The total projected cost is estimated to be between $2.0 million and $2.2 million dollars, including a very conservative contingency cost allowance for unknowns.  LYSL will be providing $600,000 of funding towards the project. Upon completion of the construction plans and specification the project will be bid through the formal public bid process. Given the current highly competitive construction bid climate we anticipate strong bidder participation and excellent bid pricing.  Under the terms of the agreement LYSL funds may only be used for direct construction contract costs and may not be applied towards project management overhead.

For some time, LYSL has been in conversation with the banking community to secure a loan for their share of the project. The debt obligation will be serviced through the collection of fees charged for the programs that are specifically conducted on these fields.  For example, portions of the fees collected for LYSL hosted summer soccer camps and tournaments will be used to service the loan.  Another large segment of use is mid-week evening training for the high comp program. This use will expand into the months that the fields had been historically closed. Future high comp program fees will reflect the increased cost and duration of field use at Robertson.

The accumulated LYSL field acquisition funds will absolutely not be used to service annual operating costs for field use.  That is to say, we won't erode the league's long term assets for annual operating expenses.  This is not the pretext under which the field acquisition donations were given and therefore the league's use in such a manner would be inappropriate and fiscally irresponsible.

Schedule information will become more reliable upon completion of the design, bidding and construction award phases, but we conservatively anticipate the fields being opened and ready for use right after the 4th of July holiday, 2010.

The use agreement allows for scheduling priority of up to 2000 field hours per year with a total of 12,000 hours over the life of the agreement. The hours are to be used in no less than 6 years and no more than 8 years.  Through this agreement LYSL is, in effect, pre-purchasing 12,000 field hours from LARPD to help generate the funding required to complete the project.

The sand based natural grass field surface was state of the art when it was installed in 1984.  However the design life of the grass surface has been exceeded by about a decade. Over the years, organic materials get pressed into the sand base and eventually results in a degradation of the base material.

The fields could be stripped, re-based and replanted but this simply replaces the existing surface with the same type of surface which currently must be closed for six month of each year for resting and restoration.  An all weather surface has the effect of creates new space by being available for use twelve months of the year.

Another significant benefit to the all weather surface is the elimination of irrigation water needs and reduced maintenance costs.

This project has been desired for many years. In 2006, LYSL presented LARPD with a document outlining its vision for improvements to Robertson Park.  These included converting the playing surface to a synthetic all weather turf, paving the gravel parking lot, adding lighting to the western field area between the fenced fields and the horse arena, and constructing a snack bar.

In 2008 LARPD hired a planning consultant to conduct an update of Robertson Master Plan . A planning update was deemed important to reflect the current needs of a community whose demographics had changed significantly since the original park plan was adopted. As a part of the planning process, park user groups and the general public met at a number of open public workshops to explore and discuss numerous options for changes and improvements to a variety of the special use areas within the park.  Within the scope of the soccer complex, resurfacing the fields with an all weather playing surface was identified as a desired improvement that would benefit a large user segment of our community.

In early 2009 LYSL began discussions with LARPD about the possibility of resurfacing the soccer fields at Robertson park.  Over the course of about six months the use agreement was drafted and negotiated. LYSL wishes to recognize and thank the law firm of Miller Starr Regalia for the legal services provided pro bono publico towards the preparation of the agreement.