Published in the June 28, 2017 edition
By DAN TOMASELLO
LYNNFIELD — The bids for the track and fields project are in and are currently being reviewed.
In an interview with the Villager, Fields Committee Chairman Arthur Bourque said the town received three bids for the track and fields project that were opened on Thursday, June 22. He said David W. White Sports Construction, the contractor that worked on the Lynnfield High School fields complex, submitted the lowest bid at $1.865 million.
Town Meeting voted to allocate $2.25 million for the track and fields project in April. The project entails rebuilding the middle school track and football field in addition to finishing the middle school softball field. If there are any remaining funds, improvements will be made to the Huckleberry Hill School field.
While Town Administrator Jim Boudreau told the Villager local officials are currently reviewing the bids, Bourque said, “we are very excited.”
“White is a high quality contractor,” said Bourque. “He did a tremendous job with the high school project.”
Bourque said the middle school track project entails widening the track and constructing areas designated for the discus, high jump, javelin and long jump events. He said the track will be made of hot top and will be coated with urethane.
“The bad news is we have been told by all three contractors that there are only three companies that do urethane track surfaces,” said Bourque at last week’s School Committee meeting. “All three companies are two months behind because of the wet spring, and have told all three of the contractors who were at the pre-bid meeting they do not think they will be able to get in here and get the track surface down in the fall. The problem that we have is that even if the contractor starts July 1, the hot top needs to be down and cured for 28 days before the urethane track surface can be put on it. As we look at this project, it’s unreasonable to expect the contractor will have the hot top down on the track by the first of September so it cures for the month of September, and the urethane gets put down in October. The second problem we have is the urethane can only be put down when the temperature is 45 degrees or above. We don’t want to put it down and have it go below 45.”
Bourque told Athletic Director Mike Bierwirth about the issue recently.
“The bigger problem is if the project is under construction in the spring of 2018, that doesn’t leave the track teams a place to practice,” said Bourque. “I have told all three contractors we will do everything we can to get this track surface down in the fall so its playable in the spring.”
The new track will include a transportable set of bleachers as well.
“It’s a set of bleachers we will have at the middle school for track and field events, but they have wheels on them,” said Bourque. “They can be towed with a DPW truck. We can tow them to the high school and put them next to the high school bleachers for graduation and Thanksgiving in order to provide some additional seating. When we built (Pioneer Stadium), we paved an area so we can put additional bleachers in there.”
Bourque said the middle school football field will be widened as well. He said sod will be installed at the field.
“This will allow soccer, lacrosse and field hockey to play there in addition to football,” said Bourque in an interview with the Villager.
In response to a question from School Committee member Jamie Hayman, Bourque said the middle school football field will not be able to be used for a year.
“We will fence it off,” said Bourque.
Additionally, Bourque said the storage building at the middle school football field will be razed and rebuilt as part of the project.
“The new track is going to go right through where that building is, so we are going to need a new building there,” said Bourque.
In addition to the track and football field project bid, Boudreau said the town received one bid for installing an irrigation system at the middle school softball field, totaling $114,000. Skillings and Sons of Amherst, New Hampshire submitted the bid.
“We are going to be reviewing the bid this week,” said Boudreau.
Bourque told the Villager the town was able to “put in a well at the middle school baseball field for under $35,000” last year.
Once the middle school softball field project is complete, Bourque said, “we should have a first class softball field.”
“We expect it to be in the relative same condition as the baseball field at the middle school,” said Bourque. “That field is in pretty good shape. We already have the dugouts at the softball field, but we need to clean up the clay and the outfield. We are going to sod it. The objective is to get that field done so it can be played on next spring because we need it for the JV softball team.”
Bourque said the project’s start date is July 10, but he said contractors can begin work as soon as July 1.
“The project looks like it’s currently on schedule,” said Bourque.
Hayman noted Recreation Station will be located at the middle school once again this summer. He asked Bourque how contractors will be access the middle school track and field.
Bourque said contractors will be accessing the area via the DPW yard.
“There will be some access to the softball field, but I don’t know how that will affect Recreation Station,” said Bourque.
Superintendent Jane Tremblay said, “we will absolutely be able to work around it.”
