Pictured above is the stadium at Bunsold Middle School earlier this week. Though the artificial turf is installed, district officials are saying the project and the renovation at the Marysville High School Stadium are three weeks behind schedule because of persistent wet weather. Officials are now starting to put together a contingency plan in case the fields are not completed in time for the start of the football season in August.
(Journal-Tribune photo by Kevin Behrens)
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In regards to its stadium construction projects, Marysville school officials are ready to consider “Plan B” – but exactly what that means has not been determined.
At Thursday’s Marysville Board of Education meeting, superintendent Diane Mankins reported that the project to renovate the high school stadium and create a football field at Bunsold Middle School is about three weeks behind schedule due to weather. At the May meeting the project was reported to have been two weeks behind schedule, but officials were still optimistic that crews could hit their target completion date in mid August.
After the soaking rains of the last week, some of that optimism has floated down the river.
“I think it’s realistic for us to look at a Plan B,” Mankins told the board Thursday.
With the first two football games of the 2019 season scheduled at home, Northland on Aug. 29 and Delaware Hayes on Sept. 6, district officials have to prepare for the very real possibility that the work will not be completed. The soccer team still has its own dedicated facility to use in the fall.
Mankins said after the meeting that a contingency plan is not yet in place, but it would involve playing in another stadium, and possibly on another day of the week.
The superintendent said the Monarchs may have to look at playing some scheduled home games on the opposing team’s field. She said this would negatively impact the district because the athletic department would lose out on the money from home-game ticket sales.
Another option could be to bump games to Saturday and play them at a neutral site. In this scenario Marysville could retain ticket revenue but would have to pay for the facility use. Mankins said there could also be a reduction in local fans attending if the distance to the neutral site is too far.
“Like everyone else in this community, we just need it to stop raining,” Mankins said.
The superintendent said the district and general contractor, Altman Construction, remain focused on trying to finish the projects. The construction crews involved have other projects that need attention and getting delayed on the stadium work costs them money, she said.
Mankins noted that crews have been working on weekends when weather allows and have gotten some large portions of the project completed in recent weeks. A large scoreboard has been installed at the high school field, many of the concrete bases are in place for new structures and the artificial turf is in place at the middle school field.
Despite appearing to be farther along in the process, the middle school field is in no better shape than the high school project. The middle school facility still needs a running track placed around it, which is comprised of material that must cure for four weeks, thus restricting access to the field.
The high school field will have an adjacent, separate track facility, meaning the curing process will not impact use of the football field.
The issue for the high school and middle school projects is that the next step in the process for both is a “roll test” that gauges the compaction of the ground. The high school test involves the ground under the field and the middle school needs a test of the ground under the track. The “roll test” for the middle school football field was completed before the turf was installed.
Assuring that the ground is properly compacted is a necessary step in order to have a warranty on the work, according to assistant superintendent Jonathan Langhals.
Another large portion of the project that lies ahead is to pour the concrete for the bleacher foundation. Langhals said the weather is impacting this work because the heavy concrete trucks can’t traverse the soft ground to get to the site.
With two months to go before the first home football game, Mankins asked for patience from the community as the district hopes for extended dry weather which could allow crews to make up ground.
“We’ll do everything we can to make August a reality,” she said.