Detailed design work on the proposed $8-million sports complex in Whistle Bend will continue.

That will happen despite second reading on the zoning needed for the facility being defeated at Monday’s council meeting, says the chair of the Yukon Outdoor Sports Complex Association.

Tony Gaw said in an interview this morning he was “very disappointed” with the vote by council, a 3-3 tie vote on the zoning. In cases where council is tied on a vote, the matter is automatically defeated.

Despite that disappointment, he said, work will continue on planning for the facility, which is proposed to include two soccer fields and a track facility built to international competition standards.

There’s always the possibility of reapplying for the zoning, he noted, pointing out there could be a new council after the October municipal election that could vote differently on the issue (even by just one vote).

The complex association – made up of a variety of sporting organizations – has been leading the project; the territory is proposing to build the estimated $8-million facility.

A number of supporters of the facility are also set to make their views known with a demonstration over the vote set for 4 p.m. Thursday starting at outside city hall.

While his group isn’t involved with the protest and he’s not available to attend, Gaw praised it as a good idea.

“The kids are disappointed,” Gaw said, noting many athletes had their ambitions set on the facility going ahead.

“It’s a needed thing in the Yukon,” he argued.

When soccer athletes travel Outside for competition, he added, they aren’t usually playing on grass fields, but rather the artificial turf facilities like the one being proposed for Whistle Bend.

He also pointed out that Yukon athletes aren’t even in a position where they can even travel a couple of hours to practise on occasion on an artificial turf field, as other jurisdictions have the option of doing.

Proponents of the new facility have argued its need is evident in the poor state of the soccer fields around the city, which often have debris from other activities and gopher holes, among other issues.

The new facility would be secure, with sporting events being the only activity on the field.

“The idea that we don’t need the facility and don’t need security is incorrect,” Gaw said.

As a prime example for his argument, he cited just last Saturday, when some players met for a practice on the field at Vanier Catholic Secondary School only to discover someone had broken through the fence and driven in donuts around the field.

Other organizations and one of the territory’s top athletes have also expressed disappointment with the result of Monday’s vote.

Para-wheelchair racer Jessica Frotten, who trains in Saskatchewan and is on the national para-athletics development team, said this morning if the city had the facilities, it would mean she could be in her home territory training at the level she needs to.

Acknowledging her own bias on the matter, she said she can see both sides of the issue and that some residents may not support a major facility being built in a neighbourhood that does not yet have a substantial population.

However, she added part of the reason Team Yukon often doesn’t do well at track events Outside is that athletes don’t have adequate facilities to practise on.

“It’s time for the Yukon to have (these facilities),” Frotten said.

Rather than building a field and track next to the new F.H. Collins Secondary School that aren’t regulation size, she argued, it would be better to spend more on a facility built to regulation standards.

Athletics coach Don White said he expects as long as there’s no rubberized running track built to competition standards, runners in the territory will continue to suffer at least minor muscle injuries and having difficulty placing in Outside events.

It also means that para-wheelchair racers like Frotten continue to have nowhere to train in the territory, he said.

Anyone interested in para-wheelchair racing does not get a chance to explore that interest, he pointed out.

“That opportunity’s been snatched away,” he said.

While the Canada Games Centre has an indoor track in place, White was quick to point out it doesn’t have the same type of surface nor the same distance that those built to regulation size do.

At F.H. Collins, the new track had to encroach on a utility easement and still does not meet regulation standards in size, he pointed out.

Disappointed with the decision, he said no one is giving up on the facility, stating it will remain part of a five-year plan (despite being part of a five-year plan for 20 years or more) for athletics in the territory.

“We’re not giving up,” he said.

Meanwhile, John MacPhail of the Yukon Soccer Association said he too is “obviously disappointed” with council’s vote defeating the rezoning Monday, but also added he’s hopeful some sort of resolution can be found for the facility to proceed.