By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The Port Angeles School Board of Directors has approved the contracts of the two companies that will install the new Monroe Playfield and work is set to begin in three weeks.
Local contractors Bruch and Bruch Construction had the low bid of $620,000 to do the civil work and Fieldturf USA will install the synthetic turf for a little over $1.1 million, for a total project cost of a little over $1.75 million.
Completion of the project is expected to be sometime this fall.
When completed, the Monroe Playfield, near Roosevelt Elementary School, will be a multi-use playfield unlike any other facility in Port Angeles. The synthetic turf with a layer of soft padding underneath will ensure year-round playability for multiple sports, and is expected to save a lot of money in terms of maintenance costs in the long term, according to District Maintenance Director Nolan Duce.
“Sports fields, you’re putting in a lot of labor in, and with that labor, you’re also paying benefits. And so, when you look at the labor and benefits. And then the water, huge amount of work to keep it green, to keep it looking good, and to keep it in shape. We don’t have enough fields to support the use that we put on them. And so, there’s times where they just get torn up and we have to close them up.”
Duce says the all-weather field will be used for football, soccer, baseball and other sports, and is expected to improve the competitive level of the district’s athletes.
District officials said some of the funding for the project comes from a voter-approved capital levy that passed in February of 2020. Additional funding for the field comes from real-estate transaction revenues and savings from construction projects previously allocated to contractors that were instead completed by district staff.