We open our settler meetings with Land Acknowledgments- but just as the Nishabai didn’t build permanent settlements on a flood plain, so too may multicultural sports initiatives fail when the hydrology doesn’t meet expectations.
The matter of installing an artificial Cricket Pitch in the outfield of Diamond Three at McLean Avenue Park has stalled for the current season over rising cost estimates and safety concerns.
Here’s Mayor Lisa McGee, introducing the issue at Monday’s Council Meeting.
The push came from the Ottawa Valley Strikers, led informally by Ravi Singh, who has been the point-person in discussions with Town staff about creating a regulation-ready artificial wicket at McLean Avenue Park.
This year’s wet field delay has seriously dampened the club’s ambitions. Without a proper artificial wicket, it will not be able to host Ottawa Valley Cricket Council or City of Ottawa league matches.
Town of Arnprior Recreation, for its part, saw the venture as a means to expand multicultural recreation and increase visitorship to the community.
Because of these delays Recreation sought an untried temporary “portable pitch” option to facilitate the coming season, but the exploratory suggestion would be vulnerable to similar engineering and hydrology issues. Recreation Director Graeme Ivory says the proposed mix is one item too many.
Engineering clearance is essential in that the differing viscosities of the components involved do not mesh well without structural intervention- the pitch would have to be anchored by in-ground wooden posts that would create a tripping hazard for athletes of any sport using the site.
An Ottawa Valley Strikers spokesperson suggests the bad news comes a little late in the game.
Still, Hydrology remains the elephant in the room no one has publically addressed- Graeme Ivory came closest to doing so.
An hydrologist matters for an artificial cricket pitch assessment, as it only works if the ground underneath stays stable, dry, and unmoving. McLean Avenue Park is notoriously wet.
Installing a rigid cricket wicket on unstable, wet ground without such hydrological assessment is basically asking it to crack, tilt, or become unusable within a season.
The Ottawa Valley Strikers have not encountered similar geology in their experiences elsewhere- where artificial installations have gone off without a hitch- in Northwestern Ontario, the Maritmes- and even in West Ottawa.
Following discussion, the two sides agreed to the continuing merit of cooperating to see whether conditions will contribute to a mutually satisfactory outcome- both for the functionality of the field and the safety of all concerned.
By Rick Stow
