New soccer fields are in the works, and the Brownwood City Council voted Tuesday to authorize Mayor Stephen Haynes to sign the agreement to hire an engineering firm to help plan and get the project underway soon.
According to a council briefing sheet, Kimley-Horn & Associates already has a relationship with the City of Brownwood and has designed the Massey Sports Complex, Aquatic Center, and the Senior Citizen’s Annex in the past. The complex will be located at the old Camp Bowie sports complex baseball and softball fields and will include 15 soccer fields for various ages, 2 practice fields, restroom/concession building, a playground, lighting for three fields, sidewalks, bleacher pads, parking, and site grading according to officials.
Contract services include coordination with representatives from the city, preparation of construction plans and specifications, surveying, geo-technical report, and detailed opinion of probable cost. A senior park maintenance expert in the area of field grading, topsoil preparation, grassing and irrigation layout is also being provided.
City staff will be responsible for irrigation design plans, project bidding and project inspection. City crews are in the process of demolishing the existing facilities at the old Sports Complex. According to City Manager Bobby Rountree, the city will be contracting separately a certified irrigator to save the city approximately $15,000.“We’re going to hire a professional irrigator to help with the irrigation of the fields; we wound up doing that at the Massey Sports Complex,” said Rountree. “We felt that it was a little overkill on the original design and we have pulled that out and we are going to get an irrigator to help us with that design. We are also going to do the bidding process and that will save us approximately $15,000.”
Mayor Stephen Haynes asked if these facilities could be expanded, especially if additional restrooms are determined necessary.
“We have talked about the need for additional restrooms, so we may wind up with a restroom or concession stand that they have designed someplace else that can fit into our design,” said Rountree.
“Being a father who has attended a lot of soccer tournaments, I can tell you at a few facilities, the marathons I have ran were shorter than the lines to the restroom facilities, so that can be very important,” said Haynes.
Funds available for the improvements total $2.2 million. Fees for Kimley-Horn’s services total $76,500. Funding is available from the sale of Certificates of Obligation.
Rountree also stated that the project could be completed as early as the first part of June 2013.
