A Coquitlam field used by thousands of people each year is out of commission but expected to be ready for action later this month or early June, depending on the weather.
The old carpet at Town Centre Park's Percy Perry Stadium - installed just four years ago - has been removed and a new drainage system installed as part of a legal settlement, the details of which the city is not releasing under the replacement agreement, said Kathy Reinheimer, the city's manager of parks and facilities.
"We are confident that we will now have a long-term facility with the type of playing conditions that will give users a field of exceptional quality," she said, adding sports groups were shuffled to alternate locations while the work is being done.
Meanwhile, the east part of the track and the throwing area remain open for track and field practice, she said.
As reported last year in The Tri-City News, the city of Coquitlam launched a civil suit against nearly a dozen companies involved in building the $2-million artificial turf field at Percy Perry Stadium. According to court documents, the city alleged that faulty design, construction and installation was to blame for the field's drainage problems, which created ponds of water on top of the 11,000 sq. m turf.
"As a result of these and any other defects, the project has failed to perform as promised or expected and the defects are such that they pose a substantial danger to users of the artificial sports field," the city said in its statement of claim, filed in 2009.
The companies involved in the construction of the field, the city alleged, misrepresented the quality and performance of the turf and drainage system.
In separate statements of defence, all of the companies denied the city's allegations and said proper building and design practices were used.
The field at Percy Perry Stadium - first built for the 1991 BC Summer Games and the district's 100th anniversary - was part of a series of upgrades at Town Centre Park that added two synthetic turf fields, a baseball diamond and new parking facilities. The $10-million project was completed in 2009. Besides sporting events, the stadium is used for the annual BC Highland Games and Relay for Life, a cancer research fundraiser.
- with files from Gary McKenna.
