The Durango City Council approved spending almost $1 million Tuesday on work allowing the opening of the Smith Sports Complex at Fort Lewis College next year.

The $4.4 million city complex has been shuttered since it was dedicated in 2012 because the fields are uneven and unsafe, said Cathy Metz, director of parks and recreation.

A new subcontractor will likely start work in June and scrape the top 6 inches of top soil, screen it and add sand and fertilizer to improve the soil, she said. Once the soil work is finished, crews will sod fields, so the complex can open in spring 2016.

“We can anticipate good fields and good sports,” said Councilor Sweetie Marbury.

Re-establishing the fields is estimated to cost just less than $1.4 million, Metz said.

The city has agreed to pay about $900,000. This includes about $600,000 for materials, such as sand and sod, that were not included in the original contract.

The city should have paid for these materials in the beginning, Councilor Keith Brant said.

The city is also budgeting about $59,000 in contingency funds.

FCI Constructors, the original contractor, will pay $450,000 toward the project. Fort Lewis College, one of the original donors in the project, has agreed to contribute $75,000 for sod so the complex will open earlier.

If the city had chosen to reseed the fields, they would not have been ready until fall 2016.

mshinn@durangoherald.com