{"id":8757,"date":"2025-05-30T10:53:36","date_gmt":"2025-05-30T13:53:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=8757"},"modified":"2025-05-30T14:28:29","modified_gmt":"2025-05-30T17:28:29","slug":"region-of-queens-support-for-new-north-queens-track-and-sports-field-greenlights-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2025\/05\/30\/region-of-queens-support-for-new-north-queens-track-and-sports-field-greenlights-project\/","title":{"rendered":"Region of Queens support for new North Queens track and sports field greenlights project"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Alyssa Short, chairwoman of North Queens Active Living, details for regional councillors the track and field project at North Queens Community School. (Region of Queens YouTube channel)<\/p><\/div>\n

A new field and running track will be built at North Queens Community School, thanks to funding from the Nova Scotia government and the Region of Queens.<\/span><\/p>\n

Regional councillors approved $250,000 this week for the $1.1-million project at the Primary to Grade 12 school in Caledonia.<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s on top of a planned $800,000 grant from the province.<\/span><\/p>\n

Alyssa Short, chairwoman of North Queens Active Living, told council at their regular meeting on Tuesday that the field is \u201calmost completely unusable\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd so the result is our athletes are not able to train at the school and that has historically been the case.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Olympic track athlete Jenna Martin went to the school and couldn\u2019t use the field to train, Short said. She had to go to Bridgewater, which is an hour\u2019s drive away.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s very poor drainage, the ground is uneven, it\u2019s compacted,\u201d Short told councillors.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe water pools up in the middle and so it\u2019s soaked all year round.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

And because it isn\u2019t fenced, ATV riders have further damaged it by \u201cdoing doughnuts\u201d in the field, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s to the point that the students are not even able to use the field for recess or for sports or anything.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The field was built in 1984 with no proper drainage or fencing, Short said. The school\u2019s outdoor classroom is also not safe to use, she said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The new field will feature a 325-metre track, which is smaller than the regulation 400-metre size. Short said a larger track would have tripled the cost of the project. The field will be fenced, lit and have proper drainage. North Queens Active Living will maintain the field.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve gone with a natural turf field that will have fencing. And very importantly, it will be a very good quality walking track that will be used by the local community.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Short said they hope to put the project to tender immediately, and have the work done over the summer and fall so that it will be ready to use next year.<\/span><\/p>\n

Councillors said the new field and track are vital in a smaller, rural community like Caledonia and the surrounding area.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s very important that this project be supported by this council,\u201d said District 6 Coun. Stewart Jenkins, whose area includes North Queens.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cPeople out in the country have to travel so far for many things and when you start moving your children an hour one way and an hour back just so they can train on a track after they spend all day in school, (that) shouldn\u2019t be unacceptable. I think we should move forward with this.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

North Queens Active Living had requested $250,000 through the region\u2019s community investment fund. Instead, councillors voted to fund the project from their accumulated budget surplus.<\/span><\/p>\n

This will be the second new track and field in Queens County. A $3-million, 400-metre rubberized track and artificial turf soccer field at Liverpool Regional High School is expected to be ready by early July.<\/span><\/p>\n

After the funding was approved, Short told QCCR she\u2019s \u201cabsolutely grateful\u201d for the municipality\u2019s support.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI know the school is going to be thrilled, but I think the whole community is really going to get behind it,\u201d she said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cIt’s going to mean that athletes who have it in them to become athletes have the facilities to follow through on what they’re capable of. And I think there’s probably been a lot of potential lost in North Queens over many years. And I think that having this facility is really going to have a lot more athletes come out of North Queens.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

Listen to the audio version of this story below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/newnorthqueenstrackfieldmay3025.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A new field and running track will be built at North Queens Community School, thanks to funding from the Nova Scotia government and the Region of Queens. Regional councillors approved $250,000 this week for the $1.1-million project at the Primary to Grade 12 school in Caledonia. That\u2019s on top of a planned $800,000 grant from […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[3162,358,721,3160,545,765,241,24,3161,2597,3163,2245,266,1808],"class_list":["post-8757","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-alyssa-short","tag-caledonia","tag-community-investment-fund","tag-field","tag-north-queens-active-living","tag-north-queens-community-school","tag-nova-scotia","tag-region-of-queens","tag-sports-field","tag-stewart-jenkins","tag-student-athletes","tag-students","tag-track","tag-track-and-field"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8757"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8765,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8757\/revisions\/8765"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8757"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8757"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8757"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}