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City might study recreation facility expansions

Hockey rink, fieldhouse and rec center needs would be examined
Zac Gasaway practices pitching inside the The Turf in 2012. The city of Durango recently purchased the Turf, 144 Bodo Drive, and it will be remodeled into gymnastics facility. This will create a need for a new fieldhouse in town. A fieldhouse will be one of several recreation needs the city may study next year.

Next year, the city might explore expanding its recreation options, such as a year-round hockey rink, a fieldhouse for winter practice and an expansion of the Durango Community Recreation Center.

A feasibility study would be about $75,000, and it would be done by consultants in 2017 if it gains approval from the Durango City Council, said Parks and Recreation Director Cathy Metz.

The study would take a holistic approach – examining the Durango Community Recreation Center, Chapman Hill ice rink and the Mason Center. It would study how facilities could be expanded to meet the needs of hockey and field sports. New sites also would be explored.

“It seems to make sense to take that global look at all of our indoor facilities. ... We are getting a lot of inquiries and requests for additional improvement,” she said.

But it is complicated because of other changes within the parks and recreation system.

The city’s gymnastics program will move out of the Mason Center on East Third Avenue and 12th Street to a building in Bodo Industrial Park. The city bought the building at 144 Bodo Drive for about $1.1 million, and it plans to remodel it this fall. When the work is complete, the Mason Center would be available for redevelopment.

The new city facility was formerly The Turf, and it was used by soccer, lacrosse and baseball players during winter.

“We’ve now displaced that user group,” Metz said.

Because there is not a similar space in town, athletes must drive to Farmington to practice field sports in winter, and that’s hard on parents and kids, said Sean Nicol, who coached baseball at The Turf.

But practicing year-round is key for young athletes to excel, and so he supports a new fieldhouse in town.

“It’s 100 percent, I think, what Durango needs,” he said.

If the city built this kind of space, it would need to be multipurpose, so it could be used for other activities in summer, Metz said.

A year-round ice rink would be the equivalent of a fieldhouse for hockey players.

Chapman was not designed as a year-round ice rink, so it can be used for hockey practice only from October through April. It could not be retrofitted for year-round use.

This leaves inadequate time for hockey players to practice and be competitive and no room for leagues to grow, said Rachel Killinen, president of the Durango Area Youth Hockey Association.

“We couldn’t add any other team or any other time for practices. ... There is just not enough to go around,” she said.

People with the association have written letters, submitted petitions and attended Parks and Recreation Advisory Board meetings to advocate for a new rink.

The feasibility study could look at adding a second ice rink at Chapman Hill or an alternate location, Metz said.

It could also assess an expansion at the rec center to see if needs could be met at that site.

The study will allow residents to comment and float new ideas as well, Metz said.

“There is really a lot of different ways this could be accomplished,” she said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com

Dec 29, 2015
Growing Durango gymnastics program to get new home
Dec 15, 2015
City of Durango buys new gymnastics facility


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