North Las Vegas updates Craig Ranch Regional Park fields, turf complete; parking, grand opening set for spring

The City of North Las Vegas told its Parks, Arts, Recreation and Culture Advisory Board on April 8 that work on the Craig Ranch Regional Park multi-use fields is nearly finished: the artificial turf installation is complete and the grass fields are in a grow-in period ahead of a planned spring opening.

Erin Reiseward, park project manager, said, “the artificial turf is complete,” and described the newly striped turf and adjacent grass sod, which she said is “marinating” while it takes root. Reiseward said the grass typically needs about 120 days to fully root. She also told the board the project team is preparing a grand-opening celebration in May, but the exact date had not been finalized.

The presentation included aerial footage of two of three turf fields and the location for a new parking lot. Reiseward said the new parking area will have about 2,000 parking spaces to address longstanding parking shortages at the park. She described traffic and pedestrian features shown in the video: an ADA drop-off area, designated pick-up/drop-off spaces, netting between fields and the parking lot, and permanent sports striping on the turf.

Board members asked about configurable uses for remaining grass areas and parking connectivity. Reiseward said the grass area can be striped for different sports or used as a large event space and that the grass fields “will be striped for the sport that is going to be happening.” On connectivity she said the existing Commerce Road parking lot will allow vehicles to drive around to the existing entrance on Craig Road; a full north-side circulation connection is a future project and was not included in the current contract.

Board members also asked about permanence of field markings and installation timing. Reiseward said the turf striping was determined in the design and is permanent; staff also acquired a new automated line-marking machine to lay athletic lines. The aerial footage shown to the board was taken “about a month ago,” according to Reiseward.

Board discussion and staff comments were informational only; no project approvals or new contractual actions were taken at the meeting. Reiseward said the full project completion is anticipated in late May to early June and that staff expects programming to ramp up in late summer and early fall.