09/21/2024
This is a thoughtfully written statement that represent our views on the proposed changes to Winskill.
Have a read.
Thank you Tsawwassen Mixed Slo-Pitch.
**Winskill Diamond Users: We Need Your Help!**
The “Winskill Renewal Project” plan is going to Council on Monday September 23rd and we need your voices!
Representatives from the Tsawwassen Mixed Slo-Pitch Executive were invited to work alongside City staff and Executive from the Tsawwassen Amateur Baseball Association (TABA) to help validate the City’s proposed design for the Winskill Renewal Project. Those meetings were very productive and, although the final design is not ideal from a purely Slo-Pitch perspective, we are generally pleased.
The design proposal has now gone to City Council and will be voted on at their meeting on Monday. City staff have recommended acceptance of the design in its current form however there are two “options” being presented that will have an impact on diamond sports in Tsawwassen.
Council will be asked to decide whether to include a fourth ball diamond in the initial site redesign.
TMSP, TABA and South Delta United (SDU Soccer) agree that this is the right time to add that additional diamond. Our data (pulled from comparative analyses of diamonds-per-registered-user in other BC jurisdictions) shows that we lag behind numerous similarly sized communities. This is exemplified by the difficulties our league has every year in securing enough field allocations to have an 18-game season.
*If we do not get the 4th diamond built now, it will severely limit our ability to get back to our full complement of teams and could result in us losing net diamond time to other user groups!*
If you have personal, business or political connections to the Mayor or Councilors, please reach out before the September 23rd meeting and let them know that we support the immediate inclusion of a fourth diamond in the initial Winskill redevelopment!
Thank you for helping keep adult slo-pitch alive in Tsawwassen!
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For those who are interested, the following briefly addresses some of the broader community concerns, rumors and assumptions surrounding the Winskill Project:
1) How can you support “deforestation” of the park just to add ball diamonds? You are destroying a treed canopy that is enjoyed by many in the community.
Most of our members want to maintain – and even expand - natural park areas in the community! This is one of the main reasons we are so supportive of the City’s latest design as it calls for a 10m protected corridor AS WELL AS a reforestation area south of the new parking area. By selectively removing only the trees in the impacted area and planting trees in the reforestation area, the net tree loss is negligible and the overall health of trees in the park will be improved immensely.
It’s also important to note that the City is in talks with the TFN to selectively harvest trees during the removal and replanting process. These would be used for cultural and ceremonial purposes.
2) You are pushing a baseball agenda that will hurt the disc golf community. We will have no place to play.
The City has already identified three potential sites for the relocation of the disc golf course. Each of these has benefits over the existing site. TMSP and TABA applaud the City for working with the disc golf community to make sure there is a permanent home for the sport in Tsawwassen!
3) We don’t need more ball diamonds. They are only used three months of the year.
This is a common remark, and it is entirely incorrect.
Firstly, diamonds in our community are used 8 months out of the year (weather depending) which is among the highest use rates in the Province. You can contact the City for field allocation (rental) information to validate this.
Secondly, TMSP used 86 percent of its allocation for 2024. This means that, for every 100 hours of time allocated to our league, we were playing ball for 86 of them. Remove rainouts and other unpredictable interruptions and that usage is near 100 percent. It is important to note here that TMSP has capped the number of teams because there is no additional capacity in Tsawwassen to assign us. We already have to negotiate allocations yearly as other user groups are seeing higher levels of player registration as well.
Thirdly, many of the ball diamonds in Tsawwassen are multi-use. Some are converted for soccer in colder months and others are shared by volleyball, private events and community events like Sun Fest. In fact, the nicest diamond in Tsawwassen becomes home to a classic car show every year!
Finally, to say a diamond is under-utilized because it is not being used during school hours or when it is snowing is an unreasonable assertion. Ball diamonds, like any outdoor areas, can only be used when weather permits and when people aren’t already busy with work or school. That doesn’t mean they aren’t needed! If you work in an office downtown, you probably aren’t using your yard or deck during the day. You want it to be there for those times you are able to use it. That logic applies to sport fields, supermarkets and City Hall!
4) Why are you supporting moving the aquatic centre, adding a park entrance and expanding the parking lot.
In short, these aren’t issues that we were tasked with providing input for. The City’s reasoning behind each of those issues is based on community growth, public demand, safety, building code requirements and other factors. That stated, the City did listen to many of our concerns and suggestions. We feel the latest design is an improvement over previous options.
5) People who watch ball games are rude and they smoke and leave cigarette buts everywhere.
This is an actual comment made by a few people in the community… All we can say to this is that there is a very small segment of the population who will continue to do things in public that you don’t approve of. To say that the percentage of such people in sport is higher than the community in general is a fallacy. Smoking or va**ng at City facilities is not permitted and we ensure all our players understand those permit requirements.
6) We don’t want more people using Winskill because of the noise and light pollution.
For those living adjacent to the park, there will always be noise and, occasionally, extra light in the early evenings. The same can be said for people who choose to live close to schools, main roads, or commercial areas. Unfortunately, we are geographically limited in Tsawwassen - we have the border to the south, water to the east and west and highway to the north. As the population in the area increases, government needs to find ways to add infrastructure which includes parks, playing fields, schools, medical facilities and others. We feel that centralizing playing fields in existing locations is a better approach than increasing traffic and other disturbances in other parts of the community.
In summary, ball players and their families are NOT anti-tree, anti-disc golf, or pro-pavement. We love ball and we also love nature, our kids, our pets and a myriad of other activities. We are your neighbours, friends and coworkers. We, like you, want Tsawwassen to be a place that everyone can enjoy and we therefore support the work City staff have done to include diverse interests and opinions in the park design.
We are in full support of the Winskill Renewal Site Plan that the city is presenting to Council which includes the fourth U15 ball diamond.
We are passionate about the game and dedicated to building community spirit since 1967
