Students to vote on turf installation

While the pending construction of the Aggie Recreation and Community Center will not begin for at least another three years, members of the ASUSU Executive Council have another project in their sights to improve USU's recreational facilities.

The proposed project would lay 250,000-square-feet of artificial turf on USU's HPER Field, replacing the grass that is there currently. However, the installation of the artificial turf will not be approved until students vote for or against it as a proposition in the 2012-13 ASUSU elections. ASUSU President Erik Mikkelsen said upgrading the fields would require a one-time student fee, but said the caveat is that the amount of the fee has not yet been determined.

Current sketches show the artificial turf divided into three fields, which include one college regulation-sized soccer field and two football scrimmage fields. The total cost of the fields would total $2 million, at the most, said James Morales, vice president of Student Services.

"It's the students' money and their vote," Morales said. "We hope that we can at least show them what these facilities can be like before they have to make a decision."

If the fee passes in elections, USU will borrow the $2 million until the student fees are paid. This way the fields could be completed during the summer of 2012.

Sketches of the fields render the location north of the HPER Building, stretching west to 800 East. The sketches depict the ARCC just west of the HPER building on the corner of Aggie Bull-evard and 800 East.

"The turf is something that can happen quickly," Mikkelsen said. "It takes an average of 16 weeks; it's a huge need for campus recreation and will provide so much more usability for those fields."

In the spring of 2011 construction began on a 30-foot-deep cooling tank that, when finished, will be underneath the HPER Field. Kevin Kobe, director of Campus Recreation, said the tank was "the straw that broke the camel's back," because too many spaces students use for recreation have been taken over by new buildings.

"It took out so many opportunities for us to do programs," Kobe said, "not to mention students just wanting to throw a Frisbee out on the field. They didn't have a plan for what we were going to do in the meantime while this program was going on. We've had to turn students away from the HPER Field because of all the construction."

By replacing the grass with turf, the area will be dedicated to student programs and activities, he said, and the Quad does not exist for recreational purposes.

"At some point we just said ‘Enough is enough. What is going on here? What is the recreation master plan for the campus?' We are pretty landlocked up here and wanted to get the most use out of one piece of ground," Kobe said.

Mikkelsen said artificial turf fields could eliminate any need for mowing, line painting and aeration maintenance — among other costs.  Snow can also be removed from them more easily than from normal grass fields. However, Mikkelsen said, they do require grooming a few times a year. He said, overall, the cost of field maintenance should be reduced in the long run.

Mikkelsen said the new fields will include a lighting system, which the current fields do not have.

"Now you can only use the HPER Fields until dark, and with the new fields you will be able to extend playing time until midnight," he said.

These additions to campus were the "brain child" of 2009-11 ASUSU President Tyler Tolson, Mikkelsen said. Architects are currently working on the building's feasibility plan, which will estimate how much the completed building will cost. Morales said the ballpark cost for the ARCC building is currently $30 million, and the structure will be much more than a fitness center.

"This is about community building," he said, "and creating a focal point where students can connect with each other and enjoy the kinds of activities that are going to be housed there. We want this to be part of the Aggie experience students look forward to."

Because the ARCC is a student community building, USU's athletics teams will not be permitted to use it. It will be solely intended for student leisure, Morales said. Numerous "peer institutions' recreation centers" inside and outside of Utah were observed to collect ideas for USU's facility, he added.