partnerships

Star Tribune Tue, 17 Jun 2008 22:42:05 GMT
Rosemount: No athletic complex, but a few new fields

Rosemount soccer players will get new turf to run on as soon as the fall of 2009 under a deal between the city and Dakota County Technical College. The news came after voters rejected a new sports complex in April. Weeks after Rosemount voters shot down a proposal to spend nearly $7 million on an athletic complex, local soccer players found out that they'll get a few new fields to spread out on, after all. The city and Dakota County Technical College signed a deal last month to build three full-size soccer fields just west of the college's main campus. "This will help relieve some of the crowding on some of the existing fields, and it will help with some of the pressure during tournaments," said Dan Schultz, the city's parks and recreation director. The timing of the deal, Schultz said, was not related to the April referendum, which failed by a more than 2-to-1 margin. The college and city have been talking about teaming up on the fields for four years, and the city had set aside money for them in a park improvement fund well before the vote on the outdoor recreation complex, he said. The soccer fields, which could be split in half to accommodate up to six youth games at once, could be ready for games in the fall of 2009. The college gets first priority for practices and games, but its soccer players usually play during the day, while kids will need the fields in the evenings. As many as 1,000 people may use the fields each week, Schultz estimated, not counting DCTC students.

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