Memorial Field design fine-tuned

SANDPOINT — The new Memorial Field grandstands have a design foundation following a Wednesday workshop.

City officials, James A. Sewell and Associates engineers and Friends of Memorial Field representatives met before the regular council meeting to get the ball rolling on the project. Just over an hour of discussion laid out the most essential project points for contracted architects to generate a more detailed design. Rather than phasing the work out, planners determined the project will play out all at once.

“If I were you, I would look at this as a one-time shot,” Parks and Recreation Director Kim Woodruff said.

One of the most essential design components was stadium size. According to Friends of Memorial Field member Doug Hawkins Jr., the nonprofit — which aims to fundraise the project construction costs — already established a size threshold of 1,500 seats. Since local demand already exceeds Memorial Field’s grandstand capacity of 875 and the new grandstands will be in use for the next-half century, officials need to plan for the future, Mayor Carrie Logan said.

“What we have now is incredibly inadequate,” she added.

The larger building footprint will mean taking out the existing lockers and storage. If project designers want to keep the grandstands centered along the 50-yard-line — a wise move to avoid irate sports fans — the established facilities have to go. City and nonprofit members agreed the best option was likely to plan for lockers and showers under the grandstands. This is a significant additional expense — about $300,000 to $400,000 — but it’s an important consideration for visiting and home sports teams alike, planners said.

The new locker placement will have an impact — albeit a minor one — on the way the grandstand roof and support columns are situated, architects said. Indeed, the columns were another major design point discussed over the meeting. According to Hawkins, the nonprofit investigated removing those supports entirely by using a rear support structure. However, the cost was substantially increased, and it would also mean losing about 300 seats.

“Which is more important: getting rid of those columns or gaining 300 seats?” Hawkins asked.

The columns also play into the grandstands historic character, which nonprofit members said was a characteristic community members consistently wanted to see preserved. In deference to those wishes, city officials asked that the design reflect and reference the historic stands. Woodruff also asked that the grandstands primarily use materials that are durable, affordable and easily maintained. 

An earlier version of this story misstated the placement of the planned locker facilities, which will be under the grandstands but above ground.