Hopkins fields project enters next phase
Published: 09-06-2023 7:55 PM |
HADLEY — Another phase in the project to improve the playing fields at Hopkins Academy is underway, with some adjustments being made to the plans to ensure the renovated softball and baseball fields will be ready for use next spring.
The School Committee at its Aug. 28 meeting approved a series of change orders recommended by Chris Desjardins, the school district’s business manager, that will push the project cost $78,000 beyond the $1.55 million in funds available. The project is being paid for through a combination of the town’s Community Preservation Act money and borrowing.
The expectation is that the schools will be able to use school choice funding that had been set aside for capital projects, not previously used, to cover the additional expenses.
This phase of the project will revise the softball, baseball and soccer fields, and complete an accessible 2,100-foot community walking path to 3,300 feet.
Omasta Landscape of Hadley is doing the work after submitting the low $1.3 million bid.
Desjardins said among the change orders, the largest was for using sod instead of hydroseed. This will add $145,000 to the cost of the project, as sod is much more expensive than hydroseed.
“A big change is the sod,” Desjardins said.
While school officials tried to find alternative locations where baseball and softball could be played while waiting for the grass to take, that was not successful.
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School Committee member Paul Phifer, who for several years has shepherded the project through various approvals, said he likes the idea of sod, as this will lead to better finished product, and sooner. He said he is pleased that even with inflationary pressures, the costs have not gone up significantly.
“My take on this is we got a very low bid from Omasta,” Phifer said.
In addition to the new girls softball field, the project includes rearranging the boys varsity baseball field and putting in scoreboards. Another $55,000 will be spent for a second well for irrigation, and there are added costs for the walk and paving path, a retaining wall for bleacher seating, bullpens for the baseball diamond and a foundation for a concession stand.
Committee members, while supportive of all the work, cautioned that the project doesn’t impede or encroach on an area of the site that may be used for geothermal wells that would provide heating and cooling to Hopkins as part of a long-term renewable energy plan.
The latest phase supplements the first phase of the playing fields that was completed in 2020, a $600,000 investment made by the town to expand the site with 8 acres of agricultural land that was acquired in 2011. The idea was to be able to have more athletic contests nd practices on site, rather than students having to travel to places like the Hadley Elementary School or the Young Men’s Club.
Scott Merzbach can be reached at smerzbach@gazettenet.com.