Grass fields will remain at the Lovers Lane soccer complex for a little while longer after design delays and sinkhole events have pushed installation of turf fields from a planned summer 2025 deadline to a mid-fall date.

“The deliverables took just a little longer than expected,” Mike Mitchum, parks and golf maintenance superintendent for Bowling Green Parks and Recreation, told the Daily News.

Lexington-based GRW Engineers, Inc. was secured by the city last November with a $70,286 contract to complete engineering and design work for two turf soccer fields at the soccer complex, after city officials allocated $2 million for the project in its FY2025 budget.

Turf promises to cut down on the long-term maintenance needs required by natural grass fields. If maintained properly, turf fields can last as long as 10 years before needing replacement.

BGPR head Brent Belcher told the Daily News last June that the city spends several months doing repair work to the grass fields at the soccer complex. Along with reduced maintenance needs, Belcher credited growing demand for soccer fields as a reason for installing turf.

“We have this huge soccer demand coming in so a lot of different users want to use our facilities,” Belcher said then. “So it just got to the point where this was the best answer to serve the public.”

Mitchum told the Daily News Friday that a combination of flooding at the soccer complex in April, the appearance of a roughly 30-foot deep sinkhole on field two and the sheer volume of work needed for the design phase pushed the process back.

The city now expects to receive bids on Aug. 1.

“ … That kind of slowed the process some,” Mitchum said. “(It’s) like, ‘well, we don’t know that we’re going to be able to hit our window now, because of this sinkhole.’

“We’re not really that far behind our timeline, just somewhat,” Mitchum said, adding that even with the delays the project is still expected to fall within the $2 million allocation.

Fields one and three at the soccer complex have been chosen to receive turf. Mitchum said the plan is to secure a bid by the end of August and begin installation after the fall soccer season concludes at the complex in October.

Over 171,000 square feet of artificial turf will be installed on both fields combined, just short of four acres.

The city in June approved its $188.7 million budget for FY2026. Included in it is another $2 million for turf fields that are eyed this time for Preston Miller Park.

“We hope to get that out quite soon,” Mitchum said.

“We would anticipate maybe being able to do them next, it would be after spring play next year, so it’ll be next summer, prior to the beginning of FY27.”

Like the fields at Lovers Lane, Mitchum said the two planned for Preston Miller are all about keeping up with demand.

“Soccer is so popular and there’s so much play now that … It does not let the Bermuda have time to recover,” he said.

“In order to try to meet the demand, we’ve made it a goal to try to get several turf fields, that way they can be played on year round.”