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THE FUNDING

Total project cost is $4.2 million, including design and project management, and the $3.1 million construction contract.

Funding is from three student-approved referenda (Campus Expansion Initiative, Facilities and Campus Enhancements Fee, and the Student Activities and Services Initiative Fee), the student services fee (set by the Board of Regents) and Campus Recreation income.

Two committees of students, staff and faculty endorsed the expenditure of recreation funds for this project: the Student Services and Fees Administrative Advisory Committee, and the Campus Unions and Recreation Board.

BY THE NUMBERS

Intramural Sports counts participation in two ways: total number of sign-ups and the number of unique participants (i.e., counting each student only once, even if they sign up for multiple activities). Here are the stats from 2011-12:

• Total number of participants — 21,994
• Unique participants — 8,744 (5,292 men, 3,452 women)
• Teams — 2,424
• Scheduled games — 5,828

Intramural sports participants are getting a new field to play on — actually, an old field with a new surface: the first artificial turf on a recreation field at �ٺ���Ƶ.

With the new turf — durable and fast draining — the Dairy Road Intramural Field can host more activity than ever before, a plus for Campus Recreation, which runs one of the largest IM programs in the nation.

Work on the four-acre turf conversion started in July and is due for completion by the first day of the fall IM season in mid-October. The project includes restrooms at the southwest corner of the field, and landscaping and a steel picket fence around the turf.

The lighted field will be used for intramural soccer, club soccer and lacrosse, and ultimate Frisbee. Permanent markings will delineate three IM soccer fields side by side; and men’s and women’s lacrosse fields, and a club soccer field (overlapping the IM soccer fields).

Western Engineering Contractors Inc. of Loomis (Placer County) won the contract with a bid of $3.1 million, the lowest of the four bids submitted. See box for funding details.

“Our students are paying for and getting first-class facilities,” said Matt Fucile, associate director of Campus Recreation.

Last year, Campus Rec’s IM unit signed up 295 teams for outdoor soccer and scheduled more than 850 games — all on the Dairy Road field.

With so much activity, the grass gets worn — forcing the groundskeepers to continually shift the playing areas to give the grass a rest. Add rain and the field can become unplayable.

The artificial turf will give Campus Rec the flexibility to schedule play everywhere on the field, all the time, and wet weather will not play havoc with the IM and club sports schedules. Rainwater will go quickly through the Polytan-brand turf system — “carpet,” a layer of sand and a pervious rubber pad — and into the extensive drainage system.

If you're thinking the “carpet” might need cleaning every now and then, you would be right. An automatic system will be installed to wash down the turf, say, once a week.

One of the field’s six light poles will be removed; the others will get new lamp fixtures. Four poles will be added, for a total of nine. “And even with nine poles instead of six, total energy use will be less with more efficient fixtures,” said Kurt Wengler, senior project manager with Design and Construction Management.

The entry gates will be locked when the field is not being used for IM or club sports, or open recreation.

The southwest entry, with the restrooms, is between the turf and the basketball courts that Campus Rec built in 2009 at the south edge of the field, in the shadow of the Dairy Road water tower. Storage space for goals and more will go under the water tower.

The turf installation is expected to start in mid-September, and while Campus Rec will have access to the field by Oct. 14, the contractor will still be working on the landscaping and other parts of the project.

Reach Dateline UC Davis Editor Dave Jones at (530) 752-6556 or dljones@ucdavis.edu.