A new track and turf are coming to Titan Stadium at Shaler Area Middle School.

Shaler Area school directors voted 6-3 on Nov. 11 to add the project to a bond issue that was previously approved to rebuild Rogers Primary School, which was damaged by fire in the spring.

“There are more choices than we have funds,” acting superintendent Vic Morrone said at a buildings and grounds committee meeting held before the Nov. 11 board meeting. “Our goal is to decide what improvements do we want to make that we can afford.”

Charles Bennett, outgoing business manager, has said repairing the track is a priority, and money could be added to the bond issue for the Rogers project.

Both Greer Hayden of HHSDR Architects and Engineers and Jim Sauer of JTSA Sports, a Pittsburgh-area developer of athletic facilities, researched a multiyear/multiphase approach to the project and presented it to the board during the meeting.

Much of the discussion focused on the costs of maintaining a grass field, which is used only about six times a year by the football team and for graduation, versus installing turf, which could be used at least 60 times a year by a variety of teams and physical education classes.

Board member Bill Couts supported turf: “If you put turf in, several teams will practice on it.”

Assistant superintendent Bryan O’Black noted that weather conditions can limit accessibility of a grass field.

Several board members recalled a time when a visiting coach was worried that the field would be too muddy after a band festival and a seventh-grade football game had been held there the night before.

Board member April Kwiatkowski pointed out that the lacrosse team practices and plays off-site. “So we have teams who are not having games on the home field,” she said.

Mr. Morrone noted that when the baseball and softball fields are muddy in the spring, practice could be held at the middle school field.

Board members Suzanna Donahue, James Fisher and Jeanne Petrovich voted against installing a turf field.

“I want to know what they’re missing out on by not having a turf field,” Mrs. Donahue said.

Everyone agreed, however, that a new track was needed.

Work at the athletic facility will begin immediately, with the goal of holding all practices and at least three home meets at the track around Titan Stadium this spring.

The work will start with $2 million being added to the long-term bond issue the district authorized in September for constructing a new Rogers Primary School.

HHSDR, which was selected to begin the plans to demolish and construct a new Rogers, will design the new field and track with JTSA.

McIlvried, DiDano & Mox LLC, the company the board approved to provide professional survey services at the Rogers site, may also be used for the field. Construction at Rogers is set to begin in May 2016 with a December 2017 completion date.

 

post-gazette.com

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