The Kootenay East Youth Soccer Association (KEYSA) is looking to begin construction in August after finishing the design phase for the Cranbrook Indoor Sports Facility, which now carries an estimated cost of $1.5 million.
To date, KEYSA has managed to secure $1.2 million in funding for the facility. The majority of the money came through corporate and personal donations from the community, as well as a $500,000 grant from Columbia Basin Trust.
Working for the past six months, they have come up with the final configuration and design for the facility and have submitted their Building Permit Application with the City of Cranbrook.
“We’re hoping to have construction start sometime in August,” Mike Robinson told MyEastKootenayNow.com, the KEYSA lead on the Indoor Sports Facility Project. “We have a two month period that we need to have construction completed in. It involves, as you can imagine, quite an extensive surface, it has to be a certain compaction, certain levelling so it’s something that we don’t have to be pushed into the shoulder season of construction periods.”
The facility will be adjacent to the Cranbrook Curling Centre and provide 25,000 square feet of artificial field turf.
“We’re extremely excited, it will be nice to see it complete, it will be nice to see people using it,” said Robinson. “We’ve gone through another winter of playing in the gyms and going to tournaments where they do have a facility like this and it can’t be underestimated what this will do for all of the different user groups so we’re pretty happy to be here.”
Still looking to fill the $300,000 gap in funding for the project, Robinson said they are continuing to accept community donations through the Community Foundation of the Kootenay Rockies and pursuing other grant opportunities. One of those opportunities saw KEYSA recently receive a $50,000 grant Southern Interior Development Initiative Trust.
Lynette Wray, Community Foundation of the Kootenay Rockies said all of the donations collected in 2018 and 2019 remain in the dedicated fund for the Indoor Sports Facility and that residents can still get their tax receipt for charitable donations to the project.
“Every dollar counts,” Wray told MyEastKootenayNow.com. “We welcome donations of every size and its really about the community coming together to build this fantastic new facility.”
Robinson said that there hasn’t been much talk on the project as the majority of the work in recent months has been internal, while also coordinating with the City’s Public Works and Engineering departments to finalize the design.
Construction is slated for August, with Robinson noting that they pushed it as late into the season as they could to avoid conflicts with Sam Steele Days.
As for the BMX track, Cranbrook City Council opted in 2019 for Option 6, which would place the Indoor Sports Facility adjacent to the Cranbrook Curling Club in Balment Park and take up some space in the parking lot, as well as the site of the existing BMX track.
More: KEYSA and Cranbrook Licence of Occupation at Balment Park (June 24, 2019)
KEYSA allocated $10,000 to help with construction costs of the new BMX track, noting that they don’t have an active role in the track’s relocation or rebuild since City Council’s decision.
“We really don’t have a role in that. We’ve allocated funds to that but the discussion on that project, the City has taken it on and I’m assuming that the BMX Association will have to have some input on design,” said Robinson. “We would try to coordinate construction as best as possible, just see if there’s any cost savings, synergies.”
Robinson noted that since City Council made their decision last year, they have mostly focused internally on their design of the facility.
At this time, KEYSA is looking to break ground in August and have the Indoor Sports Facility be in operation by October 2020.