Synthetic turf for two fields approved by Plattsmouth Board of Education. The Cassgram reports the agreement is between the Providing Opportunities for Plattsmouth Schools (POPS) Foundation and the Plattsmouth Community School District.
The agreement spells out that the district will provide the land for the construction of a new synthetic turf baseball/softball field on the southeast corner of the high school campus located south of the soccer field and east of the current softball field.
The agreement also includes replacing natural grass with synthetic turf on the marching band/soccer/football field.
The fundraising for donations cannot be conducted by the district itself so the non-profit POPS Foundation is needed as the figurehead. The projects are to be completed in cooperation with school district administration.
POPS learned several months ago that a grant through Community & Sports Development Council in Salem, Oregon would pay for 70% of the then-estimated $3.93 million cost. $385,000 would be needed through local sources (donations, in-kind labor) and other grants for the 85,000 square feet football/soccer field and $410,000 would be needed for the 95,000 square feet baseball field. (Those numbers were preliminary and the district is now working on getting final estimates tabulated.)
Plattsmouth Superintendent Dr. Rich Hasty notes the CSDC grant only pertains to the fields and the new baseball/softball field still needs bleachers, a scoreboard, press box, a fence and other things for which the grant does not apply. He’s hopeful that donations and in-kind labor will also fund those.
There is the prospect of a grant through the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality for using recycled tires in the turf. Other grants will be applied for too.
The agreement also signals that the formal fundraising can begin.
It has been publicly stated that there is a potential donor willing to provide $300,000 for the baseball/softball field. Dr. Hasty says the potential donor has requested a new list of the needs of the district. That is in the process of being compiled.
The agreement with POPS is dependent on “grant support from the Community Sports Development Council and/or obtaining necessary donations.”
---Several months ago, district property southwest of the high school along Highway 75 was considered as the likely location for the baseball/softball field. There is now a for sale sign on that seven-acre parcel.
Dr. Hasty says the property remains a potential site for a middle school someday, but the district now has an alternate site it could also consider. So that possibility allows the district to be willing to listen to offers from commercial buyers for the seven acres along Highway 75.
