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Posted on Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 5:56 a.m.

Ann Arbor school board approves construction projects for Pioneer High School athletic facilities

By Kyle Feldscher

This story has been corrected to give the correct spelling of Hollway Field. Ann Arbor school board members approved about $2.3 million of bids Wednesday for construction projects at Pioneer High School, including a dressing room facilities and practice field improvements.

The funds for the projects will come from the district’s sinking fund and are among the last from the district’s 2002 sinking fund project, said Randy Trent, the district’s executive director of physical properties. Construction on the site is scheduled to begin in early April with an end date set for the first week of September, Trent said.

Most projects will take place near Hollway Field. Among the scheduled upgrades are home and visitor dressing rooms, restrooms, an officials dressing room, a concession stand, a small stand on the visitors side of the field and a new synthetic turf field on the existing lacrosse field, north of Hollway Field.

“They’ve actually been able to save enough money by waiting to move the (planned) training facility inside and downsizing the dressing room facility to create a new artificial practice field for more access for practices on the site,” Trent said.

Board members unanimously passed the project package on the consent agenda.

This plan originally included a training facility with a weight room. The training facility has since been moved inside of the building, Trent said.

According to district documents, Blaze Contracting will be paid $337,600 for site work, Fieldturf USA will be paid $549,103 for the synthetic turf work, Heaney General Contracting will be paid $945,949 for general trades, Mills Mechanical will be paid $289,000 for mechanical work and Huron Valley Electric will be paid $228,000 for electrical work.

Trent said the district had worked with all of the companies in the past.

Prior to awarding the bid, the district had $2.309 million available in 2010 sinking fund dollars and $41,000 in 2004 sinking fund dollars to pay for the projects, according to district documents.

“What has taken a very long time to get started has turned out to be very beneficial in terms of the site work,” Trent said.

Kyle Feldscher covers K-12 education for AnnArbor.com. He can be reached at kylefeldscher@annarbor.com.

Comments

Ralph

Sat, Mar 5, 2011 : 1:20 p.m.

Great!! More money for athletics! What's the mission education or athletics? Turn them into club teams and make everybody pay!!

jcj

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 5:29 p.m.

@ Mary D Among the scheduled upgrades are home and visitor dressing rooms, restrooms, an officials dressing room, a concession stand, a small stand on the visitors side of the field and a new synthetic turf field on the existing lacrosse field, north of Hollway Field. I have no problem with the following: home and visitor dressing rooms, restrooms, an officials dressing room. I question the following: a concession stand, a small stand on the visitors side of the field I do have a problem with: new synthetic turf field on the existing lacrosse field BTW I played football for Pioneer and have a son who captained a pioneer team.

Bill

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 5:25 p.m.

Although in years past facilities at every school would have been appropriate and deemed necessary, today consideration should be given to consolidation of facilities. Ann Arbor is not a large district. The school district admininstration and board should work to consolidate facilities. The next time the school district asks for concessions, I am sure that 2.3 million reasons will be given as the reason for a NO.

Mary D.

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:50 p.m.

Note from article: &quot;The funds for the projects will come from the district's sinking fund and are among the last from the district's 2002 sinking fund project.... Most projects will take place near Holloway Field. Among the scheduled upgrades are home and visitor dressing rooms, restrooms, an officials dressing room...&quot; Note from PHS Athletic Boosters (ca. 2005) &quot;Currently, Ann Arbor Pioneer teams are striving to succeed despite inadequate facilities that fail to provide sufficient space or resources to meet even a minimum standard. By way of example, the locker rooms for both home and visiting teams are nothing more than former storage closets containing benches and one bathroom stall each. These so-called locker rooms lack showers, heat, ventilation, and lockers. &quot; <a href="http://a2pioneer.org/pioneer.boosters/files/pg2-3.pdf" rel='nofollow'>http://a2pioneer.org/pioneer.boosters/files/pg2-3.pdf</a> For the sake of Pioneer's kids and their guests (visiting teams and fans), please experience these PHS facilities for yourself before complaining about funds that must be used as approved by voters (for facilities) in the first place. To compare to modern high school facilities, visit Skyline. Note to editor to adjust annarbor.com's spellchecker: &quot;Lou *Hollway* Lou became Ann Arbor High's first Athletic Director.... Pioneer's football stadium is named in his honor, *Hollway Field*.&quot; <a href="http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/pioneer.ath_records/lou_hollway" rel='nofollow'>http://www.aaps.k12.mi.us/pioneer.ath_records/lou_hollway</a>

limmy

Fri, Mar 4, 2011 : 9:10 p.m.

Are these locker rooms for all of the sports that play back there (soccer, lacross) or just football? I know some of these sports play in the spring -- women's soccer and one of the lacross teams. Is the construction going to affect their ability to play on the field? I hope not.

Kyle Feldscher

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:55 p.m.

Thanks for letting us know, the story has been corrected.

Trepang674

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:26 p.m.

Seroiusly...we are getting the new budge from the state and one can expet article upon article about teacher salaries and program cuts...impact to the local poor and homeless Do we really need to squander funds now on non-essentials that can be better afforded in the future?

jcj

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:11 p.m.

I remember when Pioneer was a power house on regular grass! They are starting to sound like the U of M!

Mary D.

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:52 p.m.

See comment from Mary D.

tpmcfadden

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 3:03 p.m.

Ultimately, public money comes from the same pot -- ours. Spending this money on ATHLETIC facilities in these tough times is an insult to families that are really struggling. How insensitive.

Red

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 2:51 p.m.

Good to see continued investment in school programs and job opportunites for local companies. Let's look at putting some of the other fund balances to work as well so we have facilities and educational opportunities that attract families to the area because of what AAPS offers that others can't.

Gloriagirl

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 1:11 p.m.

Totally irresponsible of board members. They should all be recalled especially because this does not improve core education for all students but those in athletics only. The money in the sinking fund should have been returned to the tax payees especially at a time when there are so many bank and TAX foreclosures.

oldblueypsi

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 1:05 p.m.

Spending the sinking fund dollars is like the Titanic having a clearance sale on lifeboats prior to its maiden voyage.

jcj

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 12:49 p.m.

This is kind of like someone that can't pay their light bill saying they &quot;saved&quot; money when they bought their new Hummer because they got a $1000 rebate!

cinnabar7071

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 12:18 p.m.

I thought the schools were just crying broke, and had their hand out asking for money last year. I must be mistaken.

websterite

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 12:01 p.m.

Really??

havefun

Thu, Mar 3, 2011 : 12:01 p.m.

There is a parking lot north of Holloway Field. There are fields east and west of Holloway Field. Which one are they going to put artificial turf on?