Mansfield High to Renovate Track and Field Area

The Mansfield School Committee met Tuesday and discussed renovations and repairs to the high school's track and field area around the turf football field. Chairman Michael Trowbridge laid out the current estimates based on how much work was needed.

The committee has a year to mark out what plans and repairs they want to achieve, because they have to wait for the attorney general to approve the town meeting and the decisions made there. The track renovation was one of those decisions.

Trowbridge said he had met with Mansfield High athletic director Joe Russo and many coaches involved with track and field to help figure out what was needed.

"Just kind of going over what we're actually doing at the complex," he said.

Originally, the plan approved at the town meeting was to use a particular three- inch coating to repair the track itself. Trowbridge said that Sharon used the same coating and now is regretting the decision.

"I happened to talk to [Sharon's] track coach and our track coach at the same time... and they just weren't real happy with this type of coating," he said. "It was supposed to have a couple year life span on it."

The consulting company that was hired to do the initial assessment estimated that the renovation would cost $150,000. This estimate includes long-term maintenance issues for the field, like a drainage issue out by the concession stand.

"It floods quite a bit, and it is kind of coming up onto the track," Trowbridge said. "It goes into the ground pretty quick, but it does flood up."

Trowbridge stressed that this is an estimate and that the actual cost of such renovations would not be known until the committee gets answers from construction companies that bid for the project.