Vision 2020 announces $4.5M field renovations

Wescott Athletic Complex will have two artificial turf fields and a seasonal dome next fall as part of Vision 2020’s Community Recreation Center projects.

Vision 2020 announced the $4.5 million project Thursday, which is expected to take place from spring to fall next year.

Director of Vision Creation Laura Helle said the project is one of several projects intended to meet community needs. Volunteers had debated whether to create a recreation center, field house and other recreation needs with one huge project or with multiple projects.

“It became pretty clear that we were going to serve the community best with probably more than one site,” Helle said.

The project will be paid for using $2.5 million from Austin Public School reserves, as well as contributions from the Hormel Foundation and a community campaign. District officials say money had already been set aside for a future project, so there’s no need to issue a bond for construction.

The Wescott project will include turf on Art Hass Stadium at Wescott as well as the track-soccer stadium. In addition, the football stadium will be seasonally domed during the winter months to allow for indoor activities.

“If you’re going to get any kind of sectional tournaments and so forth, you’ve got to have a facility that’s going to be playable during bad weather,” said Mark Stotts, finance director for Austin Public Schools. The district will own and operate the facility.

Stotts said the district had hoped to eventually put in turf fields to keep pace with other school districts around the state, as well as to create more opportunities for baseball, softball and soccer enthusiasts.

The seasonal dome is expected to go up after the last fall season games each year and will be taken down in the spring. The dome will allow for more indoor walking and running opportunities for the community as well.

According to Stotts, the district will likely offset the cost to maintain the athletic complex through rental fees for the updated stadiums.

Helle said the Wescott project is the first of several expected Community Recreation Center projects to be announced. Vision 2020 volunteers are still debating whether to build a proposed rec center and field house, and the committee may use several locations, including the Austin Utilities downtown plant.