EVANSTON — Each year, from 2021 through 2024, more than 400 youth ages 5 to 16 have participated in recreational soccer in Evanston, with a share of those youth playing in competitive/traveling matches. Although the local teams are competitive in their leagues, they lack a “home” field.

Beginning in 1991, a league sponsored by the American Youth Soccer Organization was playing soccer and, over the years, teams were formed at the high school. The organization evolved to become the Evanston Express Football Club under the umbrella of the Utah Youth Soccer Association and, in 2019, the Evanston Youth Soccer Club was established under the Wyoming Soccer Association and competed in league play under the direction of Utah Youth Soccer.

Currently, the Evanston Youth Soccer Club is a 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and it now plans to apply for grants to build a soccer complex. Community liaison for the club, Brian Richins, addressed the city council work during session on Tuesday, Dec. 10, to present the club’s “big dream” initiative to build a soccer complex.

“We are looking at the area south of the movie theater, west of highway 150 and the Aspen church, with 14 acres of land and 9 acres for field development and shelter area with bathrooms and 5 acres for parking,” Richins said. “It would be similar to Evanston’s baseball field. Some of the land is owned by the city and some by Aspen Church. We need the city’s permission to designate the city land in order to apply for grants.”

Richins said they have been talking to the people at Aspen Church as well about purchasing their land and the possibility of sharing a parking lot. The goal is to build two soccer fields and parking on the city land and two fields on the land owned by the church. The complex would allow for a maximum of 14 teams to play at the same time.

Richins said they would need to work out arrangements with the city for maintenance and repair of the facility, irrigation system maintenance and repair and a multi-use agreement with the Evanston Parks and Recreation District to host youth football games and practices. They would also need a field coordinator/scheduler through the recreation center and cleaning and maintenance of the bathroom facility, shelter and scoreboards.

In the past, the soccer club has used Aspen Elementary fields and has paid the city to mow, line the fields, and provide maintenance for the porta potties via an annual contract.

“The complex would be used for recreational league play, hosting a Jamboree, hosting competitive matches in the fall and spring with the Utah soccer leagues, sponsoring an annual regional competitive tournament, and the school district could use the facility to bid for state soccer events and the state tournament,” Richins said.

The complex would bring economic benefits to the city, Richins said. By hosting tournaments and matches the local restaurants, businesses and hotels would benefit from the visiting players and their families.

This year, Richins said, the Rock Springs soccer club netted $22,130 for hosting a weekend soccer tournament.

Councilmember Jen Hegeman asked if there would be some way to use the fields in the winter months. That led to a discussion about using turf instead of natural grass, and a future possibility of covering the complex to make it more usable in the winter months.

Discussion among Evanston Mayor Kent Williams, city attorney Mark Harris, parks and recreation director Kim Larsen, city engineer Damon Newsome and senior planner DuWayne Jacobsen revolved around zoning and subdivision requirements. They discussed whether to leave the land in the city’s possession, the cost of maintenance and how much involved Parks and Rec should be.

“I see the way for this to work is for the city to be involved — like we are with the baseball fields,” Mayor Williams said. “We will all have to get together and come up with options and see which is the best way to handle this.”

Williams thanked Richins and said they would let him know what they decide. There was no other item on the agenda so he closed the work session meeting.