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Regional School Committee OKs $33K for athletic fields study

Date: 1/19/2023

SOUTHWICK — The Southwick-Tolland-Granville Regional School Committee voted unanimously to approve up to $33,000 in funding to hire master planning services for the district’s athletic facilities.

School district Finance and Operations Director Clayton Connor had addressed the School Committee Dec. 6 about a proposal he had received from JJA Sports to develop what they referred to as an “athletic master plan.” The creation of the plan would result in a guiding document that would reflect the maintenance needs and potential upgrades of the district’s various athletic facilities, both on and off the main campus.

The development of the full athletic master plan would be done in six individual stages that add up to $33,000 in professional service fees. The first three phases are plan data review and site evaluations, existing playing field and use analysis, and field demand analysis, and each costs $4,000 in service fees.

The next three phases consist of $8,000 for alternative field layouts, $5,000 for the development of the preferred master plan, and $8,000 for a slideshow presentation of the athletic master plan report.

School Committee Chair Robert Stevenson said Jan. 11 that they would be voting to approve for the entire process to be funded, but that there will be built-in “off ramps” between certain phases where the district could end the process without having committed to spending the full $33,000.

“We could do the first three phases and then stop at any time without committing to the full cost,” said Stevenson. “It is not without its checks and balances with the way it is set up.”

District Buildings and Grounds Supervisor Erik Wicander had told the committee when they last met Dec. 20 that if the plan is fully followed through on, it would go into great detail about things as seemingly minute as fencing safety and placement, the turf management plan, specific field dimensions, grass conditions, and the accessibility of spectator areas.