MetRec pledges $1.2 M for turf field at CBCS

“It’s the largest capital decision in MetRec’s lifetime” 

By Katherine Nettles

The Gunnison County Metropolitan Recreation District (MetRec) has agreed to contribute $1.2 million toward a synthetic turf field at the Crested Butte Community School (CBCS). During their January 29 meeting, MetRec board members discussed and ultimately voted on the funding request after hearing from Crested Butte Community School representatives, soccer coaches and players themselves during a heartfelt discussion.

The funding will come from MetRec’s North District reserves and will be the largest spend the district has ever made in its 47-year history.

Leslie Nichols, Gunnison Watershed School District (GWSD) superintendent and John Usery from Artaic Group, the GWSD owner’s representative firm for its major facilities expansion project, presented the turf funding request to the board.

 “This field that we’re talking about tonight was taken off the table,” said Nichols, as the school district over the past few years prioritized its wants and needs for facility expansion and improvements at both ends of the valley. “It has only been brought back because of a lot of community voices expressing just how important it is.”

The school district’s successful bond issue in 2022 to fund facility improvements included a major expansion for CBCS, and Nichols shared a list of outstanding alternate expenditures for the district totaling $12 million which included the turf field, HVAC systems, security and preventative maintenance. She said Artaic has worked hard to go out for other grants and support to stretch the tax dollars even further. “We also had a really good day at the market,” said Nichols, as premium bonding returned the valley’s bond issue contribution of $95 million into about $110 million. The district was also recently awarded a BEST grant from the Colorado Department of Education for security systems and mechanical upgrades. “All of that put together, we were able to bring this field back into the discussion,” she said.

Nichols said they could not quite afford the field without some additional funding. 

A new elementary playground, pre-k playground and basketball court at CBCS; two new natural fields, a new eight-lane rubber track, a new elementary playground and basketball court at the Gunnison Community School, and a new playground going in at the Lake School are adding up, Nichols

Usery explained that the existing field at CBCS is not sanctioned for Colorado High School Activities Association competitions, requires extensive maintenance and requires that public use be limited on it in summer to maintain it for fall soccer programs. 

The total costs of the field and playground improvements at CBCS are estimated at $3.84 million, including turf hard costs of $2 million. The turf field as proposed would work for high school soccer and two cross field youth soccer fields, as well as for lacrosse and additional community uses. The turf field would have natural infill and be manufactured without polyfluoroalkyl substances, considered “forever chemicals” that can leach into nearby soil and surface water. The turf would have a 12-year warranty and Nichols said the district hopes to stretch its life to 20 years since a large portion of the year it would be covered in snow and protected from UV degradation. The field would be sunken slightly with a four-foot retaining wall on the Highway 135 side, a fence between the fire lane and the field, and sports netting. A scoreboard would be desirable but is not in the budget at this time, she said.

Usery noted that the turf field would triple playing time, including regular use in spring and fall, since the school district has committed to plowing it. 

Estimated annual maintenance for the field is about $36,000 including plowing, while the fields in Gunnison will be higher with irrigation, painting and other regular upkeep. Because the work would have to be done this summer and costs continue to increase, this was presented to MetRec as an urgent decision. 

Board members then asked for details about the engineering for retaining walls and fencing, drainage, and how to ensure public access even as school security tightens for safety reasons. Nichols said they could contemplate intergovernmental agreements for the future to accomplish that. 

During public comment, Julia Kidd described her experience as a teacher at CBCS for the past 20 years, and as an athletic director and high school girls’ soccer coach.  “We’ve shoveled, we’ve traveled, we’ve used gym space, we’ve gotten really creative. But it’s been difficult,” she said. “We have a track team that has produced an Olympian and college level track athletes, but no track—I’m super excited to hear there will be one in Gunnison; we have a hockey team and no rink for competition—and countless hours are spent driving down to the rink in Gunnison. We do a lot with minimal resources,” she said. “But it takes its toll.”

Tom Lewis, director of coaching for the West Elk Soccer Association and head coach of the girl’s varsity soccer at CBCS, thanked all the players and parents who were in attendance. He said a turf field would allow them to expand the program. “We have 240 kids in our club and are limited indoors to only 90 people,” he said, adding that girls on his varsity team commute 75-90 minutes each week to practice in Gunnison all spring, which stresses academic studies and personal lives. He said the club could keep its momentum and bring a higher level of play with a turf field. 

Summer Martin and Calla Fenlon, varsity girls’ soccer players, said the field would mean a lot to them. They said several of their teammates have had major injuries on the CBCS field, and this would be a major improvement.

CBCS varsity boys’ soccer coach Than Acuff said that aside from the community benefit of more field space, the school soccer programs have seen a lot of success and warrant investment as they provide mental and physical health benefits to kids. “High School sports and athletics are an incredible opportunity for these kids to be happier than they’ve ever been, sadder than they’ve ever been, more excited than they’ve ever been, madder than they’ve ever been,” he said. “It really provides some opportunities to have kids be accountable for their actions, see some success, see some failure and really experience what life can bring.” 

Despite overwhelming support for the turf funding, hard questions arose among MetRec board members about how to determine a process for deciding to write seven figure checks when the board has only ever allocated $100,000 or so at a time. Board member Earl Marshall said he fully supported this decision and yet asked how they were to actually approve it. Board chair Cassia Cadenhead commented that the project was aligned with the newly minted MetRec master plan in several ways: to address lack of youth programming, increase indoor programming, and add field space, but she also recognized the one turf field wouldn’t benefit every person in the North District or address every recreation issue.

Cadenhead reviewed that the North District has $2.3 million in reserves and said she would like to make a meaningful contribution while saving some reserves to help other aspects of recreation. 

MetRec executive director Derrick Nehrenberg said that since he joined MetRec in 2016, he has heard repeatedly about the need for fields. “We want to be careful and make sure we have money in our reserves to address other capital needs,” he added.

Marshall agreed. “We also want to be prudent with our fiduciary duty of funds that come from a very diverse user group.” He addressed Nichols: “Can I ask you bluntly what the school district needs tonight to move forward? What is the motion?” 

“We need a pledge from MetRec for $1.5 million,” she answered. 

“And if we approve $1.499 million the project doesn’t happen?” he pressed.

“The project happens,” said Nichols. “Without a pledge of a million, it might not.”

After some debate, board members agreed to fund one third of the total recreation improvement cost at CBCS or $1,267,530 while leaving $1,075,000 in reserve funds for other capital projects in the North Valley.

The motion passed unanimously.

“The way I see it, we’ve been sitting on capital reserves for three years,” said Nehrenberg. “When we wrote ballot issue 6B and we had the field community in here left and right, it was one of the primary reasons we did it. So, it makes perfect sense to me that it’s the first funding.”

“It’s the largest capital decision in MetRec’s lifetime,” noted Cadenhead.  

The board determined its next steps will be to draft a funding contract and create formal procedures to better handle these requests as they come in the future.