If you rebuild it, they will come

Turf is removed Wednesday from the playing fields at Smith Sports Complex at Fort Lewis College, one step in an effort to make them playable. The $4.4 million complex was finished in 2012, but it has stood unused because the fields are uneven, rocky and unsafe. Fixes for the fields began after a financial agreement was reached between the city of Durango and FCI Constructors, the contractor that built the facility.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

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Turf is removed Wednesday from the playing fields at Smith Sports Complex at Fort Lewis College, one step in an effort to make them playable. The $4.4 million complex was finished in 2012, but it has stood unused because the fields are uneven, rocky and unsafe. Fixes for the fields began after a financial agreement was reached between the city of Durango and FCI Constructors, the contractor that built the facility.

Shaun Stanley/Durango Herald

Work began this week to fix the fields at the Smith Sports Complex.

Workers with GreenOne, a subcontractor, started by tearing out the grass. Later this summer, they will screen out the rocks and add in soil amendments, said Cathy Metz, parks and recreation director.

New sod will be laid down in September, and the fields should be ready for soccer, football and lacrosse in spring 2016.

Grass removed this week will be taken to the cemetery and repurposed for other projects, she said.

The $4.4 million fields were dedicated in 2012, but rocky, uneven soil made them unsafe. Subcontractors have been removing rocks and adding sand and fertilizer since the complex was completed, but it was not enough.

The city and FCI Constructors came to financial agreement in May to share the cost of the $1.4 million remediation project, Metz said.

mshinn@durangoherald.com