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Citing growth in the number of participants, a representative of the Pelham Soccer Club said it’s time to re-examine the partnership the club has with the town.
“The Town of Pelham provides its soccer fields at a really reasonable rate for us,” said Chris Durdan, a member of the board for the club. It cuts and it lines the fields for us. Without that, we couldn’t have a club.”
Durdan spoke at a public meeting Nov. 7 to gather input from the community as the town prepares its 2023 budget.
While he praised the partnership, there are some concerns, he said, and the club is looking for help from the town.
“Lack of fields is a big issue for us,” Durdan said.
He noted that the club lost use of two fields at the site of the old Pelham Arena on Haist Street and replacement fields at Concordia Academy were not up to standard.
Club administrator Nicole Birrell said there were several issues at the site.
“One of the fields there didn’t even have nets, like it was just a field of grass and the kids had to walk through long, uncut grass to get there because even though the town was cutting the better part of the field, we were told that they couldn’t cut a path to the back, so they had to walk through something like a hay field to get to the back field that didn’t have a net on it.”
She said she realized the town would be reluctant to spend money on the site as it was just a temporary fix.
The field concerns come at a time when the club is experiencing rapid growth, he added. In the past four years, the number of people registered with the club has grown by 33 percent, from 692 to 916.
In addition to the lack of playing fields, the overall condition of the ones the club does have access to – Centennial and Harold Black parks – need more maintenance than they currently receive. Currently, the grass is cut once a week.
“If you’ve played soccer, you’ll know you can’t play on a surface that’s been cut once a week,” Durdan said. “It would be like trying to play hockey and you haven’t flooded the rink properly between periods.”
Director of Recreation, Culture and Wellness Vickie van Ravenswaay was sympathetic to the soccer club’s concerns and noted that funds for a third field at Centennial Park will be included in the budget with the field and added in 2024.
“The other thing that we are doing this year is that we will be lighting Centennial, too. And that is to be lit before the end of the year. I believe they’re working on that now, which will give you more access and hopefully relieve some of the pressure.”
She added that the fields at the former arena site will not come back and instead will be green space for the surrounding neighborhood.
Manager of Public Works Ryan Cook said the department is responsible for cutting grass across 57 acres of municipal parks and facilities. Soccer fields, he said, make up about six acres. The department’s biggest issue is staff and equipment. More would be needed and that costs money.
“If we take on more cutting or increase frequency, we have to hire more staff to buy more equipment,” he said. “The typical equipment that we use to cut parks and playgrounds is about $230,000 (and) a crew of three guys is about $8,000 in labor. This is kind of what we would need to increase frequency.”
The soccer club was one of three presentations made at the open house. Others were put forward by the Lincoln-Pelham Public Library, which is seeking funding for a mobile branch ($110,000), and the Canadian Railway Historical Association’s Niagara Division for interpretive signage to document the history of the Niagara, St. Catharines and Toronto Railway ($1,000).
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