The board of education has been working to balance sports facility needs before making any final decisions on the athletics master plan. It’s now on track to approve initial project phases before the end of the year.
The board looked at the proposed athletics master plan at its meeting Thursday.
It’s divided into four phases. Phase one includes building a softball and baseball field by Treasure Mountain Junior High. Phase two involves demolishing Treasure Mountain, which will be decommissioned after this school year. In its place, soccer fields and tennis courts would be built. Phase three includes renovating the existing Park City High School gym and building a field house and parking. Phase four would revamp the Dozier Football Field with a new track and turf.
Project architect Scott Later said while the district has other needs, he recommended the board move forward with at least part of the athletics plan to ease some of the current facilities challenges. He said the phases don’t have to be approved and completed in order.
“There's an overlap that happens naturally when snow falls, we can't get on fields, those activities push into gym spaces or other places in the city, and it's creating that pressure point,” he said.
Later said the highest need is for softball and baseball fields, which parents and students have previously advocated for. Later said if the board approves phase one, construction on those fields could begin this spring and they would be usable by fall 2025.
Chief Operations Officer Mike Tanner said each phase tackles a unique issue, like the construction of two soccer fields in phase two.
“We've got 372 students between boys and girls soccer, boys and girls lacrosse and boys and girls track that could be directly impacted by having these two fields available for us,” he said. “So this would greatly ease the scheduling conflicts for all of those groups.”
The plan includes all but aquatic sports. During the meeting, some parents pushed the board to add a pool. Parent, teacher and coach Heather Bratcher said the Ecker Hill Middle School pool is not enough.
“Please think about a pool in this proposal. I don't think it's there, it 100% is needed. We are fighting and clawing for every minute of pool space,” she said. “ High school boys this season, right now, this fall season, not one home game. Not one home game in our city, because there's no time to host a home match in our schedule.”
Board President Andrew Caplan said he thinks the pool scheduling conflicts are an administrative problem rather than a facility issue, but that the board will consider it.
Business administrator Randy Upton said the board would not need to raise taxes to pay for phases one, two and four. The combined projects would cost around $36 million and the district’s buying power also increases when combining projects.
However, phase three, which includes the gym renovation, field house addition and expanded parking, would cost upwards of $90 million. The district is examining options to fund these additions including a potential tax increase.
The board decided to review the plan again at its next meeting Nov. 19 when it hopes to approve phases one, two and four before the end of the year.
