Scarborough High School will get a new turf field in time for fall athletics, but replacing the track is being put on hold for the time being. Courtesy Photo

SCARBOROUGH — Scarborough High School going ahead with a project for  new turf, but a new track is being put on hold.

On May 3, School Superintendent Geoff Bruno sent out an update to the Scarborough community about the turf/track replacement project. In November, voters approved $1.9 million to replace the turf and track at the high school. However, the track portion is being held up because location of the high school turf and track at the athletic facility is being considered as a location for a new primary school.

In addition, preliminary estimates for the cost to replace the turf and track is $2.5 million, $600,000 over the amount approved by residents in a referendum.

The Building Steering Committee, which has met five times over the last few months, Bruno said, is looking for a location for a new K-2 or a K-3 school building and the high school’s athletic complex is one of the sites being considered.  

“With this revised project plan, if the current athletic complex is chosen as the site for a new primary school, both the new shock pad and turf surface can be repurposed in another location, as a new athletic complex would be needed to support the school and town programming. If a different site is selected, the remainder of the Turf & Track project (track replacement and other upgrades) can be completed in a second phase,” said Bruno. 

Because the turf surface can be moved, the school will go ahead with the replacing that but hold off on replacing the track until a site for the new primary building is selected. The estimate for replacing only the turf at the current athletic complex came is under $900,000. 

“My hope would be that the site selection process for a new school would be completed by this fall,” Bruno said. “Should the current turf/track (location) be eliminated as a site for a school by this time, we would then plan to replace the track utilizing the remaining funds already approved.” 

Holding off on the replacement is the “most responsible course of action and the best use of our collective resources,” Bruno said, adding that a replacement for the turf field is long overdue as it is on the brink of being unusable to students due to safety concerns.  

When the bond passed last year, the Scarborough school department began working with the Woodard and Curran consulting firm to draw up plans for the project to replace both the turf and the track.  

The school plans to replace the turf this spring or summer in hopes to have it ready for the fall athletic season.