Fields set to improve

CITY HALL — The whistle is blown and the game has begun on joint-use field improvement projects at Burbank and John Burroughs high schools with the school board’s approval of a contract Thursday.

Burbank Unified School District board members unanimously approved a contract with architectural firm Adolph Ziemba, AIA & Associates for the designs of the $11.3 million projects that will replace fields at both high schools with artificial turf and all-weather tracks.

The City Council approved the pick for this architectural firm July 24.

Renovations at Burroughs will also update stadium seating, bringing it into compliance with Americans with Disability Act requirements.

“Tomorrow we begin the work on the projects,” Supt. Gregory Bowman said Thursday night. “We hope then that we can reach the first target, which would be the completion of the first project, Burbank High, by the time the school celebrates its centennial, which is one year and one month from now.”

After the track and field at Burbank High School are renovated, the demolition of John Burroughs High School’s Memorial Field will begin, Bowman said, in order to keep at least one of the fields in use during construction.

The architectural firm will be paid 9.5% of the actual cost of the project, or about $1 million, according to the contract.

Payments to the architect will come in portions throughout the project, according to the contract approved by the board at Thursday night’s meeting.

The architects have also been charged with a new project. The board instructed district administrators and the architects to investigate the cost of placing artificial turf on the athletic field next to the football field at Burbank High.

Whatever costs the estimates bring will be incurred solely by the district, trustee Ted Bunch said.

Next week, the steering and oversight committees for the projects will hear pitches from various artificial turf companies and begin the process of picking out a covering and drainage system for the two fields.