The $4.4 million Smith Sports Complex at Fort Lewis College will remain closed for the third consecutive summer.
To the casual observer, including the fields’ namesake, Duane Smith, the fields look ready for soccer, lacrosse and football games. But rocky, compact turf has forced the city to keep the gates closed for safety reasons.
“I really feel sad for the kids of Durango; those are the people that are getting hurt,” he said.
Smith started as history professor at FLC in 1964 and was the faculty athletic representative for many years. As the longtime chairman of what is now the city’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board, he also worked to establish many of the parks in town.
While visiting the fields on Wednesday, he said he could understand frustration in the community about the delays in opening the fields, which were dedicated in 2012.
“This is an outdoor community ... we need to have this,” said Smith, who is not involved in the management of the fields.
After trying aeration and manual rock removal, the city plans to scrape the grass and 6 inches of topsoil off the 15-acre field this summer. Crews will screen out rocks and add sand to help make the soil healthy, said Cathy Metz, director of parks and recreation.
The city is negotiating with the original contractor, FCI Construction, on a cost-sharing arrangement, so the city will not have to pay the entire bill for remediation.
Because talks are in progress, Metz could not say how much the project will cost. But she hopes to reach an agreement with the contractor by the end of May and open the fields in the spring of 2016.
“We believe the fields are salvageable,” she said.
The need for the fields, that Smith noted, is underscored by more than 130 soccer teams that were scheduled to come to town Friday to play in the three-day Soccer Shoot Out, hosted by the Durango Youth Soccer Association.
About 2,100 players will play games spread out at Fort Lewis College, Escalante Middle School, Durango High School, the La Plata County Fairgrounds and Riverview Sports Complex, tournament director Kathy Wilson said.
The Smith Sports Complex, which accommodates four soccer fields, could help consolidate the tournament and meet the need for more field space in general.
“It’s a logistics nightmare for the city,” Wilson said.
This is why the association donated $40,000 to the completion of the fields.
“That was a no-brainer for us. In order to grow soccer in our community, we need to invest,” she said.
Other groups donated to the project as well. FLC contributed the land for the complex and donated $420,000 for lights.
Great Outdoors Colorado, a state program, granted the project $750,000, and other youth sports associations donated as well, Metz said.
But taxpayers, via a half-cent sales tax dedicated to parks and recreation, paid the largest share at $3.2 million.
In the addition to the grass, the city also installed necessary infrastructure, including bathrooms, a playground, a parking lot and room for concessions. Even the stands and soccer goals sit ready, on-site.
While looking out across the fields Wednesday, Smith said he is pleased fields, not condos, were built, and he looks forward to seeing games at the complex.
“I was honored to have it named after me,” Smith said, “and I think it’s going to serve a good purpose.”
mshinn@durangoherald.com
