Students at Central Technical high school are in a tug of war with the community over their sports field.

Before the municipal election, about 250 of them staged a walkout at the Bathurst and Harbord Sts. school in a bid to ask candidates in the Trinity-Spadina wards to support a stalled plan to replace the muddy field with a $6-million seasonal dome.

But given that both the councillor and trustee elected in the ward oppose the dome, their plans are likely doomed.

“Part of their platform is that they care about the students. And they want the next generation. . .” said school council president Helen Zhou, who trailed off as her vice-president, Raymond Dang, jumped in.

“We want to enjoy an athletics facility that offers so much to the students and the community as well. That’s not the way their platforms are looking.”

“We just ask that they maybe take into consideration what we have to say as well,” continued fellow Grade 12 student Adriana Burton. “As students of the school we are also part of the community.”

The dome has become a divisive issue in Trinity-Spadina, where councillor-elect Joe Cressy in Ward 20 formed a “no” voting bloc with incumbent Councillor Mike Layton in neighbouring Ward 19 across Bathurst St. and newly elected trustee Ausma Malik.

“I’ve been pretty clear about my stand, and it comes from a place where parents, students, families and community members are not served when you privatize a public asset,” said Malik, who also cited concerns about artificial turf and limited community access.

Her priority is to get everyone talking, including students, and work on rehabilitating the field “to have it ready for student use as soon as possible, and also the community” preferably with a natural turf.

“It is a polarizing issue . . . but this community is incredibly dedicated and motivated, and there’s an incredible amount of expertise.”

During the election, the three politicians signed an open letter drafted by the Harbord Village Residents’ Association, agreeing to oppose the dome and find a community solution to “maintain the grounds for the enjoyment and enrichment of all.”

The students have been fighting back with a “YES” campaign and an online petition in support of the championship field.

“I think the situation with the field has become political,” said Zhou, who like her fellow students thinks the field belongs to the board and therefore the school. “Adults are arguing over something that should have more student involvement.

“We can benefit the most but don’t have a say.”

The major issues, say the politicians, are a lack of green space in the congested west end, public access and the privatization of the field.

“I approach this as a community member, as an athlete and as somebody who thinks the students deserve good playing facilities,” said Cressy, who played in a house soccer league on the field with Layton until it was fenced off after the board discovered contamination last fall.

“But I don’t support a dome or turf or the private operation of one.”

Prior to the election, Cressy promised to move ahead immediately if he won and hammer out a deal with the city, school board and other partners to build geothermal underneath the field.

The energy could provide clean power to Westbank Projects Corp., developer of the nearby Honest Ed’s site, as well as the school.

“In order to get a geothermal site you need a large track of land. The Central Tech field is perfect for this,” said Cressy. The payoff by the developer would be a new field.

The board has yet to hear from the developer.

“If he wants geothermal in, talk to us. Call the school board,” said Briony Glassco, who replaced Chris Bolton as area trustee after the Toronto District School Board chair stepped down in August.

“Let’s not have this as some sort of strange bargaining chip with the residents’ association” to get development plans approved, she said.

Currently, no one is benefitting from the field, including the school’s championship football team. Central Tech, which pulls in students from many different parts of the city, also has an excellent girls’ rugby team and soccer teams.

The massive green space has been closed since the board did testing as part of the deal with Razor Management, a project which includes the seasonal dome, a FIFA-grade artificial turf and running track and improvements to showers and change rooms located in a building at the north end of the field.

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Students would have use of the field during school, but Razor Management would be able to permit it out at night and on weekends during the winter months when the dome is up and in the summer.

The proposal was turned back at the Toronto and East York committee of adjustment in March after intense opposition from the residents’ association and former Ward 20 councillor Adam Vaughan, who left in May to pursue federal politics.

The committee denied the minor variance necessary for any school board property to be used for purposes other than instructional.

The school board tried to get the decision overturned in Superior Court, but Justice David Corbett ruled in favour of the city, stating the board is allowed an exemption for “incidental use” of TDSB facilities for commercial purposes” but that this proposal crossed the line. The board appealed and lost again.

The board can still challenge the committee’s decision at the Ontario Municipal Board.

Whether the geothermal proposal would fall under that “incidental use” exemption isn’t known.

Razor Management is planning a revised application with an emphasis on instruction and learning for any sports league that uses the field.

“We’re continuing to seek approvals from the city, which includes the dome and everything that was involved in the original championship field,” said board spokeswoman Shari Schwartz-Maltz.

Meanwhile, the field will remain closed because the board doesn’t have the million-plus needed to clean up the contamination, or the money for ongoing maintenance.

The board rejected an earlier offer from the city of $300,000 from Section 37 development fees, and $200,000 from an anonymous donor, for remediation.

Behind the scenes, the residents’ association continues to battle and has its own online petition.

“We’re in the middle of quite a big fight in the neighbourhood,” said Susan Dexter, whose group was the subject of a venomous unsigned flyer that was sent around.

The residents’ association doesn’t dispute the million-dollar cleanup cost for the main field.

But it believed the school board was purposely delaying a freedom of information request for all documents and emails relating to the deal with Razor, and details about the initial request for proposal that Razor won, until after the election and the Oct. 29th board meeting.

Dexter believed trustees would finalize the contract with Razor at the meeting, but the issue didn’t come up.