The Morgan Hill Unified School District is seeking Board approval on a “long overdue” $2.27 million renovation project to the Live Oak High School athletic facility.
“I feel now is the right time to do it,” said Board President Don Moody of the proposed upgrades, which could start as soon as June following the final LOHS track and field meet.
Financing for the project isn’t coming from the $198 million Measure G capital improvements bond, Moody emphasized, which is designated solely for upgrades to academics.
Rather, funding will come from the remaining $3 million of the $72.5 million parcel tax bond approved by voters in 1999. At that time, sprucing up Live Oak’s 37-year-old sports complex was something the Board of Education considered, “but we decided to hold off” to take on other more pressing projects, Moody explained.
The master plan includes installing in a mid-grade synthetic turf football field (estimated at $1.5 million); resurfacing the track and repairing its base; and replacing the announcer’s booth, which was demolished a few weeks ago “due to the deterioration of the structural beams,” according to the district.
LOHS football coach Mike Gemo said the renovation plan will be “great for both [high] schools” since Sobrato High School’s junior and varsity football teams also use the field for their home games. He said the project is “a wonderful thing for the district to do” because his players are “putting a lot of time in and deserve a great place to play.”
Gemo noted the grass field, which is used year-round by other high school athletic teams from Live Oak, along with community events such as the Relay for Life and Wildflower Run, is “torn up” due to the amount of games played on it. Players have avoided tripping-related injuries so far this season, but it’s something the coach is concerned about.
The athletic facility hosts 20 to 28 football games per year and 10 track meets. It is also used for marching band practices three days a week and physical education classes. Because of the high foot traffic, the district limits practices on the playing field for all teams.
“I think it definitely needs improvement,” Gemo continued. “Since many people use it, I think [synthetic] turf is the way to go … it’s kinda what all schools are going to now.”
LOHS and Sobrato, in fact, are the only schools out of 24 divided in three divisions of the Blossom Valley Athletic League that do not have synthetic turf fields. This is one factor contributing to Peninsula Sports Incorporated – the football referee association in charge of officiating games – labeling the LOHS field the “the worst in the [Central Coast Section],” as noted in a 2013 report put together by LOHS Athletic Director Mark Cummins.
LOHS field hockey coach Gina Sanders couldn’t be happier.
For the last five years, her team has forked out $20 an hour to practice at the Morgan Hill Sports Complex on Condit Road so players can gain experience on a turf field. The Acorns currently play home games in the grass outfield of the LOHS baseball field and are one of just a few teams in their division without a turf field.
“There’s not doubt about it, it definitely would be a benefit,” Sanders said.
The seventh-year coach said she’s heard talk of a new turf field in the past, but “I won’t really believe it until I see it.”
She hopes the new field will be lined for field hockey as well as football and soccer, just like the one at Gilroy High School. In a perfect world, Sanders said she wants a turf facility with multiple fields for each sport, such as the one at Leland High School with three separate turf fields.
The district’s proposed plan, which the Board will vote on at one of its upcoming meetings, does not include any renovations to the bleachers since an analysis by a structural engineer concluded “no bleacher work is necessary except for possible accessibility upgrades as required by the Division of the State Architect.”
Regardless, Board trustee Ron Woolf is still concerned with bleacher safety. He hopes some funds can be used to make improvements to the stairways, which have gaps between the steps.
LOHS’s 2014 high school graduation ceremony, which is traditionally held in the athletic facility, could also be impacted if renovation construction starts “right after the end of the track season” as proposed, according to district staff.
“We need to get in there as soon as possible,” MHUSD’s Director of Facilities Anessa Espinosa urged.
LOHS Principal Lloyd Webb, also in attendance at Tuesday’s Board of Education meeting along with Cummins, said adjusting commencement arrangements and working around construction is a sacrifice worth making.
He noted the practice field can be outfitted with temporary bleachers, similar to what the district did for Sobrato’s ceremony last year to accommodate the large crowds.
If everything goes according to schedule, the artificial field and track resurfacing will be completed by fall 2014 according to Espinosa. She said the announcer’s booth will be constructed later because it is the only part of the project that must get approval from the Division of State Architects.
