STADIUM TAKING SHAPE
Crawford construction on schedule for graduation in June
LANSDALE » With winter weather now here, work is still proceeding on major renovations to North Penn High School’s Crawford Stadium.
District officials gave an update on the construction project Monday night, noting a series of minor change orders, one large pile of soil, and the latest delays.
“From the original schedule, from day one, the bleacher completion is running about two months behind; that will not affect the final outcome of the project,” said project construction manager Bill Slawter.
Renovations to Crawford began in June 2020, essentially rebuilding a stadium built in the early 1970s with a synthetic field surface, wider ramps and concourses, drainage upgrades, new athletic and amenities buildings, and up-to-date infrastructure, with a total estimated cost of $8.2 million and target completion date in time for graduation ceremonies in June 2021.
Slawter gave the first construction update of 2021 on Monday night, detailing the latest progress and problems for the school board’s facilities and operations committee.
“At the stadium, the building trusses have been installed, and the roof sheeting’s installed — we’re currently closing those buildings in, for temporary heat finishes as well,” he said.
“The brick is installed at the new main entrance, and the canopy roof framing is underway,” Slawter said.
As he spoke, staff showed a slideshow of photos with the latest construction in progress, including newly installed stadium lighting along the sides of the stadium surface, and brick being placed on the façade of the two new buildings at the stadium entrance.
“That’s what your final product is going to look like. Once we get the canopy roof framed in, it’ll really start looking finished,” he said.
Since the last facilities update in November, the visitor side bleachers at the stadium have been finished, with the home side bleachers underway. The athletic track has been paved, the field traded, and turf manufactured: “it is sitting in Georgia, at the manufacturer’s, ready for shipment in spring,” Slawter said.
Site work has been halted due to winter weather at Crawford, and should start in late February, weather permitting, while work on the buildings and bleachers can continue, Slawter told the committee.
“We’ve set the deadline for the fiber (optic lines) no later than mid-April, so that we can have everything tested, with Mr. Gillmer, and get things ready for graduation this coming June,” he said, referring to district Coordinator of Communications Media Bob Gillmer.
“We’re also working with the IT department for the closet planning, to make sure that everything’s in place for the graduation out there,” Slawter said.
Roofing, siding, and paint should all be done on the two buildings over the next month, as should the home bleachers and press box, and new lighting will be installed along pedestrian paths. No critical items are running behind schedule as of Monday, Slawter said, but non-critical items running behind include the bleachers, fencing and press box.
One new critical issue at Crawford has been identified, and contractors are working on a solution: large mounds of soil have been excavated from below the field surface, after being found to be unsuitable to support the playing surface above.
“Due to all the unsuitable soils, if anybody’s seen lately, it’s created a giant stockpile. That stockpile is so large now that we’re looking to do other things with the dirt, because we can’t go any wider and any taller than it is,” he said.
To use some of that soil, berms around the stadium are being lengthened and raised beyond their original dimensions, and Slawter said if the district runs out of places to use it, the soil may need to be hauled elsewhere. Board member Cathy Wesley asked if the soil could be used at other district sites, and Slawter said that’s an option staff are looking into, but would require state permits to do so.
“The only place we could really move it within the district would be to Knapp” Elementary School, where renovations are also underway,” he said.
No accidents have happened at Crawford since the last report, and four warnings have been issued: one each to contractors for mask and smoking violations and two for hard hat violations, according to the construction manager. A total of four change orders have been requested by the contractors working the Crawford project, which he and Schneider summarized, and the largest, for just over $135,000, would remove just shy of 1,700 cubic yards of soil from the site.
One more piece of news regarding Crawford: district Coordinator of Safe Schools Chris Doerr announced Monday that North Penn had secured $23,500 in state grant money for the stadium and surrounding area.
The grant will fund “some additional surveillance camera capability, as well as some emergency notification equipment” that will tie the stadium into systems currently used in the high school, he told the school board Safe Schools committee.
“We’re able to, not just push our school-day-based notifications out, but think of things like lightning proximity warnings, things that will really enhance the safety of some of our large outdoor events,” Doerr said.
That grant money comes from the PA Department of Education’s Office of Safe Schools, and the equipment should be installed by the end of this year, Doerr told the committee.
For more information visit www.NPenn.org.