Starting Aug. 1, St. Albert's soccer and rugby fields in Riel Park will be unavailable for approximately two years as the city tears them up to cap the old landfills underneath.
The tender for the Riel Park redevelopment phases three and four was awarded last week to Wilco Contractors. Their bid came in under the $9-million budget approved by council for the two projects during deliberations last year, said Tracy Allen, director of engineering.
"They came in under budget, which is exciting and great news," Allen said.
The project, however, means that both the St. Albert Soccer Association (SASA) and the St. Albert Rugby Football Club (SARFC) will lose their fields for as long as two years. After Aug. 1, crews will be stripping the existing sod, removing both irrigation systems while trying to retain as much topsoil as possible, and laying down a minimum 600 millimetre-thick clay cap to ensure substances from the former landfill do not leak into the Sturgeon River. Allen said the cap might be thicker in some places to ensure a level grade.
Provided weather conditions are favourable, Allen said the city hopes all the capping will be done by the end of this year. Next spring will see new sod laid down sometime in May or June, and new irrigation systems installed. The fields will be given a year to take root and grow.
"It's in the contract the fields must be in playable condition by Aug. 1, 2014, but the contractor and the city are working closely together to make that an earlier date, like May 2014, if we don't get any monsoons," Allen said.
The two phases represent the last of the required work to cap the former landfill area. A future phase five, which is not contemplated for a few years, will simply involve adding amenities such as benches, trails and paving a parking lot.
Allen said the budget for the project contains contingency funding in the event the contractor runs into similar surprises uncovered during phases one and two. Phase one, originally budgeted at $9.5 million, came in at $14.5 million due to complications from unexpected pockets of waste and the presence of methane gas. Similar complications, including a set of high-pressure gas lines, drove the phase two costs from $6.2 million to $8.5 million.
Ready to move
Both SASA and SARFC are ready or making preparations to move their activities to other locations. Melody Martyn, SASA's executive director, said teams would play until Aug. 1, then the bulk of SASA activities will be moved to other local fields, such as Eldorado, Forest Park and the artificial turf football field.
"The positives of going forward outweigh the negatives," Martyn said. "When they put the fields back in, they will all be completely leveled and capped at the same time."
Martyn also said the new irrigation system will be more beneficial.
SARFC is still finalizing its plans, according to field assistant Dave McCallion, but is looking at playing some games on other city fields and playing the bulk of its other home games at another club, such as the Pirates or the Clan.
"I think our facility will end up with a better field," said McCallion. "I think there will be a benefit to the city when they are done and if they are done correctly."
