Jim Thorpe Area School District is preparing to break ground on a new artificial turf field which board members approved just a few weeks prior to the COVID-19 pandemic.

During a special board meeting on Monday the contractor for the project said he expects work to begin next week following a pre-construction meeting with the Carbon County Conservation District.

“Our goal is to have our survey stakes out this week, and construction mobilization immediately next week and get this project going,” said Russel Lyddane, partner with Keystone Sports Construction.

Board member TJ Garritano said it’s possible the project could be completed as soon as late September. But if high school sports get underway as scheduled next month, the Jim Thorpe football team will look to play some of its home games on the road, or at neutral sites.

During Monday’s special board meeting, the school board approved an additional $489,756 change requested by Keystone Sports Construction to relocate underground wiring and add LED stadium lights, bringing the cost of the project over $2.2 million.

But board members rejected another half-million-dollar change order to replace the all-weather track and asphalt which surrounds the field.

The electrical work is needed to relocate wires to make way for a stormwater detention basin which will sit below the new field. One of the goals of the project was to eliminate muddy conditions on the natural grass field caused by stormwater runoff.

The contractor didn’t discover the underground wires after the board approved the project. Moving the wires alone would have cost $189,547, but the board also agreed to replace four of the existing stadium lights with Musco LED lighting.

While the board approved the electrical changes, they rejected plans to replace the all-weather track and the paved walkways around the stadium, which were also presented as a change order to the project. The most inexpensive option for that change was $596,790.

The contractor recommended that the school district replace the track at the same time as the turf field project, because the track is designed to drain onto the field. The existing track is 20 years old and the inner edge is “disintegrating” into the grass field, Lyddane said.

Some board members said they voted against the track work because they did not want to award such a large contract with no bids. The board’s attorney said since the work falls under change orders, bids were not legally required.

“I don’t have a problem with the track being fixed. I just can’t spend taxpayers’ money without a second bid,” Paul Montemuro said.

Pearl Sheckler said her concern was the continuing cost of additions to the project. Earlier this month the board approved another $97,112 to deepen the stormwater basin in order to get approval from Department of Environmental Protection and Carbon County Conservation District.

Lyddane said the issues in the change orders didn’t surface until they started work on the project.

“We are functioning within the confines of the information we were given with a goal to get this project moving and completed as quickly as humanly possible,” Lyddane said.

Construction is set to get underway on the project next week. When they proposed their original $1.74 million bid, Keystone said it would take 60-70 days to complete the project.

The district agreed to borrow up to $2.5 million to pay for the project. A corporate sponsorship for the project with Lehigh Valley Health Network will provide $685,000. Board members say the value of the contract is actually closer to $1 million because the district will receive athletic training and medical services as well.

Before COVID-19, the project was set to get underway in April and be completed by Aug. 28.

Athletic Director Dustin McAndrew said he has been working on relocating athletic events which were scheduled to take place on the field in September. The boys and girls soccer teams will play home games on another field at the high school, as they did in the past when the stadium was too muddy for games. For home football games, he said he’s reached out to other districts to see if they’ll consider hosting games scheduled for Olympian stadium.