Regional School Committee Will Pursue Eight Lane Track with Grass Infield for High School

The Regional School Committee (RSC) received a much anticipated report on the High School Track & Field project from SLR Consulting on Tuesday, April 30, 2024 (video recording here). SLR Principal Mark Arigoni and Landscape Architect Kevin Fuselier presented a report on the site work they have been conducting and cost estimates for a variety of approaches to improving the high school track and field. In order to meet the desired construction start date of June 2025, the RSC must decide by the end of May 2024 which option to pursue. After robust questioning and discussion, the RSC achieved apparent consensus on an eight lane track and grass interior field in the existing orientation.  

Site Analysis 

SLR has completed about 75% of their site analysis, including more than 20 soil samples, a topographic survey, scoping the Tan Brook with a camera, and wetlands delineation. Analysis of the Tan Brook culvert is still ongoing but SLR reported “structurally, it’s great.” Still to be completed is a geotechnical analysis and further test pits to determine the groundwater levels, sediment characteristics, and condition of the track subsurface. 

Findings so far revealed that there is a drainage system below the existing interior field and further analysis will determine how well it was constructed and is currently performing. SLR observed that the channel drain that runs around the inside perimeter of the track is very overgrown. This and a suspected layer of densely compacted material in the soil are likely contributing to poor water drainage. They reported that there seems to be capacity for much more water to be flowing through the Tan Brook. 

Design Options and Funding Limitations

The SLR team expanded on the options originally developed by Weston and Sampson in 2021, providing three basic concepts, each with options of either a six or eight lane track, and grass or artificial turf interior field.

Option 1 would address the track and field in its existing location and condition. In Option 1B, SLR proposed to “rejuvenate” the existing grass field with rototilling, soil amendments, and “punching through” impermeable layers at strategic points to enhance groundwater flow, stopping short of full reconstruction. This, they said, would address safety concerns by restoring a flat surface and removing divots and rocks.

Option 2 would retain the East-West orientation but enlarge the track and interior field.

Option 3 would rotate to a North-South orientation and enlarge the track and field. 

Every option would provide the following:

• ADA accessibility to all areas of the track and field
• LED field lighting (either retrofitted or new)
• A facility that meets the requirements for competitions, something that hasn’t been possible since 2018 because of the poor condition of the running track
• Replacement of the perimeter drainage.

SLR further noted that, although the interior field in Option 1 was slightly smaller than Options 2 or 3 which is more typical of NCAA competitions, it would be regulation size for all sports. The cost estimates for Option 1 ranged from $1.55 to $3.06 million; Options 2 and 3 were all significantly higher, ranging from $4.55 to $5.48 million. The estimates include a generous 20% contingency because of the early stage of design.

The RSC currently has $1.77 million in unrestricted funds available from a combination of debt authorizations from the four member towns, Community Preservation Act (CPA) funds for design, and fundraising from the Hurricane Boosters. An additional $800,000 in Amherst CPA funds and $900,000 in Free Cash was approved but with restrictions. For these additional funds to be available for the project, re-votes would need to occur by the Amherst CPA Committee and Town Council in the next four weeks. If that were to happen, the funds available could amount to $3.4 million.

RSC Deliberation

The SLR representatives asked for direction from the RSC about which option(s) they should continue to pursue, asking “what is the budget you want us to design to?” For Irv Rhodes (Amherst), time was of the essence. “We can’t delay any further; this is it,” Rhodes said, expressing doubt that any of the additional funds could be reauthorized in time.

For Tilman Wolf (Leverett), the decision was simple since they had just $1.77 million available and only two options were under that amount. “We have practically nothing to decide,” Wolf said. Option 1A with a six lane track and “rejuvenated” field was estimated at $1.55 million and Option 1B with an eight lane track and “rejuvenated” field came in at $1.76 million. “I can’t go to my town and ask for more money because we just had a major budget crisis, and I’m not going to wait for another year or two years until we maybe have enough money and we disadvantage our athletes anymore,” Wolf said. “We don’t have to blow the budget and go over. If we can do something well for a reasonable amount of money, we should show that we can do that and we’re not always the committee that’s asking for more money from the town.” 

This sentiment was also expressed by Bridget Hynes (Amherst). “I’m worried that asking more of the towns at this time is going to put us in a very bad position, not just now with this year’s budget but again in next year’s budget, knowing the shortfall we face.” 

William Scherr (Pelham) wondered whether an option 1 including a newly constructed rather than a “rejuvenated” grass field could be developed. SarahBess Kenney (Pelham) also expressed interest in this possibility and asked when SLR would need to know whether there were sufficient funds for this option. 

Assistant Town Manager Dave Ziomek, who was in attendance in the audience, spoke passionately in favor of this option. “If we were to get the East-West orientation with an eight lane track and the absolute best field we can have in the middle, natural grass, I think that would be the way to go,” Ziomek said. He cautioned against settling for Option 1B (field “rejuvenation”) before seeking to remove the restrictions on the additional Amherst funds. “Maybe we can get a little more to make the best interior field for our athletes,” he said.

SLR agreed to develop an option “1D” that would include a fully reconstructed grass field with a new, engineered drainage system, extensive soil amendments, irrigation, and sod (rather than seed as proposed by the previous consultants), which would eliminate the need to wait a full season to start playing on it. They estimated the cost for this new option (1D) would be less than $3 million.   

Next Steps

Interim Superintendent Doug Slaughter committed to calling the Amherst Town Council President and Chair of the CPA committee the next day to request that they act quickly to remove restrictions on the free cash and CPA funds to make them available for this new option 1D. 

Hynes, observing a consensus among the committee, suggested that the message to the Town Council and CPA committee be that the RSC is prepared to choose 1B but if the council and CPA committee agreed to removing restrictions on the funds, they could afford 1D and gain a much better quality interior field. 

Jennifer Shiao (Amherst) proposed that, at the next meeting (May 14), the RSC would review reports and answers from SLR to any further questions, learn the cost estimate for the new option (1D), and give the public an opportunity to offer their comments. By their following meeting on May 28, they would have learned of the decisions with regard to additional funding and would make their final decision about which option will move ahead to permitting, final design, and, ultimately, construction next summer.