The Oceanside Football Club, formerly known as Oceanside Youth Soccer Association, wants a multi-use, all-season turf athletics field built in the region.
This was the request made by the club’s representative Lauren Fagen at the Town of Qualicum Beach committee of the whole meeting on March 15.
Fagen said soccer is thriving in the community with the club having more than 500 players that will be participating in the 2022-2023 season.
“This is the most players we have registered in a season to date,” she said. “This growth in the Oceanside Football Club is projected to continue in future years as well. Despite the growth in our communities, in more than 25 years, no new fields have been added in our region.”
As well, Fagen cited the Oceanside region is the only major community on central Vancouver Island that does not have an all-season field.
“Having an all-season artificial turf field is a significant advantage for players’ development in this community or neighbouring communities, which quite unfortunately is evident when we play against our neighbours,” said Fagen. “Furthermore Oceanside Football Club believes the addition of an all-season turf field and field house with changing rooms would allow new youth sporting activities including hosting tournaments and ultimately supporting the town’s youth and young family’s retention and attraction strategy.”
The club suggested the artificial turf to be built at Kwalikum Secondary School. Fagen said the club is requesting a portion of the $3,346,000 Qualicum Beach received from the provincial government’s Growing Communities Fund to be used to install the all-season turf.
Councillor Scott Harrison supported the creation of artificial turf but was not in favour of the proposed location. Having been involved with the Ballenas track upgrade project, he is fully aware of some of the stumbling blocks the club may encounter.
“What they found sometimes is that because it was on school property, there were grants they were not eligible for because technically it’s a school,” said Harrison. “I am not saying it’s a bad idea. I would love to see that happen but I just want to flag that as something that came up with the track.”
READ MORE: Qualicum Beach council favours roundabout over turf field project
Harrison also pointed out this is a short-term priority in the Regional District of Nanaimo’s Master Plan for Recreation in District 69 and should have been achieved three years ago.
“It’s 2023 now,” said Harrison, who considers it a “regional need.”
The town attempted to get an artificial surface built in 2020 at the Qualicum Beach Community Park that would cost $5 million. But it was contingent on landing federal and provincial grants, which the town was not able to attain as the council at that time opted to focus more on the roundabout project.
Fagen also made Qualicum Beach council and staff aware of the lack of washrooms at the community field.
“It should also be mentioned that the current community fields require the reinstatement of usable restrooms as those fields are in use and the restrooms were not in use during the fall season, which caused quite an issue for many children using those fields, not just for soccer but also for baseball,” said Fagen.