Coquitlam needs 13 more sports fields over the next decade to keep up with the population boom.
But whether city hall will continue to partner with the school district to share land remains unclear.
This week, the city's recreation committee voiced its frustration with the amount School District 43 pays the municipality to maintain school fields also used by the community.
The city gets $38,000 a year for the 12 school sites - a pittance, councillors say, for the labour, equipment and materials needed for their upkeep. As well, the city receives nothing from SD43 for the six sites it shares where land straddles both school and city lots, such as Panorama Heights elementary.
Councillors bristled about the city's alliance with SD43 while reviewing the draft 2010-2020 sports field strategy, which indicates land is at a premium - especially in south Coquitlam - and the city needs to share resources with schools.
Coun. Mae Reid said the partnership isn't good value. "We put millions of dollars into school sites and if a school site gets sold, then we're hooped," she said.
Coun. Brent Asmundson said SD43 can't be relied on and cited examples for Burke Mountain school allocation "that keeps getting delayed."
Committee chair Coun. Doug Macdonell said there have been some disappointments with joint usage, pointing in particular to Dr. Charles Best secondary, where, he said, the artificial field is deteriorating faster than predicted because of hard use and litter from students.
Still, there have been some successes with uniting community assets, he said; last month, the city funded new washrooms at Miller Park elementary to serve sports field users at Miller Park and Sir Frederick Banting middle school.
"We are putting a lot of money into the schools," Macdonell said. "But are we getting the money back?"
SD43 secretary-treasurer Rick Humphreys declined to comment Thursday as he had not seen a copy of the city's draft sports field strategy.
Currently, Coquitlam has 45 sports fields (of which five are synthetic) and 35 baseball diamonds. Of the 45, six are shared fields, 14 are on 12 school sites and 25 are deemed city-owned fields such as at Mundy Park - a number that's slightly above average given the population, said Kathy Reinheimer, Coquitlam's manager of parks and facilities.
Only eight years ago, Coquitlam was falling behind. In response, the council allocated $25 million to build and upgrade facilities and infrastructure.
It must continue to budget at least $775,000 a year for the next decade to stay on track, the sports field strategy recommends, with:
$1.5 million for sustainability projects;
$1 million for two grass field upgrades;
$2 million for a new artificial field;
$600,000 for a new grass field;
and $3 million to upgrade the Town Centre field-house.
The field-house, located north of the stands in Percy Perry Stadium, has about five years left, said Lori MacKay, Coquitlam's parks and rec GM.
Councillors were open to Reid's suggestion to have a public-private partnership pay for the renewed field-house, with a restaurant above. "Town Centre Park is now a tournament site for sports tourism," Reid said.
MacKay said there's a serious shortfall with capital and operating funding for sports infrastructure. Seven fields are more than a decade past their life cycle (Miller Park, Mackin Park, Banting middle school, Glen Park, Maillard middle school, Hartley fields at Mountainview Park and Centennial secondary school) and it would cost more than $3.5 million to bring them up to standard; as well, last year's annual budget for maintenance was $937,000 - not enough, many councillors said.
On Monday, councillors said they are uncomfortable with allocating capital money for maintenance projects rather than for new infrastructure, for which the sports field strategy capital fund was intended. The committee deferred discussion the draft 2010-'20 strategy until its next meeting.
Meanwhile, city council will vote this Monday on Reid's motion to lobby the provincial government to give more flexibility to the use of parkland development cost charges through the Local Government Act. Reid said it's unfair the DCCs can only be spent to acquire new green spaces while maintenance budgets for existing parks are depleted.
