The School Board approved two change orders totaling a little over $155,000 for the Witter Field project at its Jan. 11 meeting ($141,236 to repair existing asphalt track and the other “not to exceed” $14,298 for protecting the soil subbase.) According to the PUSD Witter Field update on Jan. 11, the project’s contractor discovered 60,000 sq ft of substandard asphalt base that needed to be removed and replaced before the site can be paved. The earliest available paving date is Feb. 1, weather dependent. The asphalt then needs 30 days to cure. This will push the track resurfacing tasks to Monday, June 3, the district said in its update.
Nevertheless, PUSD says the synthetic turf field will be open for PHS Athletics sometime between Monday, Feb. 5 and Friday Feb. 9, depending on the weather. When the field re-opens, traffic restrictions in the adjacent neighborhoods will be lifted until the track resurfacing starts on June 3. The entire Witter Field track and synthetic turf will need to remain closed the month of June in order to finish the work. In June, during the track resurfacing, some parking restrictions on Palm and Winsor will be re-imposed.
In a Jan. 19 update on the school website, PUSD said the softball scoreboard and football goal posts have been installed, the long jump pits have been filled with sand, and the electrician was wiring and testing all three scoreboards. The update said that field turf crew was finishing the turf sand/infill this week and that turf-related construction equipment and materials would be removed this week. The asphalt replacement work is also expected to take place this week.
Before the turf field can open for play in February, the update said, the following tasks remain: install the pole vault pit boxes, install the lacrosse posts and nets, finish installing/wiring/testing the three scoreboards, finish “g-max testing” of the new turf/infill, remove all temporary fencing at the top of the bleachers and in the Wildwood lower playground, remove the contractor’s portable office, and open the Witter parking lot.