A $3.5 million dollar sports field development at Unsworth Height’s Caribbean Drive, is underway, with a football field, training area, baseball diamond, toilet facility, car park, shared paths and lighting on the main field set to open next April.
Upper Harbour Local Board Chair Anna Atkinson says football and baseball fields are in short supply and the new facility will be well worth the wait. The work is funded by the Northern Corridor Improvements Compensation Fund.
“The existing field was boggy in winter and too hard to play on in summer. There was no toilet and hardly any parking at all.
“So, it’s exciting that this project which has been on the radar for a long time, is getting delivered in the next year.
“Carrying out this programme of work can cause disruption, so all credit to the project team who are working together with the park’s neighbours to reduce the impact as much as possible.
“Our football and baseball players are getting playing fields that are fit-for-purpose and that will help to ease slightly the heavy demand that growth is placing on sports fields.”
Better facilities for footballers and baseballers
Studies undertaken by the council in 2017 and 2018 identified a shortfall of football and baseball facilities in the local board area. After consulting with the community on the final design for the sports fields, it was decided to upgrade the park’s northern area.
The new facilities will include a sand carpeted football field and designated training area, a senior baseball diamond with full-size backstop fence, a sealed car park with parking for 35 cars, a fully accessible toilet facility, seven new lighting towers around the sports field and training area, and a perimeter shared path that links down into Unsworth Reserve.
Work underway
Over the next few months, the work (which is weather dependent), will consist of:
- installing the toilet block which will be craned into position in May with the services connected in June
- constructing the path in three stages from July to December
- seeding the fields and the final sports field grass takes place from September to December
- installing the baseball fence in September
- concreting the car park, takes place for October to November.
Council staff are talking with the park’s neighbours about the possibility of planting a hedge to screen and protect the southern boundary.
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