MILL CREEK — Jackson High School is one step closer to getting a new synthetic turf field, following selection of a consultant for the project.
D.A. Hogan and Associates of Seattle has been selected from a group of four firms that applied for the work. The company is responsible for the project’s design, permitting and construction management.
School staff will negotiate with the Seattle firm on its fee. If no agreement can be reached, Superintendent Gary Cohn will recommend another firm to the school board for the project.
The decision to install a new synthetic turf field at Jackson as well as a similar project at Everett’s Cascade High School follows complaints from parents and players of injuries caused by sometimes sloppy conditions on the existing grass fields.
A member of the Cascade High School football team broke his ankle and ended up in a cast for six weeks after another football player slipped and fell on top of him.
At Jackson High School, the existing natural turf soccer field will be converted to an all-weather soccer and football field.
Construction isn’t expected to begin until the summer of 2014. The school district is collaborating with the city of Mill Creek on the project, which has agreed to share in planning and design costs of about $70,000.
But more money will be needed. It’s one of a list of building projects being considered to be part of the school district’s February bond issue that voters will be asked to approve.
“We’re still in the process of developing the projects of that bond issue and will be doing so up until November,” said Jeff Russell, school board president.
Board members have talked of adding both the Jackson and Cascade synthetic fields to the list of projects that would be paid for if voter’s approve the bond issue, he said.
The Jackson High School project is expected to cost $2.38 million and include field lighting, portable aluminum bleachers, a portable sound system, an irrigation and drainage system and a new retaining wall.
The project at Cascade High School calls for field lights, bleachers, a portable sound system, irrigation and drainage and is estimated at $1.9 million.
The school district has applied for a National Football League grant to help pay for some of the Cascade project, said Mary Waggoner Everett School District spokeswoman.
Supporters of Cascade High School also are soliciting donations for the project, she said.
Sharon Salyer: 425-339-3486; salyer@heraldnet.com
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