It will cost Northern Lehigh School District in excess of $700,000 to renovate its track around Bulldog Stadium.

On an 8-0 vote, the school board on Monday authorized administration to contract with ELA Sport for $699,000, plus soft costs, for the stadium track resurfacing project.Director Natalie Green was absent.Under the option chosen, the entire surface of the track will be milled down and a new asphalt track will be installed with perimeter drainage. Then crews will overlay the pavement with a new black mat with a urethane surfacing system. The material is impervious.The pole vault runway, long jump runway, and high jump area will receive the same track surface.The project comes with a life expectancy of 15-20 years.Before the vote, Director Robin Distler detailed the options.Other options included:• Remove the latex track and apply new black mat and urethane surfacing material right over the existing track at a cost of $297,000, with a life expectancy of five to seven years.• Remove the entire track and the base materials and starting over with the new subbase, and new asphalt at a cost of $801,000, with a life expectancy of over 25 years.Director Gregory Williams said that while he is aware the district has long range money set aside, he wondered what type of financial impact the project would have on the district.Superintendent Michael Michaels told Williams the district would use money from its long range construction budget. However, Michaels cautioned that the money for the project is not part of this year's budget.Michaels said the district does have money saved, but that it is in the process of waiting for a price for the roof at Peters Elementary School.Greg Derr, director of support services and transportation, said there's a third section of roof at Peters Elementary that is from 1991 which is a rubber roof with ballast on it."It's to the age where the rubber is losing its elasticity and as it shrinks, it pulls away from the curbing and the seams start to separate," Derr said. "It's time to look at replacing it before it becomes a bigger project."Derr said that associated costs with that project will be discussed at the board's next buildings and grounds committee meeting."These are projects that will be done in next year's school budget, from the July 2016-17 budget," he said. "Both items have been on our long range maintenance plan, so it's not a surprise to us."Director Gary Fedorcha noted that opting to do nothing would cost the district a lot of money, as it would be spending money to transfer athletes to away games, and lose revenue by having no home contests."We need the track," Fedorcha said. "We need the track for our community, and we need the track for our students."In June, the board, on a 6-3 measure, agreed to table an agreement with Nagle Athletic Surfaces for renovation of the track around the stadium at a cost of up to $600,000.At that time, Derr said the agreement was tabled "until further scope of the work can be drawn up."Derr said the surface is a latex running track, and areas have worn thin and are delaminating to the point where the old lines underneath are coming through.On top of that, he said latex tracks are not being installed any longer, as there is newer and better technology for tracks that makes them more durable and impervious to water.Derr said the track was last resurfaced in 2009, and added the district was aware back then that the thickness of the track would allow for one more resurfacing.However, the board in June did authorize administration to allow ELA Sport to contract with an engineering firm to perform core drilling of the track around the stadium at a cost not to exceed $4,500.The core drilling allowed for a full inspection of the asphalt on the track, which was installed in 1981, and provided for a complete project cost presentation.In August 2012, the district held the dedication of the turf field, which cost $770,000 and includes an artificial surface, scoreboard, and security system.