Clintonville’s athletic complex wish list

CLINTONVILLE – A master plan of what the Clintonville School District’s athletic facilities could look like and those estimated costs were presented to the Clintonville Board of Education as it works to develop a plan for its athletic facilities moving forward.
The master plan was presented by Matt McGregor, director of Project Management with Hoffman Planning, Design, and Construction, and Don Kneer, president of Rettler Corporation, at the board’s May 27 meeting. While the board didn’t make any decisions based on the information presented, the information will be used by the board as it works through financial decisions for the district.
Prior to the presentation, Clintonville Superintendent Troy Kuhn told the board that he and the district’s activities director had met with McGregor and Kneer several times to discuss what the district “could look like” regarding its athletic facilities and what the district needs. The two items that came up the most during those discussions were the district’s track and soccer fields, and the lack of water drainage.
Kneer told the board that one of the key components of the plan is that it can be done in pieces.
He added that the plan builds on the referendum project that the district just completed.

The plan would preserve the grandstand and lighting at the football field and track, Kneer said. This would allow for the reconstruction of a new eight-lane track over the footprint of the existing track, but a little wider and different geometry. This would allow for a synthetic turf field to be constructed where the football field is that would benefit multiple sports.
“Right now, you’re a little too narrow to do anything but football in that space,” Kneer said.
Synthetic turf would allow the field to be used for soccer. It could also be used as a practice facility, as well as be used by classes and for recess.
A synthetic turf field would also open up the area to the south for redevelopment. The discus and shot put areas for track could be moved, and a parking lot created for spectators. A plaza space and entryway could be developed off the main parking lot. North of the plaza, the long and triple jump area and the pole vault area could be constructed.
A grand entry could serve as an entry to the district’s baseball and softball complexes, Kneer said. This would involve moving the softball facility to the north. The baseball facility would stay on its current footprint. The baseball and softball facilities would be connected. The current softball facility could then be converted to greenspace.
“That’s beneficial two-fold, you can have multiple events going on, you can have kind of a nice connection to the concessions and restrooms buildings for both sports,” Kneer said.
Kuhn reminded the board that many different options for the district’s athletic facilities have been discussed over the last several months, but this master plan is a presentation of what the area could look like.
“We wanted to show you the options, based on the layout of the land, of what potentially could be done,” Kuhn said.
McGregor said the master plan presented included everything the district could want, just like was presented during the referendum discussion several years ago when the middle school was converted to an elementary school, and an addition was added to the high school.
“Now let’s start tearing it (plan) down to what is reality,” McGregor said.

Costs
McGregor said rebuilding the track, creating a synthetic field inside the track, along with all the throwing and jumping sports, and then adding a parking lot is estimated to cost $5.4 million. He said that could be Phase 1.
The cost has fees, contingencies, and 5% inflation through 2026 included in it.
A natural grass baseball facility is estimated to cost around $1.8 million. A synthetic turf baseball field would add about $1.4 million to that estimate. A natural grass softball facility is estimated to cost around $1.5 million. A synthetic turf softball field would add about $500,000 to that estimate.
A 12,000 square feet multi-purpose facility that would include a full-sized gymnasium that would allow for volleyball, pickleball, and badminton to be played in it has an estimated cost of $2.8 million. The building would also include changing rooms, bathrooms, and storage.

All the above would amount to an estimated $11.7 million.
McGregor said if it was eventually decided to leave the football field with natural grass, meaning soccer would not be played on that field, a new soccer complex with natural grass would cost an estimated $1.9 million.

Discussion
Kuhn told the board that the district may not need to update its baseball and softball fields. The district currently uses ballfields owned by the city of Clintonville and the city is working on fixing the issue with the grandstand at the baseball field.
Kuhn also reminded the board that in 5-6 years the district has to reconstruct the track at the football field, which could cost between $400,000-$600,000.

“So, when we redo the track, are we going to do everything else or not?” Kuhn asked. “Because if we don’t, it doesn’t make sense [to redo the football field later].”
But if synthetic turf is added to the field when the track is reconstructed, then soccer could move to that field and be played under the lights, Kuhn said.
“Soccer right now at the middle school is huge,” Kuhn said. “It [synthetic turf] could do those types of things. Recess for middle school. Even hitting fly balls for baseball.”
Board President Glen Drew Lundt asked if the athletic department in the district wants a synthetic turf field, citing maintenance and possible injury risks.
Kneer said the cost per use is less for a synthetic turf field when compared to natural grass because the field can be used more. A grass field can only be used for football games. Kneer said maintenance for a synthetic turf field would be less than natural grass.
Regarding safety, Kneer said a synthetic turf field would include a shock pad to help absorb hits to the ground.
“There’s a lot of technology out there, a lot of data we can share with you to show your coaches and community that these are safe facilities, they are consistent facilities, and in about 12-15 years we’re going to look at returfing,” Kneer said.
Board member Christopher Hoffmann asked if the district would be doing a feasibility study before making any decisions. For example, Hoffmann asked if fees the district charge would be readdressed if a multi-purpose building was constructed.
“The only reason this building even came to light is the fact that if this stays grass, we have so many soccer players coming up, we’re probably going to need two (soccer) fields,” Kuhn said.
This would involve keeping the soccer field, and possibly redoing the JV soccer field, Kuhn said. But creates concession stand and bathroom problems.
Kuhn said district residents recently rejected a referendum question by a small percentage regarding the district’s football field. He said the question should have referred to athletic complex instead of just a turf football field.
“In a roundabout way, maybe that’s good that didn’t pass, because now we have the opportunity to do something now by redoing the track as well,” Kuhn said.

Kuhn interview
In a follow-up interview with Kuhn, he told the Clintonville Tribune-Gazette that the public needs to know that the district has been pushing its athletic facilities aside.
“So, if we don’t pass a referendum, the money that could be going to pay teachers and custodians, and paraprofessionals, and clerical staff, has to go to fix the fields. That’s not good,” Kuhn said. “If we would pass an operational referendum we can still do what we need to do with staff and operating expenses and do what we need to do for fields.”

As he said during the meeting, Kuhn told the Tribune-Gazette that the district doesn’t need to spend funds on baseball and softball facilities since the district uses city-owned facilities for those sports.
“Would it be nice to have everything here, definitely, but it’s not needed,” Kuhn said. “What is needed is a track that has to be done no matter what. If we keep the track and the football field the way it is, it’s going to be another 10 years before we have to redo it again because of the way the drainage and the flow is. We need a complete teardown, rebuild of that athletic complex. The bleachers are great. The concession stand is great. Everything else needs to be redone.”