Work has begun on two synthetic turf fields at the Harmony Sports Complex in Vancouver, home of Washington Timbers FC youth soccer club.
The fields will have lights. They replace grass fields at the south end of the complex located at 1500 N.E. 192nd Ave. The new fields are scheduled to be ready for the club’s annual Clash of the Border Tournament in late June.
Washington Timbers FC includes some 3,000 youth players. About 1,000 of them play on advanced competition teams that select players through tryouts. The club is one of several in the region affiliated with the Portland Timbers through the MLS club’s Adidas Timbers Alliance.
Washington Timbers FC has been working for several years to fund the $1.8 million project — which eventually will include three lighted fields, according to Washington Timbers FC executive director Sean Janson.
Only two of the fields will be installed now because that is the amount of artificial turf the club was able to purchase at a discount in 2013, according to Janson. The turf was originally to be used for a Portland Timbers field project at Delta Park in north Portland.
Site preparation work began last month. The club held a construction celebration on Friday to mark the start of the project.
Adding lighted turf fields will mean the fields can be used in all seasons, and for more hours each day. Janson said he anticipates they will be used up to 10 p.m.
Janson said $500,000 of the money for the project is cash from the Washington Timbers FC. He said the remaining $1.3 million is borrowed. Craft3, a not-for-profit community development financial institution, is providing most of the money and is managing the project, Janson said. The Washington State Youth Soccer Association also provided a $300,000 loan.
In addition to getting significant more use than the grass fields, the artificial surface should improve the quality of training for young players because balls will bounce more consistently than they do on well-used grass fields, Janson said.
Rather than having permanent markings, field lines will be painted on to provide more versatility. That includes using the fields for small-side soccer games as well as for other sports such as lacrosse, Janson said.
“This is a community park and it will be community used,” Janson said.
Janson noted that teams — including the Washington Timbers own teams — will pay for field time. He said the rental fees have not yet been determined, but will be “competitive rates.”
Janson, who was hired in January as the new executive director for Washington Timbers FC, said the new turf fields are just a first step toward improving the Harmony complex.
“We are going to continue to work to improve the grass surfaces at Harmony, we have to improve the parking lot and we hope to build additional turf fields,” he said.
