Plaza, artificial turf OK’d, contractor says stadium will be ready for football [with gallery]

Published 12:52 am Tuesday, March 13, 2018

The renovated Andalusia High School stadium will be ready for the 2018 football season, when the Bulldogs will play on artificial turf.

Brian Ray of Wyatt Sasser Construction assured board of education members Monday that if they decided to move on with artificial turf and an entrance plaza, he could be ready for football season.

“We cannot wait any longer,” he said.

The company began the renovations to the stadium and the AHS auditorium with a base bid, leaving “extras” to be negotiated. The board initially did not include the turf and plaza in case cost overruns drove the overall cost of the project up.

But portions of the project have been redesigned to contain costs. The plaza originally was designed at 16,300 square feet, Ray said. But a modified design by the board’s architect scaled it down to 12,260 square feet.

The board also found a way for the city to purchase artificial turf from Shaw Industries, which is a manufacturer, and the board will pay the city.

“This has already been approved by the state Department of Education,” Superintendent Ted Watson said.

Watson said the top-of-the-line turf, originally expected to cost $700,000, can be purchased and installed for $600,000.

Ray said new drainage is currently being installed on the football field, and the existing track is being torn up.

“I believe we can be ready for them to install by May, so we should have a turf field down by mid-June,” Ray said. “I told Coach (Trent) Taylor, we should be out of his way by July.”

Ray said PowerSouth will remove the old light poles next week, and Musgrove Lighting will set new polls the first week of April.