Board Approves Stadium Improvements

PRAIRIE GROVE — The Prairie Grove School Board last week voted to spend up to $550,000 to start phase 1 of its Athletic Master Plan.

Phase 1 involves Prairie Grove’s Tiger Den football stadium and includes demolishing the current public restrooms, concession stand and ticket booth and replacing it with two new facilities. Phase 1 is part of a long-range plan for the district’s athletic facilities designed by Hight Jackson Associates architectural firm.

Superintendent Allen Williams said the new buildings will be moved east out into the parking lot by at least 30 feet. The concession stand and ticket booth will be located in one building and the restrooms in a second facility.

Moving the buildings further away from the football field will allow the district to create a plaza area at the end of the field, Williams said.

The project will also include a new entry way into the stadium and new fencing but will not include new visitor bleachers, as discussed in the past. Williams said the plan is to eventually move the entire football field about 3040 feet to the east and the district would replace the visitor bleachers at that time.

The district will use money from

its construction fund to pay for the project.

Williams said this fund has about $650,000 in it and $100,000 is earmarked for the new health clinic and new administrative office at the intermediate school.

Another $550,000 is not obligated and Williams recommended the board approve this amount to start phase 1.

“Our hope is that we can get it done for considerably less than that amount,” Williams said after the meeting. “If it comes in higher, we’ll probably have to punt and say we’ll have to wait.”

He said the district will work on its Athletic Master Plan as it has the money to pay for it.

Brian Jackson with Hight Jackson said the firm now will begin construction documents.

The concept design shows that the new restrooms would have 1,020 square feet and the new concession stand and ticket booth would have 1,153 square feet. Jackson estimated it would take about four months to finish the construction documents and get the plans approved by several state agencies.

The motion approved by the school board on March 11 also directs Williams to negotiate an amendment to the contract with the district’s current construction manager, C. R. Crawford, for managing the phase 1 project.