Salt Spring’s first regulation girls fastpitch softball field is set to be complete by the end of June, and officials have hammered out a responsibility-sharing agreement that partners the Gulf Islands School District (SD64) with the island’s Capital Regional District (CRD) to maintain it.
The two bodies will partly split mowing duties at the field, with the school district taking over each year from September until January. And school programs will have full access to the field during instructional hours, according to a report from Parks and Recreation manager Kent Bittorf, who laid out the agreement for Salt Spring’s Local Community Commission (LCC) Thursday, May 14.
“As we take it over, we’ll take over the bookings for the fastpitch field,” said Bittorf, “as well as the soccer field and the smaller baseball diamond on the site as well.”
The CRD will receive all revenues from bookings for the new Hydro Field, and will be responsible for repair and maintenance including the field, fencing, spectator seating, players’ dugouts and drainage — as well as operational costs for lighting. Against an estimated $2,500 in revenue from renting the field each year, the LCC approved an annual budget of $17,000.
The addition of the Hydro Field will also require an increase in staff resources to support booking requests.
“Our island benefits from having it, but it does cost money,” said LCC member Brian Webster. “We have to be willing to pay when we want something good.”
The $700,000 project at 160 Rainbow Road has been funded partially through capital reserve dollars and community works funds, but also thanks to a $300,000 anonymous donation received last year for the purpose.
Salt Spring senior CRD manager Dan Ovington said feedback on the adjacent soccer field has consistently noted it is in “extremely poor condition,” and after talking to island sports groups the goal would be to continue improvements there — a “phase two” for the property once the ballfield improvements are complete and additional funding is sourced.