Press Releases
City Announces Dedication of Playfields All Weather Soccer Field
Contact:
- Anne Brunette, Property Management Coordinator; (530) 757-5689
- abrunette@cityofdavis.org
- Jim Newman, Parks & General Services Superintendent, (530) 757-5635
- jnewman@cityofdavis.org
The city of Davis will officially open the new Playfields all weather soccer field for play with a dedication ceremony on Monday June 22nd beginning at 6pm located at 2500 Research Park Drive. Speeches will begin at 6:30 followed by the Davis Senior League games. Guest speakers scheduled to appear include State Senator Lois Wolk, State Parks Department Office Chief Patti Keating and Mayor Ruth Asmundson.
Playfields lighted Soccer Field is 110 yards long by 70 yards wide. This is halfway between the minimum and maximum dimensions set by FIFA (Fédération Internationale de Football Association). The field was originally built in 1994 with natural turf. Parks Supervisor Jerry McKean stated that “no matter what we did to maintain the field the combination of heavy use and soil conditions created dirt wear marks affecting the games.”
The most significant aspect of the project is that the city successfully secured grants and outside money to fund the project. The city of Davis was the recipient of a $250,000 Department of Water Resources Urban Drought Conservation Grant and $119,000 from the State Land and Water Conservation Fund. The total project budget is close to one million dollars with 80% of the funding coming from grants, RDA and development agreement sources.
The project will result in a savings of 1.4 million gallons of water and reduction in the use of nearly one ton of fertilizer per year. The project will also result in decreased staff maintenance hours and less use of gasoline powered equipment reducing air and noise pollution in the environment.
Playfields soccer field is the only city-owned lighted soccer field. The field is also available for use by other non-soccer sports groups. In the winter months most city fields are closed during and following rain. Playfields all weather soccer field will not be restricted due to rain. Combined with existing lights at the field the hours of use available at Playfields will be equal to 2-3 non-lighted natural turf fields. The field is also equipped with a state of the art cooling system to reduce the playing field surface on hot days.
The principal users of the field during the evenings are the Davis Senior League for men over 40 and women over 30 years of age and Davis Adult Recreation Soccer League (DARSL). Both leagues are low key focusing on fun and love of the game and yes you will get exercise. Davis Senior League and DARSL are open to new players and women are especially encouraged to participate. Davis Senior League representative Kimball Sargeant can be reached at 756-3493 and DARSL information can be found on daviswiki.org.
For more information, go to www.cityofdavis.org/pgs/playfields
