Taking a big step, Pea Ridge School Board members approved the bid of $2.65 million for the new Blackhawk Stadium and track Monday night.
“It’s a big step, but we all know the community needs it,” Joshua Ramsey, board president, said.
Ground breaking should begin soon, said Mike Castagna with Baldwin & Shell, adding that the project is anticipated to take seven months and the stadium should be ready for the season opener Sept. 13.
“I just hope we don’t have to move snow,” Patrick Tenney said.
Offered a bid of $2.5 million with 1,200 seats on the home side and a smaller press box and without a sign over the ticket booth with the Blackhawks name, board members discussed the needs, considered the financial situation, and elected to go with 1,500 seats on the home side.
“We’re growing. I don’t want to go back and add more later, you’ll just spend money later on,” superintendent Rick Neal said.
“There is a lot of interest in this; we received over 90 bids,” Steve Elliott, architect, said.
“We feel like we got really good prices.”
Athletic director Larry Walker said the highest attendance this year in the old stadium was 1,500 to 1,750 and he anticipates more when there is more seating.
One of the ticket booths hasa “zig-zag” entrance in order to prevent bicycles on the track, Ramsey said, saying: “We want to protect the track from damage by allow it to be accessible by the community.”
Bathrooms are located in the building housing the concession stand and have nine stalls in the women’s and five in the men’s with four urinals. There is alsoan awning over a pad for outside grilling.
Last fall, a state-of-the-art indoor practice facility used by almost every athlete at the school was opened. The facility is on par with some of the bigger classification schools in the state.
“They have done a lot in support of athletics, and other areas here,” Tony Travis, head football coach, said. “The indoor facility has had a big impact on a lot of programs here. To be able to practice year-round has benefited all the programs. Our goal with the new stadium is to give our kids something to take pride in, and I think it will get more of our kids involved in athletics.”
The new football stadium and synthetic track will seat 2,000 fans, including 1,500 on the Blackhawks’ side of the field. The field will sport an artificial surface, and the track will have eight lanes. A press box is planned to stretch the side of the home bleachers.
The new stadium will replace the current stadium near downtown Pea Ridge, which has hosted football games for the past 49 seasons.
“The home side bleachers we have now seat about 480,” Travis said.
One of the biggest changes thenew facility will bring will be in the spring. The current stadium doesn’t have a track and that means Pea Ridge is planning on hosting its first track meet.
Before the indoor facility opened, the Pea Ridge track teams worked out at various spots around town, including the parking lot at the high school.
Lady Blackhawks track coach Charley Clark said having a track will help a program that finished second at the 4A-1 Conference meet this past spring.
“It will be very nice to have a track here,” Clark said. “We have done the best we can in the past, and we have done well with what we had. It’s been tough been finding places to run. It been hard for us to duplicate the real conditions at a real track, especially for our sprinters and hurdlers.”
“We’ve always said we would take care of the district. The first was academic facilities,” Jenny Wood, board member, said.
There is $3,287,864 in the building fund. Adding the $116,708 revenue from the state share of the storm shelter, $314,765 projected bond savings, subtracting $366,884 in expenditures, there is $3,352,453 anticipated for a closing balance.
“This will leave us a little over $700,000 in the building fund account,” Neal said.
Board members asked about needed equipment and were told that the scoreboard will be donated. Some additional track equipment will be needed if the district is to host track meets, athletic director Larry Walker said.
Sports, Pages 7 on 12/12/2012