The Galesburg School Board is moving forward with several projects to the benefit of baseball and softball diamonds, and the district’s maintenance staff.
The board Monday approved engaging with Moline-based Legat Architects on projects including the building of a new warehouse to replace the one at Hawthorne Center, a new parking lot to the north of the Galesburg High School athletic complex, adding artificial turf at Sundberg Field, and resurfacing the infield on the softball diamond.
Lest you think turf for the baseball diamond might be a waste of money…
“You need a 40-hour-a-week person maintaining that (natural grass) field, to make sure it stays playable year-round,” said Rodney Phelps, board member. “We can’t get enough help now in the district, let along two people working 40 hours a week to keep a field going.”
In other words Phelps says, while it may cost a little more up front, it’s less difficult and costly to maintain a turf ball field.
The district is proposing as much as $15 million worth of work that Legat Architects will be looking into.
Among that work is the tearing down of Rose Hoben Welch School, so that a district warehouse can be located there, along with additional athletic complex parking spaces.
“This would provide much-needed parking for softball, baseball, stadium events, and in the fieldhouse,” said Jennifer Hamm, Assistant Superintendent for Finance and Operations. “It would improve the traffic pattern around the north end of the facility to kind of slow down traffic.”
Hamm says the baseball and softball parking available now will then be turned into handicapped-accessible parking. She says right now, there is none.
Hamm says as for the warehouse, at least half of the work done there benefits Galesburg High School, so moving it there makes sense.
