At last week’s Kewanee School Board meeting, Supt. Rebecca Baney reported on discussions between school officials and Kewanee Park District officials about a major project at Northeast Park.
The project calls for installing artificial turf on the main diamond, which Kewanee High School baseball teams use for their home games, and the two smaller diamonds at the east end of the park, which the school’s softball teams use.
The Kewanee Voice posed some questions about the project to Andrew Dwyer, park district executive director. Here are his responses:
What is the project the school district wants to carry out in the park?
The school district approached us specifically about turfing the diamonds they utilize for the early spring baseball and softball. IHSA softball and baseball prove especially difficult in March and April as the weather is very uncooperative from freezing and unfreezing temps as well as rain and even snow. I signaled to the school that the Park District is always willing to discuss collaborations that would be mutually beneficial as well as cost effective to the taxpayer and last fall Jeff Johnson approached me and inquired about our desire to investigate this specifically.
Our conversations have been exploratory and very candid about the needs of the school District and also the limitations the Park has with a much smaller revenue stream and vastly smaller capital allotment yearly.
Have school officials asked that the park district share in the cost of the project? Can the park district afford to share in the cost?
We (school and park) met and obtained pricing proposals from the very same vendor who turfed the football field for the school. Financial discussion will be on the horizon.
Based on project proposal that was given, (and I will for this example use a full softball field turfing and infield only for baseball as my point of reference) that a project would cost over $1 million. For reference, our yearly capital budget ranges in the $300,000 to $350,000 range, far above our normal capital project capabilities without bonding. With that, the viability of this project is dependent on the desire of the school district to bear the majority of the costs.
Further, the school has investigated the option of building a facility on the outskirts of town near Abilities Plus and I understand the cost of a new facility would be 5 or 6 times the costs of the solution we are discussing. I believe that is why we have had these discussions and are exploring more cost-effective options that will still benefit our taxpayers and students.
Further, the life of these fields is roughly 10 to 12 years, which necessitates planning far beyond simple implementation but also expectations of use and replacement or remediation once the useful life is reached.
Our contract with the school encompasses much more than just baseball and softball. We also have golf, junior high golf, cross country, tennis, junior high softball and also still have soccer on the contract. Baseball and softball does prove to be the most difficult due to the time of the year and weather concerns. Many times the ground is frozen in the morning and thaws in the afternoon which can make for a difficult time prepping a field that appears “soupy”, which is why the discussion is being had about turf.
Have you, or anyone from the school district, asked an architect or engineer to estimate the cost of the project, or come up with a tentative design for it?
Yes, we have pricing proposals in hand and the numbers referenced are real world.
Has a timetable for the project been established, if the project is approved?
Not as of yet but I expect any project would begin in the fall season if or when an agreement is reached.
At this point, what would your recommendation to the park board be about possible park district participation in this project?
Speaking with my board and having two members working on this project, we understand the school’s desire to maximize their opportunities to get games in during the early spring season. However, our focus is recreation for all residents with special attention to amenities and opportunities for our youth being our highest priority.
If the school district is not able to meet the bulk of the financial responsibility of this specific project, I do not see it being completed by us alone. In the last two years, we have installed a new playground, a splash pad for the kids will be completed this year, we have targeted our capital campaign this year to refresh and upgrade our shelter houses that are consistently used by the public, and we also have had a bequest that we are in the beginning phases of building a dog park that will be named in the donor’s honor.
In my time with the park district, we have dedicated ourselves to improving our parks for all by following our planning initiatives. These improvements in the past few years have been well received by the public and we are dedicated to continue or modernization and improvement of our parks.
We also acknowledge that opportunities that arise such as this warrant thorough and fair assessments. We see this as a chance to potentially improve spaces and lives of Kewaneeans, but also a great chance to develop rapport and intergovernmental cooperation.
While it remains to be seen if a partnership will be established for ball diamonds, it is nice to work together to do what we can to ensure we are taking care of the taxpayer dollar as responsibly as possible.
