Tuesday, June 13, 2000

Untitled Document

Wescott plans ‘ready to move forward’

By LEE BONORDEN

Austin Daily Herald

There is no turning back from plans to improve the Wescott Athletic Field.

It will be the sports complex where it’s at now and no other.

Austin Independent School District No. 492 officials made that clear Monday night. The 20-some acres between Oakland Avenue West and Fourth Avenue NW bordered on the west by 14th Street will be transformed into a state-of-the art high school sports complex.

School district officials plan to tug at both the purse-strings and the heart-strings to raise $4.2 million to accomplish their plans.

"We’re ready to move forward," said Amy J. Baskin, co-chair of the Wescott Field Improvement Project steering committee. "The plans have been approved, but admittedly not everybody is 100 percent pleased, but this is the best plan of many that we have studied and reviewed."

Steering committee co-chair, Al Eckmann, described the $4.2 million project to be completed in three phases.

The first phase comes with a $1.1 million price tag and would include geo-technical studies of soil conditions for the relocation of a nine-lane running track to the northeast corner of the field, removing a varsity baseball field to Todd Park, installing the new running track and related track and field facilities and remodeling the stadium for football and soccer use.

The second phase comes with a $2.1 million price tag and would include a major stadium renovation, including locker rooms and public restroom and storage facilities, plus a new press box and scoreboard.

The final phase comes at a cost of near $800,000 and would focus mainly on the construction of new tennis courts, plus pedestrian walkways and other enhancements of the athletic field facilities.

School district officials are still hopeful of acquiring the Usem’s Inc. property near the intersection of Oakland Avenue West and 14th Street to add even more tennis courts.

With or without the Usem’s Inc. area, the school district’s co-chairs are hopeful the entire $4.2 million project will be completed by Aug. 1, 2002.

Eckmann defended the decision to renovate the existing site instead of moving the school district’s sports facilities to Austin Development Park (also called the Cook farm site). According to Eckmann, staying put is the "most sensible" option.

But Larry Andersen said many baseball fans are not happy with the school district’s decision to move its varsity field to Todd Park.

"Yes, I know the baseball people are not happy, but they’re going to get a brand new baseball field," Eckmann said.

Baskin said the city wants to close its Marcusen Field baseball park because of flooding problems and plans to use the new high school diamond as the focal point of a new baseball complex in Todd Park.

James A. Hess, Austin public schools superintendent, told Gretchen Ramlo and others present Monday night, the district hopes to expand the present six tennis courts near the Usem’s Inc. property to 12 or 14. "It’s difficult to host some of the major conference tennis meets with only six courts," Hess said and Baskin said negotiations continue with Tom Sherman, owner of Usem’s Inc. over acquiring his property.

No mention was made of Dr. Mark Hecimovich’s chiropractic office facilities or an assisted living facility under the west Austin water tower.

Bruce Huffer, director of buildings and grounds for the school district, told coaches present for the meeting, "There will be some disruption of activities, just as there was for the high school renovation, but in the end there will be more fields and more flexibility for everyone."

Ramlo, a member of Spruce Up Austin Inc., reminded everyone that the project should include landscaping enhancements and with those improvements the allocation of funds to ensure their proper maintenance.

Then Hess described proposed fund-raising efforts, including the formation of five committees: speakers bureau, alumni relations, employee relations, business/community relations and information central.

Hess asked John O’Rourke and Gordon Harder, present at the meeting, to head the speakers bureau committee, saying their efforts on behalf of the school referendum last fall were so successful their expertise is needed once again.

Baskin said the fund-raising goal will be to raise the entire $4.2 million and not the phased-in increments.

"If we get the enough money pledged, we could borrow the rest," said Baskin, an Austin Board of Education member. Then, she added, "That’s just my opinion and not the opinion of the entire Austin school board."

Baskin also noted, "This is for the kids, but also for the whole community to use."

She also asked for any "negative comments" anyone hears about the Wescott Field Improvement Project so the committee can address the concerns and dispel any false rumors that could doom the fund-raising efforts.

After the meeting, Hess said organizers hope to have the committees filled in two weeks and begin meeting to plan specific fund-raising activities immediately afterwards.

Reminded of the long-delayed multi-purpose building/ice skating facility project undertaken by the Mower County Board of Commissioners, Hess was frank.

He said the Wescott volunteers waited for the county project to go on-line and deferred its own plans for improving Wescott Athletic Field until the county’s project was implemented.

Now, the waiting is over and the Wescott faction wants to move ahead.

"Our plan is this is going to happen," he said.