Last night the City of Terrace approved the feasibility study to build a sports dome. The efforts to build the dome is led by the Northwest Sports Dome Society.
They asked the council for a supporting grant application to go ahead on their phase 1 of getting their feasibility study for an indoor sports facility.
In an interview with vice president of the Northwest Sports Dome Society, Bob Park, owns a sporting goods store in Terrace, communicated that there is a real need for more infrastructure, especially for seniors in winter time where they can walk. There is also a need for for kids who can go indoor and play soccer, softball and other sports during winter time.
Bob said “you can’t hardly even play indoor soccer here because there’s no gym time. We’ve gone and experienced that for years. There’s no place to have drop in stuff at all. And so it’s a real necessity to have a facility for adults that could offer 3 or 4 different functions”.
He added that with the recent FIFA matches held in Canada, there is a big push for soccer groups in Terrace, whether it’s the men’s, women’s or the youth group of TYSA. And this sports dome will be very useful in helping the soccer groups as well as sports groups like the Terrace Northmen Rugby Club.
The Northwest Sports Dome Society is looking to fundraise to build the sports dome and then hand it over to the City of Terrace to run and maintain it.
Bob also added that the sports dome will give “people a reason to go out of their houses because they get locked into that dull winter weather. They can also build friendships and camaraderie. It would also enable families to get out and do different activities. So I think it’s a win-win.”
Steve Pereira, the president of the society shared the vision of the project. The vision is to create a covered, full-size FIFA regulation field with artificial turf with locker rooms and washrooms.
The sports dome can be used for non sporting events like community events, conferences, and more. The estimated cost to build it will be $6 million. The building footprint will be approximately 150 meters x 55 meters with the height of the structure being 25 to 28 meters tall.
In conversation with Steve Pereira, he compared it to the Thornhill gymnasium that is completely booked during the winter times. He added that all the gyms are also booked for the winter and from now onwards.
He said “People are booking now for the winter months. Once you get everything booked there is no space. So that’s no indoor soccer, volleyball, pickleball, football. There’s so many sports and it’s all booked. So for people that want to get out and be active, it’s a challenge. It shouldn’t be a challenge, but it is. And in living in Terrace everybody knows, either pouring rain, it’s cloudy and gray and depressing. Or you get the nice, beautiful sunshine, but it’s -20 degrees and 90 kilometer winds, so you’re freezing. So to get out and actually do something it’s difficult”.
He added that this sports dome would boost the community’s physical and mental health specially during the winter months.
For funding the site, the Northwest Sports Dome Society will be applying for grants that include the Build Communities Strong Fund Sports investment as well as provincial grants and raise funds through the industries that are present in the region.
Steve said, “We’ve got the Port of Prince Rupert, we got Rio Tinto, Alcan, Aluminum Smelter. So we have a lot of industry here that are big players. So we’re going to reach out to them and see what they can do. We’ve already spoken to a number of them and we’ll be looking to to get funding from them. And then the grant money suite”.
Steve is also a coach at TYSA and added that the sports dome will be a huge benefit to the local sports teams. “Burnaby, Surrey, North Vancouver, they have domes. They play 12 months a year, and you can see it because they have the facilities, they get the extra time and they have the extra skill level. So Prince George, they have access to the UNBC Timberwolves. You can see that’s benefiting their team because they’re playing indoors in the wintertime. Our whole entire northwest, you know, Kitimat, Smithers, Terrace, Prince Rupert, we’re all sitting on the outside. We’re building and we’re working. But we only get 4 to 5 months of soccer time every year. And we would need more so that we can start putting Terrace on the map, competing in these provincial tournaments.”
In the council meeting, Mayor Sean Bujtas said “I think talking about this project is super exciting. I think it’s something that’s been needed in the community for a long time and as somebody that’s been a soccer person, I think this is something where we need to work with you folks to get this happening.”
Councilman Brain Downie also added, “This is an exciting project and I’m sure we will be in active discussions about the steps you’ll need to take along the way”.