After a lively discussion at Monday night’s meeting, the Van Buren Public Schools Board of Education agreed to continue the artificial turf vs. natural sod investigation in a special meeting at 7 p.m. today (Thursday, July 29).
The school board was making decisions on alternates for the $79 million Belleville High School project, since bids for the work have been coming in so much lower than estimates.
These are the alternates that need to be decided now, so they can be incorporated into present construction.
Paul Wills of Plante Moran CRESA said the project is $6 million under the total construction estimate price and the alternates total some $2. In mid August they will have an idea of the total Guaranteed Maximum Price, he said.
Wills said under the bond guidelines, $79 million has to be spent on the Belleville High School site or revert back for bond payments.
While all the other alternates for the project were approved easily by the board, the subject of whether to put artificial turf on the football field, at an estimated cost of $377,794.15 was a hot topic.
Actually, it was not the cost that was at issue, but whether artificial turf was a healthy choice for high school athletes. And, after ten years when the artificial turf fails, would the district have the money to replace it.
Providing sod in lieu of seed for the stadium field was estimated at $28,285.
The artificial turf option would call for a recommended eight-year, third-party insured warranty bond at an additional $2,000.
Board Vice President Bob Binert, who obviously supported artificial turf, had invited two men from the Birmingham Public Schools to tell of their positive experiences with the artificial surface.
Sumpter Township resident Don Juchartz, a graduate horticulturalist with over 60 years of international experience and 32 years on the faculty of Michigan State University, spoke passionately in favor of natural sod for the safety of the students.
He brought with him two local sod farmers – Norman DeBuck of New Lawn Sod Farm in Van Buren Township and Stephen Chont of Waltz Green Acres Sod Farm in New Boston. They added more information on natural turf.
“I implore you, you do not want artificial turf,” Juchartz said. “You want natural.”
“This is heavily one-sided,” complained Trustee English, adding the natural turf supporters are giving personal experience and opinions. He said he wanted more information from artificial turf people.
Resident CeeJay Marshall also spoke on behalf of artificial turf, encouraging the board to study the matter more before making a decision because he felt some board members already had their minds made up in favor of natural sod.
“I pictured the new high school as a hub for the community,” English said.
The board asked for a vendor to speak to them on artificial turf and Todd Dewolf, regional vice president for Prograss will be invited to the July 29 meeting.
Also, athletic director Rod Fischer will be invited to attend the meeting. The board asked for a copy of the artificial turf warranty.
The football field is expected to be ready for play in the fall of 2011.
The mandatory alternates recommended by Plante Moran CRESA consultants and approved by the board were:
* Hard tile at $204,000 from Artisan Tile of Brighton, lowest of three bidders;
* Wood flooring for the gymnasiums, plus athletic markings and scoreboards, at $178,500 from Kuhn Specialty Flooring of Commerce Township, lowest of six bidders;
* Painting at $318,796 from Seven Brothers Painting, Inc. of Shelby Township, lowest of three bidders.
Decisions on discretionary alternates, suggested by Fanning Howey and Granger Construction, needed to be made to keep the high school building project moving forward on time. The board approved the following:
* Additional 300 seats to the main bleachers/grandstand home side at an estimated cost of $39,300. This puts the home seating at the stadium from the planned 2,200 to 2,500;
* Additional bleacher/concrete slab to visitor seating, estimated at $64,290. This would double the visitors’ side, which now is 250;
* Slurry wall for the retention/detention pond to keep groundwater from infiltrating, estimated at $126,610. Without the 2’ thick impervious wall, the pond wouldn’t have the capacity needed after a storm;
* Stainless steel connections for timber framing, instead of galvanized, $9,652 estimate;
* Cafeteria East addition at an estimated cost of $344,025, which will make available an additional 120-160 cafeteria seats, with this area able to be shut off from the main cafeteria with folding dividers. This project deducts the concrete patio paving and ornamental fencing originally planned at the cafeteria, at a deduct of $10,150;
* Rubber floor tile in the cafeteria/remove PCT at an estimated cost of $113,744;
* Football scoreboard, estimated at $25,285;
* Sod at four ball fields (baseball, softball, east and west practice fields) instead of seed at an estimated cost of $87,736. Seed would take 1 year to 15 months to be ready for play and sod gives almost immediate access. The school has its own wells and is not paying extra for water to irrigate.
At Monday’s meeting, that lasted almost three hours, the board also:
* Approved the Boys & Girls Club request for use of a school bus on Aug. 11 at the going rate for a trip to Comerica Park for a special club event, with Trustee Kevin English abstaining because he works for the Boys & Girls Club;
* Approved an agreement with St. Anthony for use of slightly less than two acres of land to be used for a parking lot for 250 cars during BHS construction. The district agreed to pay $50 per car for a total amount not to exceed $12,500, upon completion of the gravel parking lot. The district will have rights to use the parking lot from now until July 2014;
* Approved the minutes of a special student disciplinary meeting on July 19 that was held in open session because neither the student, his parents, or any representative attended. The South Middle School student was suspended for the 2010-11 school year;
* Approved the retirement of bus driver Nancy Gronemeyer after 23 years of service, as of June 23;
* Approved the employer termination of bus driver Johnnie Kincaid after four years of service, as of May 25; and
* Set a special meeting for 7 p.m. today (Thursday, July 29) at the Administration Building (drive through the muddy path at the construction site to get there) because there were so many time-sensitive decisions that had to be made at Monday’s meeting. Other pressing school business needs to be addressed, as well. The sod-artificial turf discussion was added to the full agenda.