Batavia High School is going to get new athletic fields.
The questions now become when, how will the work be funded and will it cost more or less than the $13 million estimate?
The Batavia School District 101 Board of Education voted 5-0 Tuesday night to add the athletic-field construction to its capital-improvement plan. School Board member Gregg Hodge and District 101 Building and Grounds Director Pat Browne emphasized that there is no timetable set and no funding method identified at this time, according to articles in the Kane County Chronicle and the Daily Herald.
Back in March, Browne told the Batavia School Board members that a committee of school officials, parents and boosters would prefer to keep practice on campus and laid out a $13 million plan to get that done.
That plan calls for eliminating the arboretum on the southwest corner of the school campus, and construction of two artificial-turf fields, one for the traditional football/soccer game field and a multi-use practice field located south of the stadium. A detention pond would be put under the stadium, according to the district's Sports Facilities Master Plan document.
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The plan also calls for 2,500-seat bleachers and press box, an eight-lane track, a competition baseball field, a competition softball field, a practice baseball, soccer and softball field.
According to the Chronicle story, Chicago-based Wight and Company estimated the cost of the project at $13.4 million.
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The advantage of artificial turf is cost savings over time, because of reduced maintenance cost. Also, multiple sports teams and bands can practice on the artificial turf without damaging the surface.
The Daily Herald reported that the district received 50 comments on the proposal via its website and 42 of those were positive. The Chronicle story said there were 37 positive responses and seven responses opposing the plan as of July 17.
The majority of comments on the Batavia Patch Facebook page opposed the plan.
