Coldstream Referendum - Facts vs. Fiction - Press Release to All Media

We are at a critical time in our community and we have to decide if our family and friends health and recreation are important....I can't stress enough that we are MAXED out for field space. This was the 1st year soccer ran out of field space for their youth programs. Please forward this to all your friends and encourage them to vote "YES"! www.aberdeenpark.ca

E-mail claim:

1,200 Coldstream residents play soccer

Facts:

The GVS application, pg. 66 says that according to the Dec. 2005 stats there were 2,000 youth soccer players and 700 adult soccer players = 2700 soccer users.

If 1,200 are from the Coldstream, which has 18% of the Greater Vernon population (9,465 people), the Coldstream has a whopping 44.4% of the players.

The North Okanagan Youth Soccer Association stats say there are 2,223 youth soccer players (likely more recent stats).

If 1,200 of the total 2,223 are from the Coldstream it would mean that 53% of all soccer players come from the Coldstream.

According to the 2006 Census, Coldstream only had 2,090 youth aged 5 to 19. If 1,200 of them are playing soccer that means 57% of all kids in the Coldstream are registered in the Soccer league.

We all know these stats cannot be correct.

E-mail claim:

Coldstream only has 1 regulation sized field.

Fact:

We are not sure how many regulation size fields there are in Coldstream, but we do know this:

• There are 4 soccer fields at Creekside Park, 2 at Coldstream Elementary School, 5 at Kidston Elementary School and 1 at Lavington Elementary School. (There is one extra soccer field in Lavington that only has one goal post. They have been lobbying GVS to replace the other one for a long time with no response.)

• They have the capacity for approximately 240 players per use (12 fields x 2 teams @ 10 players for each team. With 1 use per weekday evening and 5 uses on Saturday, the fields can accommodate 2,400 players per week. (240 players x 10 uses per week).

Therefore even if there were 1,200 Coldstream players – Coldstream fields alone could accommodate them all.

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• Young kids do not need a regulation size field. There are lots of schools that do not have regulation size gyms, or courts. That does not mean kids can’t play the sport properly.

E-mail Claim:

Coldstream has not built a playing field in 20+ years.

Fact:

Coldstream has 27% of the sports fields of Greater Vernon with only 18% of the population. Why do they need to build more fields?

E-mail Claim: “we are MAXED out for field space.”

Fact:

GVS application (pg. 60 & 61) state there are 51 sports field in Vernon. 17 are in parks and 34 are in school fields. ‘Vernon has a sports field supply of 1 for every 996 people.’ “This is a very high supply.” “Using a conservative estimate…. The field use in relation to capacity is 43% for school fields and 73% for fields in parks.” The estimate is conservative because it only counts capacity to 3 pm on Saturday – and everyone knows that teams play into the evening during the spring, summer and fall as well as on Sunday which is not counted in at all.

Lavington resources have also been totally left out of the stats.

Contact:

Terri Jones for more information. Home phone: 545-6405. Cell Phone: 550-0338

Greater Vernon Advocates Committee spokesperson.

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