California to study bids for multi-sport complex
CALIFORNIA – The California Area School Board Wednesday will be considering construction contracts for the fourth and final phase of the multi-sport complex. Bids were opened last week for construction of a field house and renovations to the high school entrance including improvements to the road and parking lots. Options with the field house bid include construction of dugouts and batting cages, the possible installation of lighting at the baseball and softball fields and the electrical, plumbing and mechanical work that goes with the various aspects of the construction. With all options, the work comes to just under $2.2 million.
District superintendent Linda Mancini said the district has already spent about $4.5 million for the new football field, bleachers and announcers booth/concession stand.
“To finish this project, we need a field house and I think we need to get the roads done,” Mancini said.
“The front of our school is our signature. You don’t want to have the front of the school run down, then come into this beautiful field.”
Mancini said the work would include widening the main entrance of the school campus to three lanes, one coming in and two going out, to help with traffic flow. The work would also add bus lanes to the front of the school so all the bus doors would face the building and no student would need to walk between buses for any reason. Using the current grass island in front of the school for parking will also increase parking for events at the fields.
Mancini said it’s possible that not all of the elements put out for bids will be approved by the school board.
“I believe my job is to be objective and just give them all the information and let them make their decision,” Mancini said.
The low bid to install lighting at the baseball and softball fields came from Westmoreland Electric Inc. and came to $280,918, lower than the cost estimated by the district’s engineering firm, K2 Engineering. Mancini said that at present all of the baseball and softball games are played in the afternoon.
“They’ve had to reschedule because of weather, but never because of darkness,” Mancini said.
The batting cage, which would be a 20×90-foot steel construction, concrete floored pavilion with a netting system for batting practice, would add $65,800 to the project for construction and another $26,838 for the electrical contract. The netting is suspended on a cable system, making the facility usable for other functions as well.
Another option is a warning track at the fields at a cost of $28,600. A 12-foot wide paved walkway providing handicapped accessibility between the field house and the baseball field would cost $11,400 if the low bid were accepted.
The district received six bids for the general construction contract for the field house, entrance road and parking area, two bids for paving and three or four bids for all other contracts. Bill Whetzel of K2 Engineering said he was pleased with the number of bids received for the work.