Artificial turf at Memorial Field raises many questions, concerns

I attended the council meeting on October 16 for the purpose of participating in an agenda item that occurred after the decision on Memorial Field, so I wound up listening to the whole conversation and the deliberations of council. After I got home, I stewed for hours about not speaking up — maybe if I had made a few comments the outcome would have been more informed and different.

So, I’ve decided to make my comments — albeit after the fact — to give myself some peace.

Please read this as if I am talking with council.

1. Implicit in the design before you is the belief that Memorial Field use will transition from a competition venue and an event location to a practice venue, competition venue and an event location. Think about Memorial Field as a bare piece of land that was recently discovered in South Sandpoint. Would you insert that high usage kind of facility into that developed residential neighborhood — particularly when you had park space at Travers/Centennial that could be adapted for that purpose?

2. To financially support maintenance and operation of a fully turfed Memorial Field you will need to collect more user fees and perhaps increase them. Already user groups avoid Memorial Field because of the fees which they cannot afford in their budgets. Ask for detailed costs associated with maintenance of the turf — not just the new machines that will be needed but also the chemicals, infill, training, irrigation, etc., that will be needed.

3. The proposed budget for the redo of Memorial Field virtually eats up every remaining dollar of the 1% sales tax which will sunset at the end of 2020. There will be no dollars for any of the suggestions for City Beach or the Travers/Centennial sports complex.

4. The suggestions that the 73% vote mandated an artificial surface is incorrect. That vote was on the Grandstands. The initiative stated that if money was left over the first item that would get attention would be the surface at Memorial Field. There was no commitment to the nature of that project — either turf or grass — nor to the expansion of use.

5. As a council you can amend the main motion to include attention to costs of the field being redone with grass. Make use of your rules of order. It sounds to me that some of you are very interested in seeing those numbers, too. If some of you who might vote yes decide afterwards that you made a mistake, schedule a reconsideration vote for your next council meeting. You can do that.

So that does it. Things I’ve been thinking about. I feel better.

CARRIE LOGAN

Sandpoint