By Sylene Argent, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Essex Free Press
Staff for the Town of Essex will provide Council with a written update regarding the Essex Sport Fields project during the 2026 Town of Essex budget deliberations, which will take place in late fall.
Councillor Kim Verbeek first presented this matter at the June 16 regular Council Meeting as a Notice of Motion, and Council supported it at the July 7 meeting.
What drove Verbeek to introduce this motion to Council came from concerns she heard from the local soccer community. She said rumours were circulating that soccer players would be without somewhere to play in Essex Centre, as the Hanlan Street extension was going to start long before the Essex Sports Fields, located on Batten Side Road on the south-side of Highway 3, were ready to be in use.
“I think there will be wholesome discussion in a few months when we get a full report,” Verbeek said, adding an update to Council on this matter would be helpful.
Jake Morassut, Director of Community Services, said in the foreseeable future there is nothing that would interfere with use on the current fields.
The Town has taken steps recently to provide a water line to the developing Essex Sports Fields to help allow the specialty grass to grow, which did not take last year. Relying on Mother Nature to provide a sufficient water source in the form of rain, he added, was tough to rely on.
The Town of Essex is anticipating a soft opening of the Essex Sports Fields next year, where both the current and new fields will be in use, so the Sports Fields are not over used in its early stages.
He added that because the Town was recently made aware it was unsuccessful in getting a grant to help support the development of the Essex Sports Fields, he is working on a long-term funding model. That will be presented to Council around 2026 Budget deliberations.
Councillor Katie McGuire-Blais believes what sparked the aforementioned rumours was that concrete barriers were put up next to the existing soccer fields. She asked Town staff why they were placed there.
Director of Infrastructure Services, Kevin Girard, explained the concrete barriers were put up because the road between the soccer complex and Holy Name Catholic Elementary School is not a public road, built as a construction access for the Woodview Subdivision. At the request of the school and the Town’s Public Works Department, the concrete barriers were put in place to limit risk of liability and injury.
When they were put in place, Girard said there was a lot of ice, posing potential risks of students and parents slipping and falling, so the decision was made to block the road off.
McGuire-Blais asked Verbeek to clarify what she wanted in this report because “when we say ‘can we get a report,’ it doesn’t quite give us what we are looking for.”
Verbeek would like the report to lay out a timeline, and clarify each piece associated with the future facility as they will need to be addressed in future budgets in looking at what the Town can afford without counting on grants. If the Town receives grants in the future, that could potentially speed up the project.
“I think the community has got this grand picture, and they are just like ‘when is this going to happen,’” Verbeek said.
The Essex Sports Fields will be completed, but it will be over a great deal of time, one piece at a time.
Councillor Joe Garon said there is already a plan in place in that there is a need to have the new soccer fields across Highway 3, the Capital Roads Plan has the Hanlan Extension scheduled tentatively in 2028. He believes baseball will follow there.
The difficulty from administration’s end is knowing how aggressive Council wants to be in its approach on the matter, Morassut added. He noted a 10-15-year plan could be created, or a funding model could come back to have everything done in a year or two.
He said they will do their best to come up with a plan believed to be reasonable. When it is presented, Council feedback will be sought as to how the funding model and timeline should look.
Mayor Sherry Bondy thanked Verbeek for bringing the matter forward, noting it is key, heading into budget time, what projects are going to cost. This will also help outline the tax increase that could impact residents, if anyone provides grief on the slower approach.
In garnering public feedback at budget time previously, the majority of responding residents have noted roads is the top priority. That makes it difficult to justify spending millions of dollars on recreation.
“People assume the Town has lots of money, but when you are sitting here, we understand that there are a lot of priorities and not a lot of money,” Bondy added.
The report, she continued, will be helpful in showing what amenities planned for the park will cost. Then, the Town can go after naming rights, which will help save taxpayer dollars. It will also help to outline information for when the Town finds another grant for which it could apply.
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