St. Albert could get a hair bigger thanks to the City of Edmonton’s support of a proposed indoor soccer facility.
Both municipalities have entered preliminary discussions over St. Albert acquiring of a piece of orphaned land north of Anthony Henday Drive that could serve as a potential site for the Field of Dreams project that involves the construction of Alberta’s first full-size covered turf facility.
St. Albert Soccer Association (SASA) initiated the Field of Dreams project in response to the growing demand for indoor field space.
Over the past 10 years, SASA has seen a 41 per cent increase in registrations. Due to lack of space the club has had to reduce practice times and move league games for teams U14 and older to Edmonton.
Recently they began capping indoor programs due to a shortage of available space.
But not only would the facility help SASA — and other clubs in the area — meet current demands, it would be unique to the province, with the nearest full size indoor soccer pitch located in Saskatoon.
“To me the key to having the full-size regulation field with regulation heights is you’ve got the opportunity to play an 11 versus 11 game, which you can’t do on a reduced size field,” said Bruce Ferguson, co-chair of the Field of Dreams steering committee.
“At the same time, if built properly, you could start to attract early spring tournaments. You could get the Major League Soccer teams coming in for an event, because they have a place where they could play.”
The facility would include two multi-courts that could be used for futsal, basketball, volleyball and other sports, a fitness and training centre, community meeting rooms, office spaces – and spectator seating for up to 500 people.
Since its formation in 2011, the steering committee identified two potential sites for the project: Riel Park and a portion of Edmonton’s Mistatim Industrial Lands.
A more detailed pros and cons analysis is underway, but Ferguson said that building over the current clubhouse and field one at Riel Park would focus all soccer fields in a single location, while the Mistatim lands would be better suited to accommodate any future growth — either to the indoor facility or with the addition of outdoor pitches. The industrial lands would also provide an additional recreation amenity to the city, without taking away any existing facilities.
The discussions surrounding a portion of the Mistatim Industrial Lands began after SASA approached the City of Edmonton about a potential regional partnership, as stakeholder discussions revealed that Edmonton soccer clubs are also experiencing the need for additional indoor spaces.
“While it’s a long way from being a done deal, we’re interested in sitting down and talking about whether that could be our contribution to the partnership,” said Roger Jevne, director of facility and landscape infrastructure for the City of Edmonton.
“We see the demand; we appreciate that these clubs are trying to figure out a way to get this kind of infrastructure for their members and the public. We want to be at the table to see if there’s a way we can help that makes sense. It gives Edmontonians and people in the region access to a new kind of facility that they don’t currently have.”
St. Albert chief community development officer Gilles Prefontaine said that the City of Edmonton also faces servicing constraints due to its location north of a major transportation corridor. According to him, St. Albert would be in a much better position to develop the area.
“But there’s a lot of discussion that needs to happen between the city of Edmonton and the City of Albert as to how we would come to an agreement to do that and those are the conversations that are frankly just starting to occur,” said Prefontaine.
