1. Proposal to Upgrade Helmcken-Centennial Park
View Royal Fastball
Proposal to Upgrade
Helmcken-Centennial Park

2. Introductions & Partners
View Royal Fastball Association
Triangle Athletic Association
Victoria Fastball Club - Devils ‘A’ program
Senior Women’s ‘D’ League

3. View Royal Fastball – What we do
We teach kids the game of Fastball and in doing so they learn:
How to have fun through competition
How to be good sports
A work ethic
To achieve goals through cooperation with team members
Our fastball program has a long standing history in the community

4. View Royal Fastball – What we do
We mentor & develop the youth of today to help shape the citizens of tomorrow
We promote athletic activity in all ages
In 2007, 4 VR teams made it to Provincial Championships
View Royal Fastball has been part of community since the 1960’s

5. Helmcken-Centennial Park – 2006-2007 Special Events
Bantam ‘A’ Provincials – July 2006
16 teams from across the province
Senior Women’s tourney – each July
Team Canada Skills Clinic – June 2007
Bantam ‘C’ District Tournament – June 2007
Mite Tournament – June 2007
Frank Bell Memorial Slow pitch tournament –July 2007

6. View Royal Fastball – What we do
Fields are in use from March-October
Assessments & Clinics
Softball BC – ‘B’ and ‘C’ Divisions
180 Regular Season Games April-July
4 Minor tournaments in 2007
2 Adult tournaments in 2007
FallBall – ‘all Divisions’
120 Games August-October
Victoria Devils ‘A’ Division – practices & clinics to mentor other divisions
There are practices nearly every day fields are free April-July
The ‘season’ has grown from 3 to 8 months!

7. View Royal Fastball – Current Situation
Two fastball diamonds in need of upgrade
One diamond that is inadequate for fastball
One ‘diamond’ for Learn to Play
A batting cage & warm up area
Equipment sheds that are in need of repair
An Executive that cares, great volunteers & lots of enthusiasm
It’s a good park…but we need to invest time & money in it for the future

8. What we want to do
To ‘skin’ Diamond 4 and make it a competitive fastball diamond
Upgrade our 2 existing diamonds
Fix the sprinkler pipes
Fix the sheds
Upgrade D4 backstop & other fencing

9. Why View Royal should support this project
Extra diamond will allow more games played and practices to be held
Will allow games/year more & will attract more players to the park
With proper playing surfaces we can bring Provincials, Westerns and Canadian Championships to View Royal – with economic spin off to the city
The park’s proximity to the highway is ideal for out of town teams to travel for tournaments. Lower mainland teams want to play on a good surface
Diamonds will be easier to maintain at season start and throughout season
Authenticity – playing fastball on a grass infield is like playing hockey on a gravel road. The game needs a proper field to be played safely and correctly
Demographics in Victoria are changing as young families are being pushed into the outlying districts…this facility is needed
We want to be the park in the area where everyone wants to play.

10. How we can we achieve this together?
View Royal Fastball & partners will contribute financially as well as through community donations and volunteer labour
Town of View Royal needs to contribute financially for the project to succeed

11. Estimated Total Cost of Upgrade: $33,665
Cost Estimates
Item
Diamond 4
Diamond 2
Diamond 1
Other Infrastructure
Totals
Excavation
2,000
$2,000
Road Base
1,200
Irrigation
2,250
750
3,750
Infield Mix (top dress)
4,800
3,360
11,520
Backstop & Side Fencing
9,295
Equipment Shed Rebuild/Relocate
2,900
Labour & Field Layout
1,500
500
3,000
21,045
4,610
3,400
$33,655
Estimated Total Cost of Upgrade: $33,665

12. Cost of Infield Mix
Our estimates are fiscally prudent as we are budgeting for the least expensive option that will still improve the playing surface.
*$70/ ton proposed

13. What We Can Contribute Organization Contribution Type Amount
View Royal Fastball
Cash
$5,000
View Royal Fastball & Partners
Field Layout
500
Labour *
2,500
Triangle Athletic Association
1,000
Victoria Fastball Club
Victoria Senior Women's League
Don Mann Excavating
Excavation
2,000
Total Cash & Contributions
$13,000
*Assumes 500

14. Cost Sharing
We are asking for $20,655 to improve our park

15. Construction Steps
Skin and prepare D4, including irrigation & re-setting bases and plate in Oct/Nov (This gives us three playable diamonds for spring 2008)
The backstop and fence work can be done over the winter or in the early spring This phase will also include the work that Town of View Royal already has budgeted funds for:
Build ‘out of play’ fences on D1;
Moving the concrete barricade and out of play fence on D2. This would facilitate levelling the right field portion of D4 near the tennis courts with the material removed from D4 when we skin it.
Irrigation repair and top dress D1 & D2. The irrigation repair could be done through the winter and the top dressing could be done in the spring. (This involves replacing sprinkler heads and placing heads behind home plate to allow full coverage of diamond)
Relocate and rebuild of equipment shed could be done at any time.

16. Construction – Steps (cont)
Diamond 2
Diamond 4 *
Grass in infield will be removed (aka ‘skinned’)
Backstop will be upgraded to same strength as D1 & D2
Top dressing D1 & D2 will also allow diamonds to be sloped for better drainage and will eliminate pooling

17. Playing Surface - Composition

18. Equipment Shed – Diamond 1

19. Volunteers – Make this Work
100+ parents & ballplayers attend each annual field maintenance day
Volunteers regularly help maintain fields during the season

20. Moving Forward
View Royal Fastball was fully engaged in last year’s park planning process.
Diamond 1 & 2 can be top dressed in Feb/March
Diamond 4 should be skinned now before winter arrives to minimize costs and to be ready for next season
This plan will revitalize our ballpark and with a better quality playing surface will attract more players and tournaments

21. Schedule & Funding

22. What do other areas have?
Sicamous, BC – (population 2,300) - 4 diamonds
Duncan, BC - 2 diamonds
Nanaimo, BC – McGirr Park – 4 diamonds
Surrey, BC - Softball City, – 4 diamonds

23. Sicamous – 2007 Bantam ‘B’ Provincial Tournament

24. Duncan

25. Surrey

26. Nanaimo – McGirr Park

27. Langford

28. View Royal – on a great day

29. View Royal – on a not so great day

30. View Royal
D1, our best diamond after a rainy day

31. Conclusion The benefits to View Royal are:
An increased sport tourism profile
Increased safety and playability of fields
Investment in the youth of the community
We are asking permission to proceed with Diamond upgrades ASAP
We request the town aid with funding - $20,655 for this phase