Gorham Sports Center proposes 2 new outdoor turf fields
Gorham's U10 Little League all-star softball team practices at the Gorham Sports Center in 2024. (Derek Davis/Staff Photographer)
Gorham Sports Center, a nonprofit indoor sports facility on Narragansett Street in Gorham, is seeking town approval to build two outdoor turf fields on its property.
The original site plan for the building approved in 2002 included some pieces of exterior infrastructure that were never built. The organization now wants to develop that space with some amendments to the original plan, mainly enlarging the sizes of one of the two approved fields and installing turf rather than grass.
Jason Tanguay, a member of the Gorham Sports Center board, said there is not enough turf field practice and game space in southern Maine for the club where he coaches soccer, Rosevelt Soccer Club, alone. There is an increasing demand for turf space from a range of leagues for different sports for all ages and genders, he said.
“Soccer continues to be the one that I think has the most demand of the space and also continues to grow the most,” Tanguay said. “We’re at a time right now, within Maine, that the Hearts of Pine have created a lot of great positive energy that we hope will also help us.”
The larger, 98,800-square-foot turf field proposed for the back of the facility would cost an estimated $3 million. That does not include the planned 45-foot covered bleachers or the smaller, 51,800-square-foot field proposed for the side of the building.
Tanguay said funding will be a significant obstacle the center will tackle once it has all of the necessary approvals and permits for the project. The board will explore potential state and national grants, donations, and local organizations that could help.
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“Young ones in our community and others need to get out and become more active, so everything we can do to support being healthier and have healthier habits, we should be doing these days,” he said.
In a presentation to the Gorham Planning Board on July 6, Andy Morrell, a civil engineer with BH2M assisting the sports center with the project, outlined a potential land swap with Frazier Preserve to the west of the property that would make room for the larger of the two turf fields.
If the swap is approved, the preserve would gain 0.77 acres to form a trail head on Narragansett Street and build a new trail along the property line. The center would acquire a 0.75-acre piece of land farther from the road.
Fencing and lighting fixtures would also surround both new fields.
“This would be a great improvement and update for the town and I think it would attract a lot of visitors,” Planning Board Vice Chair William Benson said.
The board will review the sketch site plan and provide the center with feedback.
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Tagged: gorham planning board, recreation, sports
Madeleine is a community reporter for Gorham, Buxton and Standish. She started her journalism career in Vermont, where she reported for Seven Days and served as the editor-in-chief of Middlebury College's. More by Madeleine Kaptein
