Toronto's newest soccer fields - REAL GRASS for BMO imminent?
Well. . the Cherry beach fields are not being used. . and they have a beautiful surface, ONE of the fields could be designated as a training facility for TFC. . while the rest for public use. maybe they would re-coup some of their (tax payers) losses.
MAKE IT HAPPEN DAVID MILLER! MLSE!
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http://www.torontosun.com/News/Toron...83961-sun.html
Toronto's newest soccer fields -- locked up and unused since last year -- will cost $8.5 million if they finally open next month.
For those keeping score, that's not just a year late, but also about $3 million over budget.
Waterfront Toronto -- funded by taxpayers' dollars from all three levels of government -- is on the hook for the extra cost, but stressed the fields, built on one of the most contaminated sections of the Portlands, will be worth it.
The city is urging sports groups to pay $36 an hour for the "premiere" pitches, dubbed the Cherry Beach Sports Fields, starting Sept. 22. Yesterday, construction crews were still at the site completing the parking lot.
Waterfront communications director Michelle Noble said the "desperately needed" fields were ready last fall, shortly after the city hosted the junior World Cup. The soccer pitches were suppose to be used for that event.
Since its completion, the well-manicured fields on the corner of Unwin Ave. and Regatta Rd. have sat behind construction fence closed to the public or any soccer players.
City parks manager Leslie Coates said Toronto Public Health warned the city not to open the field because of concerns about badly contaminated soil.
The spot is one of the worst in the former industrial lands on the edge of Lake Ontario. Rather than dig out the soil and put in clean fill, officials opted to remediate the land.
"The biggest challenge with remediation is you don't know what you will find," Noble said. "We knew the area was contaminated because most of the Portlands are contaminated, but it was just finding out the extent and determining what needed to be done."
City bureaucrats had originally earmarked $5.5 million for the sports field complex, but the budget initially jumped to $6.5 million to deal with polluted land in the field area.
The cost went up another $2 million -- to $8.5 million -- to address contamination problems in the area designated for a parking lot.
Plans initially called for crews to simply put down asphhalt on the parking lot. However, it turned out the land was so badly polluted with volatile organic compounds, it required more extensive remediation work.
But Noble said the fields are almost ready to open to the public. "They're elite sports fields; they are absolutely stunning, I think the people that play on them will love them," Noble said.
Environment ministry officials signed off on the fields in late May.
"Our role really in this project was to review and approve the risk assessment," local ministry spokesman Charlotte Wilkinson said.
"At that time, we concluded the human health risk portion and the ecological risk assessment had been conducted in accordance with the appropriate legislation."
Rob Davies, director of operations for Toronto Central Sport and Social Club, said it's been frustrating to see the fields unused. "It's been almost a full year now they've been sitting there available and not one ball has been kicked on it," Davies said.
He said his organization hopes to get some time on the field before it is closed on Nov. 30 for the winter. "It's not a very big window of time," Davies said.
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Originally Posted by Cashcleaner
Great love does not exist without joy and without great suffering ,that's why One club is worth only as much as its fans !
