School District will not increase maintenance funding for Gabriola Elementary School field

Field to be closed to community groups for winter

Nicole Knowles

Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Gabriola Sounder

On September 25, coaches with the Gabriola Soccer Association made a presentation to the Nanaimo-Ladysmith School District Board, requesting an increase in access to the sports field at Gabriola Elementary school Field.

On Oct. 9, the Nanaimo Ladysmith School Board received a report from NLPS staff that was discussed at the meeting.

The report does not recommend an increase in usage, and states the field will be closed again this year to community groups for the winter.

The report – prepared by Mark Walsh, Secretary-Treasurer –  states that the district’s main focus with the sports field  is to provide an outdoor learning space for its students, as well as working collaboratively with the public and community for extra curricular activities.

Walsh says the District has implemented a strategy with limitations to meet both focuses that will – in their eyes – allow the field to have optimal use and not have to be closed as it was last year.

The district has agreed to the field being rented and used by the soccer association three days a week, this allows for two practice days and a game day on Sundays for the Gabriola rep team. The other three Gabriola teams, who play games on Saturdays, are still playing their ‘home’ games on fields in Nanaimo.

The report cites the limits in the strategy were put in place to allow for the field to have an opportunity to ‘recover’ from use and to provide time for staff to maintain and mow.

According to Walsh, in the past, over-use has made the field condition nonoptimal, to the point of closure, and has led to an increase in maintenance and operating costs.

The sports field is expected to be closed to recreational activities outside of school hours during winter months, as the weather is not conducive to grass growing/repair, causing significant damage to the field and major maintenance budget and labor requirements in spring.

The report states that with previous closure the field was brought up to excellent condition – but is already showing sighs of wear and tear into September.

This was referenced during the Oct. 9 meeting by Kelsey Bakewell, Maintenance Manager, and Walsh. Both were questioned by board members about the option of allowing more usage by Gabriola residents.

The response from Bakewell and Walsh was that it comes down to the fact that the field has a use capacity threshold that will not meet the demand being asked for, and that the field will need the time to regenerate.

When posed the question of extra funding being made available to facilitate usage Mark Walsh responded with, “if the board did have additional funding, I would suggest that our first priority would not necessarily be increasing the usability for user groups on Gabriola.”

He said there are a number of serious maintenance deficits in a variety of sites the District has.

“We have dangerous trees we need to find funding for to be able to take down. I want to put that into context.”