Parks Master Plan: An Element of the Durango Comprehensive Plan: Durango, Colorado

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The capacity of outdoor turf fields (baseball, soccer, etc.) is governed not only by the time and duration of play, but also level of play that turf can withstand. If a field is exposed to excessive use, the turf cannot regenerate and will die. The only remedies are to maintain an acceptable level of use or remove the field from play occasionally to allow regeneration —which greatly complicates scheduling. Only the Folsom and Riverview fields can be scheduled by the City. The use of the Fairgrounds fields is subject to County needs. They are occasionally needed for parking and other Fairground events. The baseball and softball fields at Durango H.S. and Ft. Lewis College are not consistently available for City use, although they are meeting community needs, because spring /fall use by the schools restricts City use to summer only. The three fields at Needham and Escalante Middle School's are informal fields that are not usable for regulation play because they are minimally maintained. Further, there is no City Use Agreement for these fields and therefore they are not counted in the City- Controlled level -of- service. With regard to the Ft. Lewis College softball fields, to accommodate the increasing number of teams wishing to play, the City has restricted the use of the Ft. Lewis College Fields to game -use only — no practice is allowed on these fields. More problematic, the future use of the Fort Lewis fields is uncertain, due to the expiration of the City's lease in 2004 and the possibility that it will not be renewed due to College needs for these facilities. The three soccer fields at Riverview are the primary full -size fields available to the City. The Fanto Park field is small but usable for youth soccer. The Miller Middle School field is small and its condition makes it only usable as a practice facility. The Ft. Lewis College field has limited availability for regular public use.