by Laurel Busby
Staff Writer
Dave Riccardi, the director of operations, and Rocky Montz, an operations assistant liaison, presented information on the $1.5-million improvements scheduled for the track and field this summer at the Palisades High Board meeting on Feb. 21.
Currently, the school has $400,000 set aside for the improvements, and an additional $1.1 million is still being raised, Riccardi said. The track and field itself will require about $1.2 million to upgrade, while other improvements that are still to be determined will cost about $300,000.
Some of the improvements will entail replacing rotten lumber in the grandstands and installing fiberglass caps to “deliver you a fresh, fairly new stadium,” Riccardi said. “I think we can pull it off.”
A completion date of Aug. 14 is planned.
For the annual Fourth of July concert and fireworks, the baseball field below Sunset will become the new home. Montz said the school will “then keep [the celebration] there indefinitely.” He noted at a break that the grassy baseball field can absorb drink spills and withstand other uses better than artificial turf.
Riccardi told the board that the weight on the field of the Fourth’s concert stage is starting “to fracture the base underneath” the current turf. In order to help an upgraded field last longer, the concert stage will shift to the baseball outfield with people picnicking on the grass.
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