City breaks ground on recreation site

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This article was published 19/05/2023 (1224 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Cold, rainy weather on Thursday couldn’t dampen the spirits of attendees at a ground-breaking ceremony for Brandon’s new outdoor field sports complex, a project that is more than a decade in the making.

While construction began in March, delegates representing the City of Brandon and the Manitoba government gathered at the corner of First Street and Veterans Way yesterday afternoon to celebrate the hard work that has gone into the recreation site, which will consist of nine individual sports fields, a FIFA-sized soccer field, cricket pitches, a clubhouse and space for ultimate Frisbee when completed.

Mayor Jeff Fawcett told the crowd the new complex will do wonders to enhance the athletic talent that exists at institutions like Brandon University, Assiniboine Community College and the community’s various high schools.

“We’re going to start creating as many soccer players as we do our young hockey players,” Fawcett said.

Perry Roque, the city’s director of parks and recreation services, told the Sun the seeds for the project were planted in 2011, when a massive flood put nearby Optimist Park underwater, which was a major headache for groups that frequently used the space.

This hammered home the necessity of building a better outdoor sports facility that is resistant to overland flooding, especially since Optimist Park has repeatedly suffered such a fate since 2011.

“We can’t put money into [a facility] when it’s flooding all the time,” Roque said. “So, this will be a premier facility. We see this as a facility that’s going to attract provincial and national competitions to our community as well and grow the sport of soccer here.”

The new outdoor field sports complex is being built in three phases, with the first expected to be completed by 2025.

Phase 1 of the project (costing around $6.7 million) involves the construction of the first five soccer fields and an ultimate Frisbee field. It will also include improvements to the city’s dikes along the Assiniboine River near the edge of the complex to deter catastrophic flooding.

Phase 2 ($3,274,000) involves the creation of a FIFA-sized field and several cricket pitches alongside ancillary and amenity buildings like a clubhouse with washrooms and changerooms, parking lots and a maintenance building.

The final phase of the project ($2.4 million) includes the installation of the last four soccer fields, although city officials said Thursday they require more provincial or federal funding to make that happen.

If grants fall in place as planned, Roque believes the entire complex could be operational by 2026-27, which will serve as a major asset for the city moving forward.

“We know recreation is an essential service in our community, and we know sport continues to grow and develop young people to be active and future community leaders,” he said.

“The vision for tomorrow happens today, and with our vision and our planning, we will build a future for Brandon.”

The new outdoor field sports complex is jointly funded by all three levels of government, with money coming from Ottawa ($3.9 million), the province ($4.1 million) and the City of Brandon ($3.4 million).

Brandon-based company Allen and Bolack Excavating is working on Phase 1 of the project.

» kdarbyson@brandonsun.com

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