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04/09/2023 06:26 AMA nearly $10 million plan for significant structure and safety improvements to outdoor athletic facilities at Jon Winthrop Middle School (JWMS) and Valley Regional High School (VRHS) will head to a May 2 referendum vote.
The Regional School District 4 Board of Education (BOE) gave an initial presentation on the proposed master plan of improvements at a special meeting on March 29 at the JWMS Auditorium. The board will hold a second informational special meeting on April 27.
The master plan results from evolving facilities assessments starting in early 2020 by BSC Group Inc. with a bulk of evaluations done the previous fall season, according to Region 4 Superintendent Brian White.
“The work that happened this fall was understanding the full scope of work and what it would cost,” White said. “And then, with a lot of input from current leadership, we really dialed in the current requests.”
Proposed improvements at VRHS include the stadium complex, baseball and softball fields, upper field, practice field, and tennis courts. At JWMS, the proposal includes two soccer fields. Additionally, the plan calls for the construction of two new soccer fields with parking lots on the north side of the VRHS campus.
These facilities will go under improvements that include reconstruction, better drainage and irrigation systems, and greater safety and accessibility to its users and observers. The latter form of improvements was informed by BSC evaluations and anecdotal input from Region 4 residents, according to district Athletic director Lewis Pappariella.
“We found in the BCS report that there was a significant amount of evidence anecdotally regarding the safety of the surfaces and how on even the playing surfaces are and lack of access to the fields,” said Pappariella. “You’re around the community and you go to games and you talk to families and you talk to kids...It’s pretty evident that there’s some trouble with our fields not being in good condition.”
Pappariella mentioned the tennis courts at VRHS as a primary example of unsafe playing surfaces in need of greater reconstruction.
To achieve improved accessibility, White added that the facilities would also be reconstructed to meet such standards according to the Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA).
“If you’re somebody who was wheelchair bound, if you had some other disability that made it hard to physically get from like a parking space to the field, we don’t have good pathways, paved surfaces, wide enough walkways...that would enable somebody to actually get out to a field,” White said.
Among the most significant improvements in the proposal is the conversion of the upper fields and practice fields to synthetic turf fields. However, White said before those plans are set in stone, the district will continue to explain its perceived benefits of using turf as a playing surface, while also being attentive to evaluations and concerns for its practicality and safety by experts and the community on those aspects.
“If the community supports [that], we really are going to engage the community, inform, educate, and get feedback before making any final decisions,” White said.
According to district estimates, the improvements come with a nearly $10 million price tag. The $9.96 million project would be paid for through a 20-year bond. If approved at the May 2 referendum, the bond would not impact the 2023-’24 budget, according to White. Payment would fall into the Region 4 debt service line in the following year’s budget.
“What started to happen over the past few years is that bond debt was starting to roll off, meaning we were finally paying off like making those final payments,” White said. “And as that happened, our debt service and the operating budget started to decrease. So it’s each fund we paid off that became less and less.”
If voted by a majority of town electors, the next steps would be to develop a stakeholder committee in May to provide the district’s administrative team with “input into the planning process for these projects,” according to White. Obtaining the bonds with the support of the district’s municipal advisor and bond counsel will also be the immediate next step. White said the earliest that ground would be broken for improvements would be in the spring of 2024.
Pappariella said the impact of the improvements should go beyond use by student-athletes and also be a benefit for people of all ages across the tri-town region for their preferred forms of recreation.
“I think this is only one step further to bridge our community with our school[s],” said Pappariella. “Obviously, it’s going to benefit our athletic program. And we’re hoping it’s going to benefit students of really all ages. It’ll give an opportunity for more community use, more programmatic use, and overall just benefit everyone in the community.”