Madison High School to begin new football stadium construction in November
MARSHALL - While Madison High's football team won't play its home games at O.E. Roberts Stadium this fall after engineers condemned the stadium in April, the team will open the 2023 season in a revamped stadium.
The school board contracted LS3P, a Greenville, South Carolina-based multidisciplinary firm offering architecture, interiors and planning services, to perform the design layout for the stadium renovations.
Scott Donald, a senior project manager with LS3P, presented the schematic plans to the Madison County Board of Education at its June 27 meeting at Central Office.
The stadium renovations include:
Replacement of the home and visitors' grandstands.
Restrooms added to the press box, as well as electrical upgrades, enhanced drainage along the upper concourse of the stadium with new walking surfaces, and handicapped access with unobstructed views of the playing field.
New locker rooms for our soccer program and visiting teams.
A new track.
Additional bus and car parking behind the Science Wing of Madison High School.
Indoor batting cages and pitching facility for the baseball and softball programs.
Accessibility was a focal point in addressing the stadium's issues, according to Superintendent Will Hoffman.
"Based on the results of further engineering analyses of the entire stadium that took place through 2019, and in particular, the eastern third of the stadium, resulted in closing that section due to safety concerns," Hoffman said. "In addition, the 49-year-old stadium does not currently have restrooms at the press box which adds an increased burden on our visitors, particularly the elderly and handicapped attendees. There are multiple tripping hazards in the stadium and the entire upper concourse has severe drainage issues."
History of Madison High stadium
On April 27, structural engineering firm Kloesel Engineering PA, based in Asheville, condemned the stadium's bleachers, citing "significant structural deficiencies," including severe corrosion in the steel brackets supporting the precast concrete bleachers.
In June 2018, Kessel Engineering Group PLLC performed an engineering site visit at the stadium, which was built in 1972. In a letter to the school board, the firm said the prescast assembly concrete had undergone moderate to severe degradation and was exhibiting "significant signs of distress/deterioration."
"Additionally, it appears that the soils below the precast assemblies are likely placing lateral pressures on the retaining wall at the base of stadium and causing it to rotate outwards," the June 2018 letter said.
According to Donald, the new aluminum grandstands should shore up the erosion problem.
"The new aluminum system is pretty much water-tight," Donald said. "You can control drainage. What you have now out here, the precast leaks really bad, so all the rain just goes straight through it. That's what's caused all the erosion."
Since Hoffman came on as superintendent July 1, 2018, a new stadium has always been a top priority.
"To say that we are excited is an understatement," Hoffman said. "We have felt an obligation to our students and families to get this project done. We are not a school system that just had these resources sitting around. And, persevering through a global pandemic along the way, was like this unexpected off ramp. But our community kept the faith, we raised the funds, we have been patient through the architectural design phases and we have relied on our community partners to help us out in times of need."
Funding
According to Hoffman, Madison County residents supported the school system's efforts to build a new stadium by voting to pass Article 46, a quarter-cent sales tax increase, in March 2020.
"The sales tax revenue gave the Board of Education the resources to contract with PFA Architects in the fall of 2020 to conduct a capital needs study of all school system facilities," Hoffman said. "The study cited the stadium as the number one facilities priority within the school district. After reviewing the capital needs study, in the fall of 2021, the North Carolina General Assembly voted to approve a special allocation in the 2022-2023 budget bill to Madison County Schools for $2.5 million for the stadium repairs."
Timeline
The team will send off construction documents to the Department of Public Instruction by July 15 and will await a six-week review from DPI.
By September, the school system will approve bids for construction. Around that same time, a notice to proceed on items that don’t impact football games will take place.
Construction will begin in November, with an expected finish date of July 15, 2023.
Stadium grandstand construction would take place November 2022 through August 2023, with the stadium ready for football and spectators August 2023, according to Donald.
The Madison High football team will play its home games this fall at Mars Hill University's Meares Stadium.
According to Madison County Schools Athletic Director Rex Wells, Madison will still play its soccer games at O.E. Roberts Stadium.
Wells said Patriots fans will now be on the visitors' side and the school plans to roll out portable bleachers onto the track in front of the home bleachers for opposing fans.
"This would be a great enhancement for Madison County Schools and like many high schools across our state, the stadium is essentially the center of the community and functions as a community gathering place," Donald said. "Safety and accessibility are the top priorities for all stakeholders in this project."
The superintendent said he is hopeful the community will be appreciative of the new stadium renovations.
"This is a big project for us and I believe our community will be happy with the outcome.
This article originally appeared on Asheville Citizen Times: Madison High to begin new football stadium construction in November
