An agreement has been reached between the City of Abbotsford and the board of education for the ongoing maintenance – and eventual replacement – of four synthetic turf fields on school district property.
The operating agreement and licence was approved by council at its meeting on Tuesday (April 16).
The agreement has the city covering 65 per cent of the costs to replace any of the fields, with the school district incurring the remaining 35 per cent.
Both parties have agreed to evenly split an annual maintenance cost of $40,000 per year per field for the first 10 years of the 30-year agreement. Any funding above that will be covered by the city.
The annual maintenance fee will be reviewed every 10 years.
The agreement also lays out that the city will be responsible for booking community groups’ use of the fields during designated hours, with the city receiving the revenue from that – typically around $25,000 per year per field.
RELATED: City ends agreement with Abbotsford school district over Mouat Secondary’s turf field
Community access times laid out in the agreement are:
• 6 to 10 p.m. on school days;
• 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on school days with the advanced written consent of the board;
• 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. on non-school days, including spring break and statutory holidays but not including professional development days unless agreed to by both parties; and
• 10 to 11 p.m. any day of the week with advanced written notice provided to the board.
The agreement covers the synthetic turf field at Abbotsford senior secondary and the three fields north of Matsqui Recreation Centre (MRC) and west of W. J. Mouat secondary.
An artificial turf field owned by the city is located directly east of MRC. It is not in partnership with the school district and is not part of the agreement.
In January 2022, council voted against renewing its joint use agreement in May of that year with the school district following a disagreement about the MRC1 field directly west of Mouat secondary.
A city staff report at the time indicated the MRC1 field – the oldest of the four, built in 2007 – was in need of replacement at a cost of $1 million, but stated it was not a good investment because the field was not well-used.
The report also said the city, which had offered to split the replacement costs 50-50, had been unable to reach an agreement with the district for a “fair and reasonable cost-sharing structure.”
The report said all of the fields would need to be replaced by 2026, but the MRC1 field was the only one requiring immediate attention.
In June 2022, the board of education decided that community groups would no longer be approved as of Aug. 1 of that year to use the field at Abbotsford senior secondary.
The board said, with no agreement in place with the city, it wanted to extend the remaining life of the field from a projected two years to five years.
Talks between the city and the board on a new agreement began in early 2023.
The new agreement states that MRC1, which has been closed to all users since September 2021, will be the first field scheduled for replacement. The city staff reports states that $300,000 has been allocated in the 2024 budget for design work for the replacement.
The report does not provide an anticipated completion date for the new MRC1 field.
Assessments of all the fields will be done on an annual basis, according to the agreement.
At its meeting on Tuesday, council praised the collaboration between the city and the school board.
“It (the agreement) allows the public much better usage of those fields. It’s a good example of local governments doing what they need to do, which is get things working,” said Coun. Mark Warkentin.
Mayor Ross Siemens said he is thankful to have reached an agreement with the district.
“I think the big winner here, of course, is the user groups and the community. I think it’s a very fair agreement,” he said.
Shirley Wilson, chair of the board of education, also commented on the agreement as part of a press release issued by the city.
“Our board has always supported community access to our educational and recreational facilities, fostering a vibrant and active community,” she said.
“This renewed agreement highlights our ongoing commitment to this vision. Together, we are ensuring that these fields will continue to serve as a valuable resource for our students and the broader community for years to come.”
RELATED: Community groups now restricted from booking Abbotsford Senior turf field