RALEIGH -- The city would spend $2.5 million for artificial turf and lighting at two soccer parks under a proposal backed by the Capital Area Soccer League and Wake County's tourism arm.
The upgrades, pitched for the WRAL soccer park on Perry Creek Road in North Raleigh and the city-run Dix soccer fields off Western Boulevard, came under scrutiny from the City Council last week.
A council committee had few questions about the Perry Creek Road improvements. But the plans for Dix could prove more problematic.
Some neighbors are worried about the impact of big overhead lights, said City Councilman Thomas Crowder. Plus, the city might want to consider the layout of a future Dix Park, Crowder said.
"If we're going to look at turning Dix into a world-class central park, we need to go through the planning process before we commit to these improvements," he said.
Overhead lights wouldn't come right away at the Dix fields, said Capital Area Soccer League chief Charlie Slagle.
Artificial turf and lighting would allow the fields to have more tournaments throughout the year because teams wouldn't be limited by daylight or worn-down grass.
Slagle said he has had to use fields as far away as Rocky Mount and Wilson during big tournaments.
The soccer league, the state's largest soccer club with more than 800 teams, would handle future maintenance at both venues.
In addition to bringing in more tournaments, the enhancements would attract corporate sponsorships to defray costs, supporters told the City Council's Budget & Economic Development Committee.
The City Council must decide by March whether to include the proposal in a $9 million package of special bond projects assembled by City Manager Russell Allen.
The package also calls for a new tennis complex in southeast Raleigh, completion of a nature preserve park near Falls Lake and an urban agricultural research center just south of downtown.
