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Bleachers remain for another winter

by Desire㉠Hood Staff Writer
| November 17, 2015 6:00 AM

SANDPOINT — The grandstands will remain for one more winter at Barlow Stadium at War Memorial Field, said Parks and Recreation Director Kim Woodruff. Construction will begin next September.

"This has the least impact on the facility, the kids and other activities," Woodruff said. "If we were to pull the trigger right now, it would be a super rush."

A meeting was held Friday with local engineers and architects, city and school district officials, Festival at Sandpoint officials, Friends of Memorial Field and other people who comprise the design team. The group unanimously agreed on a construction schedule, Woodruff said.

The City Council will review final bids in early March, and open the bids in early April. Demolition will start in mid-September, with construction starting shortly after. The grandstands will be completed in mid-May 2017. Woodruff said they hope to be completed in time to hold graduation in May 2017. Construction should take between four and six months, he said.

The group looked at starting the project right away, but some voiced concerns about the water level in the ground during construction, as well as the activities that would be impacted. The current schedule allows for the Festival at Sandpoint to occur in August, as well as allow the school district to host a few fall sporting events before the bleachers come down, such as senior nights and possibly homecoming.

Woodruff said the baseball season will be uninterrupted, as will the Festival. The fall sports of boys and girls soccer and football, will be impacted.

Kris Knowles, Lake Pend Oreille School District activities coordinator, said once the bleachers come down, varsity football will play every game on the road. He said they have looked into options of holding "home" games at Lake City, Coeur d'Alene and Lakeland.

"They would have to be played at an off-site," Knowles said. "Those are just some possibilities we are floating around."

The freshman and junior varsity football games would be held at the high school, but would be moved to day games as the school doesn't have lights on their field.

There will be less impact on the soccer athletes, he said, because the soccer teams have two other options in Sandpoint to play their games, at the Pine Street Field or Centennial Field.

Knowles said they would be able to host two home games at the stadium for football before the bleachers are removed. They will work on moving Homecoming and senior nights to these games.

"We're going to have to squeeze a few things in at the beginning of the school year," Knowles said.

"We're still working on our (football) schedule."

Knowles said the district knew they would be impacted for at least one sporting season once the tax passed. He said most parents and athletes have been understanding of the inconveniences looming.

"It's really a one year problem for a 50-60 year solution," Knowles said.

There are no concerns for public safety for using the bleachers until they come down, Woodruff said. He said that public safety is paramount, and the concern is minimal. The city will have a structural analysis done within the next month done on the bleachers.

Woodruff said there would not have been a playoff game on Friday if they had "pulled the trigger." If there are any areas found to be unsafe, they will be closed off, however, he doesn't feel that will be an issue.

Woodruff said the engineers confirmed the 70-year-old grandstands will be safe for one more season.

"I think it's still an extremely aggressive schedule," Woodruff said. "We can eek out another season and we are done."

Woodruff said this schedule allows for the city to follow state law, but still use as many local contractors as possible. He added that by law they have to take the low bid, however, they would like to use many local companies for as much work as possible.

The stadium will be closed during construction, with possibilities to partition off some of the areas for usability. The fall sports will have until the week of Sept. 19 before the field will not be usable.

Woodruff said that people have been calling the city about feeling misrepresented. He said the decision was made by a group of people, but the meeting was not posted as public.

"Ultimately, it's a city asset so it's a city decision," Woodruff said. "You can never please everybody but we are trying really hard."