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Austintown schools break ground on sports complex project
By Billy Ludt
AUSTINTOWN
With gold-painted shovels in hand, members of Austintown Board of Education and Athletic Director Lewis VanHoose dug up mounds of dirt to symbolically break grounds on a multimillion-dollar project on the school district’s outdoor sports facilities.
Austintown schools are beginning a $2.2 million sports complex project that will, at this moment, entail putting in a synthetic turf at Falcon Stadium, building a new synthetic turf baseball field and creating a multipurpose, near-regulation length soccer field.
The sports complex closed down Wednesday after the ceremony.
The school district is set to have what is believed to be the first synthetic-turf baseball field in the Mahoning Valley by spring.
“One of the things we have wanted to accomplish is bringing in a full slate of baseball games,” Superintendent Vince Colaluca said.
In a work session preceding the ceremony, VanHoose gave a presentation on the sports complex project. By switching over to turf from grass, he said, maintaining a field after heavy rains, practice and play will not be an issue.
The district is currently in talks with Eastern Gateway Community College and Great Lakes League Baseball, a college-age league, about using Austintown’s facilities for games.
“I think this is going to generate revenue, but more importantly, I won’t have to cancel baseball games,” VanHoose said.
The school district doesn’t charge admission for high-school baseball games.
The football field in Falcon Stadium is 11 years old, and VanHoose said the average lifespan of a turf field is about 10 years. Turf has begun breaking down.
“When you have that happen, it’s going to deteriorate pretty fast,” he said.
The school board approved the sports complex project at its Oct. 31 meeting. The district is loaning the money to the athletic department, and that department will repay the loan through sponsorships, grants and donations.
In addition to the new fields, the project also includes funding a video scoreboard at the stadium and Fitch gymnasium, lighting for the new baseball field and constructing a new facility for the softball fields at 9/11 Memorial Park.