The Reno City Council last week approved a $450,000 for final designs for the Pembroke Flat Fields project in southeast Reno near Veterans Parkway and Pembroke Lane. The design phase begins the process of creating what city officials said is a much-needed new parks and recreation outdoor facility.
If constructed, the 10 fields would be used for soccer, lacrosse and other field sports—though there is no current funding for the project which is estimated to cost upwards of $23 million.
Richard Jay, a member of the Great Basin Youth Soccer League (GBYSL) and City of Reno Financial Advisory Board, said he has been advocating for flat fields longer than any of the council members have been in their seats. He said he realized there was a significant demand for them back in 1998.
Jay said GBYSL raised the funds in 2012 to create the Moana Soccer Fields and continues to maintain them. However, 30% of the field space was lost when construction began on the Moana Springs pool facility, which Jay said he supports.
“But to this day, no other fields have been built,” he said. “Our current shortage is getting desperate. We’re 200% at capacity and it’s only getting worse.”
In total, 750 players were displaced due to the lost fields, Jay said, adding that with no flat field space larger than two fields the city is missing out on tax and other revenues from tournaments and other play. When he began advocating for flat fields, the cost would have been $6-$8 million, he said, whereas now, the price tag is over $23 million.
“Construction costs are only going up,” Jay said. “We need your help in the same manner you supported swimming—building the pool out there so the citizens can use it. We’re asking for the same. … We need to get this project built at one time. Going over five phases over the next five to six years is only going to add to the cost of it.”
“So it sounds like it’s on us to go find $23 million. Let’s do it.”
Jay also said he believed that $450,000 seemed extremely high for a flat field design, which Schieve agreed with. “I think we can do this all cheaper,” he said.
“When it comes to government, I swear to god, everything gets jacked up,” Schieve agreed. However, according to City Engineer Kerri Koski, that estimate is accurate because the property is on a floodplain and would need complex drainage systems.
Jay said that in addition to providing the community with more recreation opportunities, the city is also missing out on the economic impact the fields would bring. He said Reno has everything needed for large tournaments and festivals, except for the fields themselves.
Because Reno lacks the necessary fields, Carson City, with its eight fields, can host tournaments, which, Jay said, bring in $150,000 to $200,000 each in tax revenue.
Council member Devon Reese said he is in favor of the flat fields.
“We have lots of ways to go about carrying out our park plan, but we need to start putting meat on the bones to figure out how to pay for it,” Reese said. He suggested issuing bonds or asking voters to approve a WC-1 style tax increase.
“I want to dream big and bold and have several hundred million dollars worth of investments into our parks department,” he said. “This is our strategic time to really reinvest in this community … I don’t want this thing to be shelved for very long. We’ve got to go out and build more parks in this community.”
Council member Kathleen Taylor said she would be the “doom and gloom,” pointing out that the city would have to approve spending $450,000 in design for a project that the city doesn’t have funds to build. Council member Meghan Ebert agreed, noting the city is getting ahead of itself on the designing a project.
Nathan Ullyot, the city’s parks and recreation director, said it would be important to have the design because without a design there are too many unknowns. They won’t have to guess at how much the construction cost will be, he said.
“It could be significantly less, it could be more, but we will know and then we have that case to go forward and try to fundraise at that point,” he said. “This would get us to a point where permitting is taken care of, we have exhibits to share with potential fund-supporters.”
“Usually I’m not super supportive of funding design unless we have identified construction cost,” Taylor said. “However with a project like this, if I understand … it can only be a couple of things so when we’re doing the design, it’s not going to change drastically.”
Ullyot agreed, adding that the city had identified the property specifically for this type of project. “This should have a good shelf life and we would have to actively make a choice to do something different.”
“So it sounds like it’s on us to go find $23 million,” Taylor said. “Let’s do it.”
Mayor Hillary Schieve said the council had been discussing parks for years but never really made any progress. This, she said, was despite consistently hearing that access to sports and the outdoors has a positive impact on youth mental health. She asked Ullyot what other agencies supported the project and suggested donating the property to a legislatively approved parks district to restrict its use as flat fields so no future proposal could shift the site’s use. She said the council has been talking about a parks district “forever,” but nothing has ever been done.
Ullyot said that the Parks Commission is in favor of the project and that it would be better not to piece together the project over a long period of time. “This is a large resource for the potential growth of our parks and recreation department,” he said.
He added that beginning the process of a parks district would be as simple as the council providing direction and funding to the parks department to start a plan to bring to the legislature, and his staff could begin at any time.
“Well, when are we going to do the plan?” Schieve asked.
“If we get direction to do it, we’ll start,” Ullyot said.
“We’ve got to do it now,” Schieve said. “Let’s go.”
Scheive also asked Jay for suggestions on how the construction phase could be funded.
“It’s really not that difficult,” Jay said. “We keep kicking the can down the road.”
Jay suggested the city get financing through a revenue bond which can be paid back using the revenue generated by tournaments. One 250-team tournament with 60% out-of-state players would generate around $150,000 in tax revenue, with the potential to hold eight to 10 of them per year, he added. “You’re looking at $1.2 to $1.4 million, simple as that.”
“We cannot go out for a bond to build something if we don’t have a design and a cost.”
Duerr said she has made it “incredibly clear” that parks are her number one priority. However, she said the city needs a funding source first. Like Reese, she said she supported the idea of using a WC-1-type tax initiative for parks.
“I think we need to get on the stick and get it done,” she said. “Mr. Jay and a lot of other parks supporters could get it done, and it is less complicated than a parks district.”
Duerr said she was also concerned about how the city could get a revenue bond for fields that aren’t built yet and aren’t generating any revenue.
“We’d have to float a bond in advance,” Jay said. He added that bringing a tax initiative to voters would take two years at least and could cost $2 million or more for outreach. “Every day we wait is costing us more and more money. Every day we wait we’re missing out on that revenue from soccer and lacrosse tournaments.”
Schieve said she’d like to see a presentation on the feasibility of a bond and a list of local stakeholders in the project. She recommended denying the motion so the item could be brought back as a larger-scope project.
Duerr said she wanted to move forward with approving the design because that is how they’ll be able to get hard numbers for the project as a whole. “I think it’s a very straightforward process and it gets us where we want to go,” she said. “We cannot go out for a bond to build something if we don’t have a design and a cost.”
“No, I get that, I understand,” Schieve said.
Duerr said they could also bring back an agenda item to use the remainder of ARPA funding toward creating the park district. The council voted unanimously to approve the design phase, with a presentation on potential bonds and a discussion on funding in the future.
