Yellowknife (Jun 14/06) - Plans for a new sports fieldhouse are too big and too expensive and that could doom the project, says one city sports group.

The Aurora Minor Soccer Association is worried council's support for the project is wavering as the fieldhouse grows from an indoor soccer pitch and running track to a facility that includes tennis courts and more.

Soccer continues to grow in the city with about 645 registered members. John Buist, president of Aurora Minor Soccer, said a soccer facility is needed in the city to accommodate the number and allow for players to train in an adequate environment. - NNSL file photo

"The city is trying to be everything to everybody," said John Buist, association president.

Based on conceptual designs drawn up by a consultant hired by the city, the facility could cost up to $20 million. Higher construction costs have pushed a barebones facility to at least $11 million.

The numbers are a little disconcerting, said Buist, considering the city's budget only allocated $6 million towards the fieldhouse, which was originally projected to cost between $6 million and $12 million.

"My concern is that won't allow this field facility to be built," said Buist. "The commitment wasn't to build this wide scope facility with this and that, their commitment was to build a field facility."

Mike Roesch, president of Facilities for Kids, said there is a pretty tight time frame for the fieldhouse to be built in time for the 2008 Arctic Winter Games.

Roesch said Facilities for Kids has a major sponsor and project development partner waiting in the background for final approval to move forward.

The organization is also working on a partnership agreement with the Arctic Winter Games Host Society.

However both those agreements will be null and void if the schedule will not allow the facility to be built in time for the Arctic Winter Games.

A meeting is scheduled for June 26 where Roesch is hopeful the project will be given the green light.

That would allow construction to begin next spring.

If approval is not granted, Roesch said he fears the fieldhouse will become an election issue and that will mean waiting until after October for approval.

Although he believes they can still meet the 2008 deadline if that were to happen, he admits it would difficult.

The biggest barrier to a June 26 approval is the fact that Facilities for Kids doesn't have a solid design in place.

All ideas are purely conceptual at the moment, but he said they can't move forward with anything concrete until the get the funds to do so, which hinges on city approval.

"It's a tough sell," Roesch said.

Mayor Gord Van Tighem said the city is still behind the fieldhouse.

"Council has said the fieldhouse is a priority. Council is working towards (having) a fieldhouse in place for the Arctic Winter Games," he said.

Van Tighem said he isn't worried about the dollar figures he has seen reported in the media because they are only estimates.

"The reality is there is an amount of money available," he said, adding the city isn't about to write a blank cheque to build a facility that meets everyone's wishes.

Van Tighem said the easiest route to council approval will be to keep the project simple and design it with future expansions in mind.

"Look at what you need and what can be added later. Keep it in the realm of the affordable," he said.

Buist said the solution is easy and that is to build what was originally intended when the city was bidding for the 2008 AWG, a two-pitch soccer facility with a running track.