Committee appointed to come up with final proposal for sports facilities

One of the proposals to upgrade athletic facilities at Avon High School.

AVON, April 9 – The Avon Town Council has appointed a seven-person committee to work out the details of a proposed synthetic turf field, a new six or eight-lane track and field facility and lights for the complex at Avon High School.

The committee will work with Glastonbury architect BSG Group to come up with a proposal for the Town Council to consider and resolve outstanding issues surrounding the project such as noise, use of lights, hours of use and policies surround who can use the facility.

Two members are from Sudbury Way and West Avon Road neighborhoods that are close to the high school.

The committee, which is actually a sub-committee of the Recreation and Parks Department, will be led by chair Peter Ponziani. It will include Donald Droppo, Todd Donovan, David Jadovich, Sara Roberson, Don Neagle and David Magrini. Roberson is representing the Sudbury Way neighborhood while Neagle is representing West Avon Road. Kelly Jackson is the committee alternate.

“This is designed to be a comprehensive, put out all of the concerns and come up with countermeasures for them,” said Brandon Robertson, Avon’s Town Manager. “The committee has various issues to solve at this phase.”

The Town Council unanimously voted to appoint the project committee and unanimously voted to appropriate $30,000 for work to be done by BSG to revise and update the proposal for the new sports complex at the high school. The Board of Finance will also need to approve that appropriation.

The project committee still needs to hold a kickoff meeting and determine a schedule for their meetings, which will be open to the public.

The Town Council also asked the project committee to provide monthly updates on their progress.

“We want the Council to be involved in this process,” Town Council chairman Mark Zacchio said. “Here is where we are at this point and this is what we have solved. We want to stay in sync with what is happening. We don’t want to hear about it at the end.”

Ponziani, Droppo, Donovan and Jadovich were part of the original Recreation and Park subcommittee that helped develop proposals for sports complex at the M.H. Rhodes property on Thompson Brook Road and Avon High.

The Avon High football and track and field complex.

In December, BSG Group discussed a $3.21 million proposal to install two synthetic turf fields at the high school and rebuild the track. The proposal includes a new synthetic turf field to replace the current grass football field, a new eight-lane track and field facility, bleachers that would seat 1,000 fans, a press box, a scoreboard and lights. The proposal also includes installing a second synthetic turf field where the current field hockey field is located. The main bleachers and press box would be in their current location with seating for 250 fans closer to the baseball field. 

The proposal was endorsed by a subcommittee of the Recreation and Park Committee earlier in 2015.

The town has been examining proposals for synthetic turf fields since 2014. 

In November 2014, BSC Group provided the town with two proposals for an athletic complex that could be built on a 15.25-acre parcel on Thompson Brook Road at the site of the former M.H. Rhodes Company, adjacent to the bike trail.  

One proposal that included a multi-use synthetic turf field, a second natural grass field, bleachers that could seat up to 1,000 fans, a home and visitor locker room, public restrooms and a press box is estimated to cost a little over $5 million. There would be parking for 250 vehicles. An eight-lane track was included an earlier design but dropped because there wasn’t enough space.   

Timeline

• March 2016: Town Council decides to appoint a committee to come up with a final proposal for upgrading facilities at Avon High. Votes to spend $30,000 to modify plans to address issues with the proposal at the high school.
• December 2015: Board of Education hears proposal to upgrade athletic facilities at Avon High.
• June 2015: Town Council hears $3.21 million proposal to upgrade athletic facilities at Avon High by rebuilding tack and installing two synthetic turf fields.
• April 2015: Subcommittee of the Recreation and Park committee recommend $3.21 million proposal to upgrade athletic facilities at Avon High by rebuilding tack and installing two synthetic turf fields.
• November 2014: Architect provides town with two proposals for athletic complex on 15.25 acre parcel on Thompson Brook Road at site of former M.H. Rhodes Company, adjacent to the bike trail. Town Council asks for estimates for similar complex at the high school.
• February 2014: Town Council unanimously votes to spend $40,000 for an architect to draw up plans to build a synthetic turf field and recreation complex on Thompson Brook Road
• November 2013: Seventy people attend Avon Student Athletic Park SteeringCommittee meeting