DesRoches, Monday night, moved a motion requesting that city staff contact Soccer P.E.I. regarding constructing, in the western city, a second indoor soccer facility for the province. That resolution received the unanimous support of council.
“We want it here,” said DesRoches, who holds the community services portfolio. “We have heard from a number of different residents that would love to see a second site in the western part of the Island.”
Currently, there is one indoor soccer facility on P.E.I. — the Norton Diamond Soccer Complex situated in Stratford, which is operated by the P.E.I. Soccer Association, the body that oversees the sport in this province.
A portion —$20 — of every soccer registration paid annually in the province has gone towards the facility’s cost since its construction. It was completed in 2009.
About 49 per cent of P.E.I.’s soccer players are situated Kensington and west, with three clubs — the Kensington and Area Soccer Club, Summerside United Soccer Club and West Prince Storm Soccer Club — situated in Prince County.
The Summerside club alone boasts in excess of 650 members.
The city’s outdoor concert site, which is adjacent to Credit Union Place and the city’s outdoor turf field, has been discussed as a possible location for such a facility in Summerside.
“We want one at that end and one at this end, and we are going to bend over backwards to do whatever they want for us to bring it here,” said DesRoches.
Community services director JP Desrosiers said there have been discussions in the past with three Prince County clubs about constructing facility in Summerside.
“We have requested a commitment, in the past, from Soccer P.E.I. that if there is a levy across the province that they consider Summerside as an option,” said JP Desrosiers, the city’s director of community services. “There has been no discussion about where it is going to go if there is even a second facility built, but we want advise Soccer P.E.I. that our council and our constituents have an interest in the second facility. If it is placed somewhere we would like it in the second city.”
A second turf field, particularly an outdoor turf, could help attract larger tournaments, including national events, confirmed Desrosiers.
“We’ve looked at one that is an inflatable dome that would deflate in the spring and then roll back out in the fall, so you would have the best of both worlds,” he added. “You would have an indoor facility in the winter and an outdoor facility in the summer.”
Staff will investigate the issue and bring a report back to the committee of council.
