The Airdrie and District Soccer Association (ASDA) is hoping to make Airdrie soccer fields a bit more inviting for players and the community.

The organization has received support from City Council to pursue plans to build a washroom facility at the Monklands soccer field that would also include officer and storage space.

ADSA has been working on the proposal for a few months and believes the base cost for the building will be $415,000 and the group has committed to contributing $225,000 towards the project.

The City of Airdrie would be asked to contribute $150,000 towards the building and ADSA is also applying for a Community Facility Enhancement Program (CFEP) grant that would match its own contributions.

Melissa Collinson, the executive director of ADSA said this is something that’s been needed for a while.

“As we grow we do need to be able to provide amenities not only to our members but to other soccer groups that do come into our city,” Collinson said. “everything that we can give back to them just lifts the entire city up.”

Collinson said soccer tournaments bring money into the city for restaurants, hotels and the other service industries. The annual Summit Cup tournament sees 260 teams in the city consisting of 1,300-1,600 participants from under 3 to adult league.

Having a washroom facility could set the association up to host provincial tournaments which the ADSA said could bring over 6,500 people to Airdrie.

“To date [we] have not actually hosted a provincial competition, but being able to have an amenity like that actually lifts our ability to apply to host that type of a competition,” Collinson explained.

The ADSA has until October 1, 2019, to apply for the CFEP grant. If they receive the funding, construction will likely start in the spring of 2020.

 

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