Story originally printed in the Tomah Journal or online at www.tomahjournal.com
Published - Wednesday, May 14, 2008
Tennis court proposal gets more review
The Tomah School Board Facilities Committee reviewed two proposals for construction of new tennis courts on Wednesday and learned of a third proposal.
Shannon O’Rourke of Mathy Construction presented the proposals to the committee. The first proposal involves construction of seven tennis courts at LaGrange Elementary School. The courts would be built on the north end of the school property, and would leave 70 to 77 feet of green space between the courts and the school for playground and physical education uses. A concrete slab is also included in the proposal where a storage shed could be built.
O’Rouke is also having a Geo Tech survey done on the property due to the soil and water table in the area. A revised estimated cost, pending the Geo Tech findings, would be in the area of $248,000, O’Rourke said.
A second proposal is to construct new tennis courts at Tomah High School where the current tennis courts are located. The project would involve digging out a portion of ground, a three-foot sandlift and a gravel base layer. Above that would be three inches of asphalt pavement.
“It would give it more stability and frost protection,” O’Rourke said. “It would lengthen the life of the pavement.”
The projected cost for the project at the high school is $362,000. The proposal also includes adding an additional court for a total of seven courts. The pavement structure near the northwest end of the courts could make construction of a seventh court more difficult.
O’Rourke’s plans would also include saw cuts and control joints between areas of play for crack prevention. There is still the possibility, O’Rourke said, of cracks appearing in the same places that they have in the past.
“If cracks start appearing again in two or three years, are we back to square one?” Tomah School District Business Manager Greg Gaarder asked. “We don’t know utilities that may be underneath.”
During the meeting, O’Rourke sketched out a third plan that he called “Plan B.” This plan would involve construction of the courts at La Grange, and a resurfacing of the current courts at the high school with asphalt. This would keep six lighted courts, and an additional seven unlighted courts at La Grange.
O’Rourke said that he would suggest “Plan B”. Because of the suddenness of the new proposal, estimated numbers were tentative, and could still fluctuate with the findings of the Geo Tech survey. The committee did not make a recommendation on Wednesday and will bring the matter to the School Board at its May 15 meeting.
“We should wait for the Geo report before we make a decision,” Facilities Committee member Dave Stutzman said. “I can’t make a recommendation until I know what the report says.”
The committee did approve a floor plan for the High School gymnasium floor. The plan will go before the School Board at its May 15 meeting. The floor plan will feature a painted timberwolf at halfcourt, with timberwolf paw prints painted across the floor diagonally. The floor paint will be black only.
“I think all of us would like color on the (gymnasium) floor, but we can’t,” Superintendent Bob Fasbender said. “Unfortunately, the worst colors to put on a basketball court are white and gold.”
Gaarder said that the cost for the project will be around $28,500 and will include work on the floors of both gymnasiums. The painted floor plan will only be featured in the main gymnasium. Work on the project will begin on June 30, and should be completed by July 28.
All stories copyright 2006 Tomah Journal and other attributed sources.