South Whidbey High School athletics teams won’t be playing on a Boise State-esque blue field anytime soon.
After discussing an athletics bond to fund capital projects such as installing an artificial turf field at the high school, the school board decided last week against pursuing a bond for a 2016 November ballot.
Items such as the turf field, which was estimated to cost $1.2 million according to a capital projects document, were determined a want, not a need.
“We went into this with a set of levy priorities that we’ve been working through and the question really is: Do some of these things become a levy priority? Are they enough for a bond?” Superintendent Jo Moccia said. “It’s really not my opinion, it’s just a recommendation. It’s really not bond-worthy in terms of its total dollars.”
Maintenance Director Brian Miller was tasked with presenting a comprehensive list of items that needed to be addressed as well as projects that the district may want to consider pursuing.
Potential capital projects were listed in a document with a priority number of 1-4 assigned to each item, one being the highest and four being the lowest.
The turf field was considered as being a number 4 priority, among other projects such as a $175,000 softball turf infield, a $225,000 baseball synthetic turf field, a $50,000 main gym partition curtain and a $90,000 lighting project for the main field at the high school.
Miller said that when the football turf field was considered as being part of the six-year, $12 million levy capital fund, its priority dropped due to its high cost and relatively low need.
Items listed as top priorities that have a chance of being transferred to the capital levy facilities budget include leveling of the high school main field to remove and/or repair the center ridge, repairing and resurfacing the tennis courts, improving the stadium’s press box, and replacing the football scoreboard.
Moccia said in an email that a draft of items that could be transferred to the levy budget will likely be presented to the board either in November or December.
The scoreboard was estimated to cost the most out of the top priority items at $30,000, followed by $20,000 estimates for leveling the football field and replacing the baseball backstop, which was significantly damaged in a recent windstorm. The baseball backstop will need to be addressed between now and spring, Miller said. Miller did not have an estimate for the cost of improving the stadium press box, which does not have enough room to contain scorekeepers, coaches, and other personnel.
“I think we could work with the priority one items on both lists and be in good shape and not severely compromise the scope of what we can do with the levy,” Miller said. “That would be my recommendation that we make an effort to put those into the levy.”
The athletics bond was first considered as a possibility in October 2012 when it was listed as a potential solution to replacing the football field with artificial turf, resurfacing the track, and repairing four of the school’s tennis courts, according to school documents.
The district is in the second year of its six-year levy that was approved by voters in February 2013 to fund capital improvements throughout the district, ongoing technology efforts and deferred maintenance.
The athletics bond was brought back into consideration when school and South Whidbey Parks and Recreation District officials met for a conversation on the topic on Aug. 26.
It’s unlikely the bond will be brought back up for discussion this year, Moccia said in an email on Monday.
