The district board of education approved plans for athletics facilities on its Kearns Campus in March.
The plans involve demolishing Treasure Mountain Junior High and building two soccer fields and eight tennis courts in its place. Turf softball and baseball fields will go east of the Treasure lot. Dozier Field will also get a revamp, with a new track as well as accessory buildings for concessions and locker rooms.
However, Senior Project Manager JD Simmons told the board Tuesday the plans have to change.
That’s because the team discovered a decades-old ordinance that applies to Lucky John Drive, which borders the Dozier Field. It requires a 100-foot buffer between the field and Lucky John.
“This did not show up in a title report. This did not show up in any of the parcels. This is also not the first conditional use permit the district has pulled over there, they pulled one for the high school and for McPolin, never came up,” Simmons said.
The Park City Planning Commission also wasn’t aware of the ordinance and had approved the project. It learned of the ordinance after a Lucky John resident appealed the decision.
Due to the 100-foot buffer requirement, Simmons said the district can’t build the two-story concession and team building on the north side of the field. He said the district could try to work with the city to rezone the area or appeal the decision. But that would be a lengthy process, delaying construction for around seven months.
Simmons said the team instead decided to pivot to an east-west design for the building.
“We kicked some designs around, it's not the north building that I liked, I think everybody liked that,” he said. “You're gonna have to remove your bleachers, and the buildings are going to be kind of parsed, because you just don't have the space that you had in the other configuration.”
Construction of the new sports facilities was supposed to be a one-bid package for contractors, but Simmons said it’s now been split. The Dozier Field side will be up for approval next month and construction is expected to start sometime in July. Replacing the field's turf was also taken out of the project.
The Treasure Mountain side had a pre-bid meeting Tuesday. Simmons said the team plans to award the bid by the middle of June.
That project faces its own hurdle.
Park City requires PFAS-free turf be used for the new fields. Per- and polyfluoroalkyl chemicals — also called “PFAS” — are used to resist heat, oil, stains, grease and water. But scientists say the chemicals are toxic. The Centers for Disease Control link PFAS to developmental, liver and immune system issues in animals.
So, Simmons said the turf is being tested and hopes construction can still begin in mid-June. Treasure Mountain is slated for demolition in late September to early October.
The board approved $38 million in lease revenue bonds to fund the athletics master plan in December.
