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City staff map cricket pitch options at Centennial Fields; months of coordination ahead
Summary
Parks staff and local cricket advocates narrowed facility siting to Centennial Fields, but maintenance needs, field‑use priorities in the municipal code, and costs mean months of scheduling and stakeholder coordination before construction could proceed.
City parks staff told the Sept. 9 Parks and Events Commission they have mapped how a cricket pitch could fit at Centennial Fields and that, among existing park properties, Centennial is the only feasible site under current land availability. Staff said they are coordinating with regional cricket advocates and other user groups but are months away from any construction because of scheduling conflicts, surface and maintenance requirements, and municipal field‑use priorities.
A staff member described meetings with local cricket organizers and said the sport’s preferred surfaces and upkeep drive siting decisions. “We rapidly narrowed down options; there’s really only one place in our existing real estate that we can go, and that’s Centennial Fields,” the staff member said. The discussion noted smaller sites such as Stellar Park are too constrained for a full pitch.
Cricket proponents told staff — and staff confirmed for the commission — that ideal cricket playing surfaces in the region are clay pitches; those are rare in the Pacific Northwest and costly to maintain. Meeting participants said a clay pitch can cost “a couple hundred thousand dollars a year” to maintain; as a practical alternative many jurisdictions use an engineered concrete pad with an artificial turf or carpet laid on top to create a consistent bounce. The commission heard a technical layout description: a cricket wicket install typically occupies a roughly 15‑ to 20‑foot‑wide by about 120‑foot‑long rectangular strip within a larger field area.
Staff said the immediate next steps are: finalize a field layout at Centennial with drone imagery and mapping (already completed), assess annual scheduling windows against existing users, and hold outreach with current field users (for example youth baseball, soccer and rugby) because the city’s code establishes a priority order for field allocation. The commission was told the choice at Centennial involves tradeoffs: constructing a cricket pitch without displacing established users requires careful scheduling and possible surface compromises.
Funding and maintenance were left open. Staff said possible funding routes include the cricket association paying for infrastructure, the city absorbing costs and recovering expenses through user fees, or external grants and donations. Commissioners asked staff to return with a scheduling plan and projected maintenance costs; staff said they would share renderings and scheduling options with the commission and with cricket organizers before any formal request for construction funds.
No formal vote or contract award occurred. Commission members asked staff to place cricket scheduling and cost estimates on a future meeting agenda so commissioners and community groups can review renderings and a draft schedule.
