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Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 55F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph..

Partly cloudy skies early will give way to cloudy skies late. Low near 55F. Winds SW at 5 to 10 mph.

Lincoln County School District workers and contractors lay a special fabric, pipe and 1-inch rock in the field next to Sam Case Elementary to prepare it for the installation of artificial turf. (Photo by Kenneth Lipp)

The Lincoln County School District is making steady progress on a new artificial turf field at Sam Case Elementary for hybrid public and school use.

In an agreement with Newport City Council, the district is building and will maintain a turf soccer field where a small track and grass field were located next to the district’s Newport school for third through fifth-graders.

The city’s only role in the construction project is putting up $500,000 it received via the American Rescue Plan Act, the amount council originally designated for construction of a multi-purpose, sod field at the Agate Beach State Park parking area.

The school district approached city staff following a January council meeting during which the Agate Beach project was discussed. The school district proposed the money go instead toward an artificial turf field on school grounds, for which the district would be responsible for contracting, construction and any additional costs, as well as ongoing maintenance and repairs.

Parks and Recreation Director Mark Cavanaugh recommended city council take the district up on the offer, and the president of the Central Coast Soccer Association youth league, Thomas Hurst, submitted a letter in support of the proposal.

“The lack of sufficient playing surfaces has the largest impact on youth who participate in recreational and school-based soccer programs, as well as adults who want to play organized or ad hoc recreational soccer,” Hurst wrote in a letter to city council. “Whereas there are six dedicated-purpose baseball and softball fields in the city of Newport, access to the three marked soccer fields is limited, as all are multi-purpose fields that are shared with baseball, football, and track and field programs.”

While building the field wouldn’t increase the total number of fields in the city, it would add more days of play, as artificial fields can be used in any season.

Council approved an intergovernmental agreement in April to provide the half-million in funds, and the district broke ground a few weeks ago.

Once construction is complete and the field is ready for public use, the city will have priority scheduling at the facility outside of school hours for the first 10 years, with the exception of five special use days per year, which the district is supposed to request two weeks in advance.

The district also agreed to make school restrooms available for scheduled field users — select city staff will be provided with key cards.

At the end of the 10-year period, the district will assume priority use of the field at all times.

Should the school system opt to assume priority use earlier, it would owe the city of Newport $50,000 for every year remaining in the agreement.

Sam Case students will still have their playground, though the district had to move the swing set from west of the playground to south, district facilities director Rich Belloni said.

Belloni described the steps the district has taken so far constructing the turf field. The district is acting as its own general contractor on the project, he said.

“We first had to level the field to the greatest extent we could with the area we have,” Belloni said via email. “The existing field was sloped east to west 4 feet and north to south 3 feet.” Newport’s Road and Driveway performed that leveling work at a cost of approximately $20,000.

“Once leveled, we installed a perforated drain line on the south, west and east sides of the fields,” Belloni said.

The district hired JD Concrete, at a labor cost of $17,000, to install small retaining walls on the south, west, and north and a small portion on the east.

“Then we installed fabric on the subsurface over the small drain pipe called ‘Omni pipe,’” Belloni said. “We then covered the site with 1-inch minus rock (at an approximate cost of $30,000 from Cedar Creek Quarries). Pressure treated 2x4s are placed so an asphalt track can be installed.”

Those wooden boards will be used to anchor the artificial turf, which will cover the entire field.

Belloni said they hope to complete the project by Sept. 7, the first day of school.

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