New $5.2M sports facility will benefit students, larger community in Mississauga: city 

A $5.2-million joint-use sports field and running track being built in Mississauga’s west end by the city in partnership with the public school board is expected to open early next year.

A plan that’s transforming the outdated field and track at The Woodlands Secondary School into a new facility that will include a multi-purpose artificial turf field for soccer, field hockey, football, rugby and lacrosse is progressing and the Peel District School Board said in a report it anticipates an opening date sometime in spring 2026.

Construction began this summer and, when completed, the revamped sports site will also include an International Association of Athletics Federations-certified eight-lane synthetic track facility and lighting, the school board added.

City of Mississauga council gave the green light last October to the plan that will see the city and Peel school board split the $5.2-million cost (preliminary budget) equally. The partners will also split maintenance costs moving forward while provincial grants are also expected to help finance the project.

Image shows what a completed facility will look like at The Woodlands Secondary School. (Image: Peel District School Board)

Ward 6 Coun. Joe Horneck said last fall a new field and track are badly needed at the Erindale Station Road/McBride Avenue high school.

He added the ball got rolling when two gym teachers and the school principal approached the city with a plea for help.

“They came to us and said ‘the field at the back of The Woodlands is in terrible shape. We can’t even use it; we’re going and we’re renting space at Huron Park to play sports’,” Horneck told his colleagues on council last October.

The new facility will also include:

• Field markings — the artificial turf will feature alternate green lines for a football field and additional markings for soccer, international rugby, field hockey and field lacrosse.
• Logos — The Woodlands Secondary School logo will be displayed at midfield while the Peel District School Board and City of Mississauga logos will be in the end zones.
• Track features — will also include a steeplechase, high jump area and long jump/triple jump with a synthetic runway.
• Bleachers — two sets of bleachers with a total seating capacity of 288 will be installed on a concrete pad.
• Lighting and scoreboard — the facility will be equipped with an LED remote-controlled scoreboard, new LED sports lighting  and LED pedestrian walkway lighting leading to the school parking lot.
• Pathways — a new 3.5-metre asphalt pathway will connect the school property, linking both The Woodlands Secondary and McBride Public schools to the adjacent municipal park at Forestwood Drive.

The Woodlands Secondary School has needed upgrades to its sports field and track for a long time, school and city officials say.

Noting similar cost-sharing deals have previously been struck between the city and local school boards in other parts of Mississauga, Horneck said last fall the new facility in his ward “is really going to benefit the community … it’ll be a great example of how school boards and the city can work together.”

Mayor Carolyn Parrish, who was closely involved in similar deals that brought new sports facilities to two Malton schools when she served as councillor for Ward 5, also threw her full support behind the latest joint-use facility deal.

“It does need refurbishing. It’s been the same old cinder track and mess for years,” she said in October 2024 of The Woodlands’ old facility, adding such deals between the city and school boards work well because “it’s the same taxpayer in the end. The kids get to use it during school hours and the community gets to use it after hours. It’s really doing dual purpose; it’s a fantastic use of our money.”

Parrish represented the Malton area of Mississauga when two schools there — Lincoln Alexander and Ascension of Our Lord secondary schools — benefitted from the same type of cost-sharing agreement between the school boards and the city.

She said provincial grants helped pay for both of those projects and she anticipates the same commitment will come from the province on The Woodlands deal.

Long-standing partnership between the city and school board

City staff also said previously that “the city has a long-standing partnership with the Peel District School Board to share facilities on city lands and vice versa.

“The city’s contribution to this project will ensure community access to an improved track and field facility that provides opportunities for residents to maintain a healthy and active lifestyle.”

More recently, Horneck said at city council in late July he expects the new track and field at The Woodlands to “look beautiful” when completed.

“This city has great facilities working with the boards of education and we want to make sure they’re well used,” he added.

The Peel school board said in a report in April that in order to “optimize its properties for the benefit of students, staff and the broader community,” it’s always “exploring opportunities through grants and potential partnerships, either with municipalities or private enterprises, for the construction of upgraded artificial turf fields and tracks at schools. These facilities not only provide exceptional athletic spaces for students, but also serve the surrounding communities.”