The Dickinson Park District is getting closer to completing soccer fields which have been under construction for about five years. The project is located west of the Dickinson Recreation Center and includes six soccer fields.
The development has a price tag of about $100,000, said Dickinson Parks and Recreation Director James Kramer. A federal grant covered $44,000.
Kramer gave an update of the project at a Dickinson Park Board Roundtable meeting Friday.
The irrigation system, which accounts for $65,000, should be completed next week, Kramer said.
Wells were drilled along State Avenue and water will be piped from those wells to the soccer fields for irrigation.
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At the meeting, Kramer said about $2,000 more than expected was recently spent on irrigation.
"What we didn't want to have happen -- once irrigation was in -- was that two years down the road we decide to put a concession stand or bathroom in and have to trench through all of our irrigation," Kramer said.
Scott Kovash, Park Board commissioner, said since electricity was connected to the pump house for the irrigation system, it should be a breeze to connect.
"Everything's there for a building, bathroom, concession stand and office," he said.
A walking trail will be constructed by the fields and connected to another walking trail system near the Recreation Center, he said, adding he hopes the project will be completed within the next two years.
The soccer fields are expected to be seeded in the middle of October. Once that is complete, the fields can be used. They may be utilized as early as next fall, but Kramer said it might take until 2011.
"The only thing is to get the grass mature enough so that when we go on and use it, we're not ripping it up," Kramer said.
The fields are 240 feet by 140 feet, Kramer said, adding they are not high school soccer regulation size.
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The fields will be used for the Park District's kindergarten through sixth grade recreational soccer program, along with flag football and tee ball.
"It's hard to find places in town where you have big, open space to do stuff," Kramer said.
