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FALL RIVER:<\/strong> The group behind the Fall River Track & Turf Project remains optimistic that their proposal will one day become reality, despite what appears to be a setback at HRM Regional Council recently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During discussions on the staff report, which recommended council forgo leading the project, councillors voted and passed a modified motion that council supported to ensure North Suburban HRM is included in the field planning strategy. That strategy is expected to be released later in 2021.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Barry Cox, speaking on behalf of the committee behind the turf field, said it is full steam ahead for the non-profit organization.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThere are people with expertise in planning, construction, engineering, logistics and communications at the table lead by a great president,\u201d said Cox. \u201cThere is a huge infrastructure deficit in playing fields and recreation investment from Beaver Bank to Oldham. The need is there. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cA North Suburban HRM Track and Turf can engage so many residents and even help our small businesses by bringing events to the local area.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate group=”7″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”31″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cox said that Councillor Cathy Deagle Gammon did a great job proposing a modified motion\/<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cIt means HRM staff will work with our new non-profit organization on the project.,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was an enormous step forward for council to be promised the report by the end of 2021 by staff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe\u2019re very positive about the outcome knowing the financial pressures the pandemic has placed on HRM.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n Deagle Gammon said the Track and Turf Field would serve more then just Lockview High, but a wider community stretching from Beaver Bank to Enfield HRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThe interpretation of the motion was that our project would be prioritized over other field application that is already on the books,\u201d said Deagle Gammon in an interview at a Fall River coffee shop on March 12. \u201cIn that interpretation, I conceded that the next option that council discussed was we split the motion.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cAt the end of the day the first part of the motion for HRM to forgo leading the project was defeated, but the second part was approved that it would be considered as part of the Playing Field Strategy.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”34″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”92″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n She agrees it was a compromise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI think it was the best result we could get,\u201d she said. \u201cBecause of timing, if HRM took the lead they would have had to put aside $1.16 million in this budget year and that was not the intent of the community group. We were going after federal funding, but by the time we got the staff report that money had already been slotted to other projects.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n The staff report also gave the committee more information they can use going forward, said Deagle Gammon.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNow we know where to start again,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Both MLA Bill Horne and MP Darrell Samson have been supportive, which is a major asset, said Cox.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cCouncillors and staff discussed that any project with substantial funding commitments would be constructively deliberated if they fit the strategy,\u201d said Cox. \u201cWe are understanding their processes while at same time educating them on how a lack of transit or the need to have a car is a barrier to our residents accessing turf facilities elsewhere. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cNorth Suburban HRM has a large population and is growing rapidly.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate group=”6″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Samson said he\u2019s pleased to see such a hard-working community group fighting to address the needs of the suburban region of the HRM.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cI have and will continue to put my full support behind this project and can\u2019t wait to see the numerous benefits an all-weather Track and Turf Field will bring to the communities of Sackville-Preston-Chezzetcook and the rest of suburban HRM,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Horne said the requirement for a field is something he has heard time and time again.<\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cThis recreation project would benefit more than 10 sport organizations and support the recreation community,\u201d said Horne. \u201cAs MLA, I believe this project would certainly benefit our many sport organizations and build community spirit through residents being able to train and compete in their own school community.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”111″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”84″]<\/p>\n\n\n\n Cox said the first need the group needs is need a substantive estimate to give their government partners reliable data to access funding. Lindsay Construction has been amazing and are performing a Class B estimate to give us that material. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are committed to providing the most detailed information possible to mitigate any project risks,\u201d he said. \u201cOnce we know our true cost and funding we can go from there.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n He said there are many moving parts. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are building a proper business case, confirming costs, researching all weather field projects across N.S., reaching out to stakeholders in the community for feedback and of course nailing down the formal support commitments,\u201d he said. \u201cWe want to be shovel ready to capitalize on any doors that open to funding.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n [adrotate banner=”113″]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" [adrotate banner=”93″] [adrotate banner=”105″] FALL RIVER: The group behind the Fall River Track & Turf Project remains optimistic that their proposal will one day become reality, despite what appears to be a setback at HRM Regional Council recently. During discussions on the staff report, which recommended council forgo leading the project, councillors voted and passed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20323,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[12,957],"tags":[1610,2,1917,121,337],"class_list":["post-20322","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-featured","category-news","tag-cathy-deagle-gammon-2","tag-fall-river","tag-fall-river-turf-project","tag-hrm","tag-turf-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20322","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=20322"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20322\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=20322"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=20322"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/staging-z.thelaker.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=20322"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}