duane Lawrence, who says the project’s completion date will be the end of 2016.
According to Lawrence, at this point in the project’s construction, it is difficult to get accepted for grant applications.
“Until we have a finalized design and detailed costing it is challenging to have a grant application accepted. This is why we are expediting the design and engineering work,” he said. “As soon as we have these in place we will have a good idea as to how much the project will cost and then be able to apply for future recreation infrastructure grants.”
The pad’s supported uses has yet to be fully determined. The District will be looking for Sparwood residents, including youth, to see what their priorities are.
“A muti-use pad is just that, a surface that can support a wide range of activities from ball sports like lacrosse and soccer to racquet sports such as tennis and pickle ball,” he said. “The one important thing to know is that the more sports you accommodate the less specific the design which means that the facility becomes more generic. You may have to sacrifice a preferred type of surfacing that would be ideal for one sport but would not allow for another to take place. This will all be sorted out during the consultation and design process which will be taking place in the near future.”
While the exact location and construction start date has yet to be determined, the pad will be located in Sparwood Heights.
“It is a little premature for us to speculate on when the facility will be constructed as we still need to, among other things, determine where it is going to be built as well as finalize a design,” Lawrence said. “Once we have a location and a design then we will know how much it will cost to construct. The cost will really be the determining factor as to when it will be constructed.”
