High schools select turf

BURBANK — A committee overseeing field renovations at local campuses approved a company Wednesday as the artificial turf brand of choice to lay at Burbank and Burroughs high schools.

The $14.2-million joint-use project with the city includes tearing down and rebuilding Memorial Field at John Burroughs High School as well as replacing the grass and dirt at both fields with artificial turf.

FieldTurf won out over the other contenders, Sprinturf and Forever Green Athletic Fields, after months of research and testing, said Jan Britz, assistant superintendent of Instructional Services for the Burbank district.

All three companies made presentations to the project’s steering and oversight committees, but FieldTurf was the most durable, Britz said.

Cost of the turf and the overall installation project was unknown as of press time, and the district had not put the contract for installation and purchasing of the field and its drainage systems out to bid, she said.

South Pasadena High School just finished installing FieldTurf on their combination football, soccer field and track at the end of September.

The field at South Pasadena High is slightly larger than the field at Burroughs or Burbank high schools, but the cost to the South Pasadena Unified School District for the turf itself was $413,000, said Brian Bristol, district superintendent.

“From the looks, it is tremendous,” said Ralph Punaro, athletic director at South Pasadena High School. “We’ve got community people looking at it and gawking. We have a couple of those fields in our leagues?.?.?.?there’s been no negatives of any kind with the FieldTurf fields.”

Burbank High’s field is scheduled to be finished by September, in time for the school’s centennial celebration, and Memorial Field’s project end date for late 2009.