Oregon to spend $476,000 on facilities at soccer fields

Restrooms, concession stand, shelter in works

The Oregon South Recreation Complex draws some 1,000 people on busy Saturdays during soccer season and the lack of indoor restrooms and use of portable toilets have led to many complaints.

Oregon City Council is moving ahead with its plan to install a restroom/​shelter/​concession stand facility in the community’s south recreation complex.

Last week it voted 7-0 to go with a proposal by A. A. Boos and Sons, Oregon, for a 1,600 square-foot building that would eliminate the need for portable toilets at the 10 soccer fields in the recreation complex.

The fields can attract about 1,000 people to Saturday matches during the season, and the lack of restroom amenities has been a recurring complaint over the years.

Council approved up to $476,000 for the project, which is expected to open to the public in the spring.

That cost includes $16,000 for heating and air conditioning.

Council also agreed that an irrigation system should be installed at the fields, but this will be done early next year, not as part of the original building project, at a yet-to-be-determined cost.

The fields are off of the Starr Avenue Extension, behind the municipal building.

Joe Wasserman, Oregon’s parks and recreation director, said he hoped for an August ground-breaking.

“We want to get it up and closed before winter,” he explained.

Council chose from among three proposals. A.A. Boos submitted the lowest bid. The other two finalists were Rudolph/​Libbe Inc., Walbridge, and Mosser Construction Inc., Fremont.

Oregon Administrator Mike Beazley said the city had “three great firms” interested in the project. “Any of them could build a great building for us. We felt that A.A. Boos could build a building that was right for us at a price that was right. They were a little more sharp-penciled.”

The irrigation system was recommended by the city’s recreation advisory board. Mr. Wasserman said irrigation would enable the fields to be planted with bluegrass instead of the fescue that now grows there.

“It’s a better playing surface and it looks better,” he said.

Council President Tom Susor predicted that green playing fields would find “a myriad of uses” in the community and assist the city’s economic development efforts.

The new facility will have men’s and women’s rooms, each 165 square feet. The men’s room will have three lavatories, two commodes, and three urinals; the women’s room will have the same number of sinks but five toilets.

Drinking fountains will be at the entrance to each.

The building’s concession area will be equipped for making popcorn, pizza, coffee and hot chocolate, and nachos and have a beverage cooler, slush and ice machines, and a work area.

There also will be an open air shelter area.