A Sylvan Lake family has donated 20 acres to get the ball rolling on a new sports park.
The Pogadl family donated the farmland west of 60th Street for recreation purposes in memory of their parents Ed and Glenda Pogadl. In addition, the town will spend $1.08 million buying another 54 acres from the family to create a sports park.
Four baseball diamond, two soccer fields, multi-use turf field, cricket pitch, volleyball courts and cricket pitch will be built along with a basketball court that will become an outdoor ice rink in winter. The park will also have a fieldhouse, special events green space and a 25-stall RV camping site.
The new sports park will be known as Pogadl Park in recognition of the family’s contribution.
The town and Pogadl family negotiated a $20,000-per-acre price to be paid out over four years. Another six acres will be dedicated as municipal reserve A memorandum of understanding is to be signed in an upcoming ceremony.
Some details remain to be worked out. Environmental and geotechnical assessments must be done to ensure the land can be used for a sports park.
It will likely be some time before the park is developed.
“The direction from council all along has been to identify a location and put together a conceptual design,” said town spokeswoman Joanne Gaudet. “It gives us flexibility now. We’ve got the land.”
Eventually, the ball diamonds will replace those at Four Seasons Park. Squeezed in a residential area, the town recently had to upgrade the park with higher nets to keep well-hit balls from landing in the street or in people’s yards.
The park will also offer a number of amenities the town doesn’t have now. The RV spots will be useful for out-of-towners coming to Sylvan Lake for sports tournaments.