Georgia company selected for Legends upgrades
The Kalispell Public Schools board of trustees approved Shaw Sports Turf to do field upgrades at Legends Stadium on Tuesday.
Shaw Sports Turf, a Georgia-based company, provided three prices ranging between $1.1 million to $930,658 based on type and quality of products. The district approved Shaw’s mid-range bid of $964,318.
“They built the field at Montana Tech, they also built the field at Butte High School, so they’re proven at the state [level],” Glacier High School Athletic Director Mark Dennehy said.
Legends Stadium improvements are a slice of a $28.8 million high school district bond issue. Originally the district planned to spend $958,100 on Legends Stadium upgrades, which means another $6,218 of bond money will be earmarked for the stadium project. The project also includes improvements to the officials’ locker room and expanded seating at the stadium located on 1230 Second Ave. W.
“This project isn’t just a turf project, but it’s also there will be five new track venues — the high jump will be new, the area, when it’s all done; the long and triple jump, and the pole vault and the shot put, those will all be new at the stadium,” Dennehy said.
The district received four other bids, from Hellas Construction, AstroTurf, FieldTurf and First Form. Those bids came in at prices ranging from $1.8 million to $962,239.
An eight-person committee listened to presentations from each company before making a board recommendation. With such a wide array of choices, the committee worked to organize bid documents to reflect an “apples-to-apples” comparison, according to Dennehy.
“We learned more about turf than we probably want to know,” he said. “There’s lots too know.”
The district will go with a typical crumb rubber infill derived from recycled tires, which is spread out between the synthetic grass fibers to provide softness or firmness. It had been previously discussed on whether exposure to crumb rubber was carcinogenic and what alternatives were available.
“It came down to cost and the research does not show any link between infill and cancer,” Dennehy said on the decision to go with crumb rubber infill.
In initial discussions on whether to go with natural or synthetic turf, the district formed a committee to research and discuss injury rate, costs, longevity and maintenance. A 30-day public comment period was also held.
Flathead High School athletic director Bryce Wilson said there was a negligible difference in number of injuries on natural grass versus synthetic, according to a January Daily Inter Lake article.
Wilson had also advised trustees that synthetic turf would require a maintenance and replacement schedule just as with a natural grass field.
“It’s not OK to roll it out and come back in 10 years,” Wilson said in January, noting that recommended maintenance involves “sweeping” the field monthly with special equipment to maintain infill consistency. Replenishing the infill would need to be done every three to four years and turf replacement about every 10 to 12 years.
Construction is slated to begin May 25 and will be completed Aug. 11. Construction is not expected to interfere with school sports; however, the track may be closed to the public.
Reporter Hilary Matheson can be reached at 758-4431 or hmatheson@dailyinterlake.com.