Belmont High School Athletic Director Jim Davis’ list of things to do this summer has one item that is underlined with a series of stars next to it.
★ Harris Field Renovation!! ★
In the past two weeks since work began on Belmont High’s field and track adjacent to the Skip Viglirolo Skating Rink and the White Field House on Concord Avenue, Davis’ summer project is going to plan. An excavator has been parked on the barren field having removed the turf to the foundation as huge white bags of plastic pellets and sand are stationed next to the pitch.
“They are on scsedule,” Davis said of the work by Quirk Construction of Georgetown, Mass. which submitted the win bid of $815,300 in March.
“They have removed all the old turf and trucked it away and now they are drilling the anchors for the fence,” said Davis, who meets each week with the school’s consultant, Activitas, on all aspects of replacing the original synthetic field installed in 2001.
“It’s being helped with all the good weather we’ve had so far,” said Davis, who is confident the turf field and track will be refurbished by Aug. 18, just before training for the fall sports season begins.
Next up for the crew is to clean the drainage around the field and placing a cushioning padding on which the artificial “grass” will rest, with the hope that serious tumbles on the surface will be softened and prevents injuries. In addition, the drainage around the track has been checked and cleaned.
The job in which the synthetic turf “carpet” will be replaced, fencing and walkways repaired and the track resurfaced and relined was authorized by the special Town Meeting in November 2013 for $960,000 with funding from an extension of bonding that purchased the uni-vents at the High School.
The work so far succeeded in uncovering the electrical conduit on the field once thought lost, said Davis.
