Kirkstone Park’s gravel soccer pitch is qualifying for the premier leagues with an upgrade to a new turf field.
North Vancouver MP Jonathan Wilkinson announced Wednesday that the federal government is granting $500,000 to upgrade the sports field to a synthetic turf.
The project will include installing a drainage layer, turf surface, concrete curbing, perimeter fencing and gates, pathways, site furnishings, and trail connections, according to a release. The District of North Vancouver is putting up $700,000 for the capital improvements.
“Having coached soccer for many years for the league in which my two teenage daughters play, I know these facilities are more than just sports complexes – they’re important community centres that enrich the lives of our young people and families,” Wilkinson said in a release. “In July, Kirkstone was one of the sites for Hot Summer Nights: kids got to cool off under the hose, and learn about firefighting on tours of the trucks. These are the kinds of things that make investments in our parks and public spaces so important.”
Kirkstone will join North Vancouver’s other turf fields at Sutherland, Windsor, William Griffin, and Carson Graham. Another one is planned for Mahon Park.
“Replacing the field at Kirkstone has been on our priority list for a long time, and thanks to this generous federal partnership funding, Lynn Valley will now have its first artificial turf sports field,” said Mayor Richard Walton in the release.
The announcement is being welcomed by North Vancouver Football Club president Stuart Ince, who has been lobbying hard for more turf fields.
“We’ve been talking to the city for years and years and years about expanding the inventory,” he said. “I think it’s a really smart thing that the district’s done. I think it’s visionary.”
The field has long had a bad reputation, he added.
“Kirkstone is… dreadful. It’s very underutilized. You can hardly use it in the winter because it’s always wet and muddy and doesn’t drain very well. And in the summer, it becomes a dust bowl, so nobody uses it,” he said.
With only five turf fields, North Vancouver is still far behind other Lower Mainland communities, Ince added.
“We’re rock bottom,” he said. “The conversations that we’re now having with the district and the city are very positive and it helps because we simply have nowhere to put the kids.”
With the federal grant, the project should be completed in 2017. The grant is coming from Ottawa’s Canada 150 Community Infrastructure Program, meant to commemorate the 150th anniversary of confederation.
