Brand-new sports fields scheduled to open four years ago will be used for the first time this weekend for a youth soccer shootout at Fort Lewis College.

After the tournament, the fields will be closed again through the summer to give the city of Durango more time to repair the grass after voles burrowed through the sod this winter.

“It looks great; the grass is beautiful,” said Kathy Wilson, who oversees administration and operations for the Durango Youth Soccer Association, which sponsors the shootout. “I could see the vole damage, but most of the damage that I saw was around the perimeter of the field.”

The Smith Sports Complex has had a bumpy few years. Dedicated in 2012, the opening was delayed after the grass failed to grow properly. While dealing with that, the city discovered rocks near the surface of the playing fields. After trying to manually remove the rocks, the city instead scrapped the grass and 6 inches of topsoil to screen out the rocks. The fields were resodded in September. But when the snow melted this spring, the city found the vole damage.

The renovations added $900,000 to the total expense of the fields, bringing the cost to $5.3 million.

Durango Youth Soccer Association, which donated $40,000 to the complex, wanted to use the fields this weekend for the shootout, which brings 138 teams to town – or about 2,200 players and their families from four states, Wilson said. They spend an estimated $1 million during the weekend. On Friday, hotels were booked, she said.

“It’s one of the biggest shootouts ever,” Wilson said. “A lot of the hotels in town ... give us referee rooms for free.”

As a condition of temporarily opening the fields, the city has asked that only children 12 or younger be allowed to play on the fields this weekend, Metz said. Older kids will play on other fields at Fort Lewis College, Riverview Elementary School and Escalante Middle School.

“We feel like it’s safe and OK for little kids’ feet to be out there playing soccer, but it’s not quite ready for really aggressive play with adults,” Metz said. “Adults are a little harder on grass than kids.”

Athletic fields receive the most use during the spring and fall months in Durango, Metz said. That leaves the summer to do heavy maintenance and upkeep, she said.

“We’re going to be doing some fairly intensive cultural practices – top dress, seed, aeration – to continue to address that vole situation,” Metz said. “Then it will be ready for a grand opening, and all users come in August.”

It is unknown if the voles will be a reoccurring problem at Smith Sports Complex, Metz said. Conditions were ideal this winter for the rodents with freshly laid sod and heavy snowfall.

“I know the golf course had some vole issues as well,” Metz said.

The city can consider doing pest control in future years if it becomes a repetitive problem, she said.

Even without the voles, the city would have been reluctant to open the fields this spring because of how late the sod was laid last year, Metz said.

shane@durangoherald.com