UPDATE: School Board Passes Measure to Improve Athletic Facilities at Culver City High

UPDATE: The measure passed unanimously at the Tuesday night Board of Education meeting. 

The CCUSD Board of Education will be voting Tuesday night on approving a $420,000 contract with architectural firm Westberg + White of Tustin for its services in the Culver City High School Athletic Field Improvements.

Westberg + White would design the layout of the $6.65 million project, which would include:

• Bringing all the new school sites in to compliance with the American with Disabilities Act (ADA)
• Designing all the new sites’ infrastructure including water, sewer, electrical and irrigation installations.
• Designing a new 1,200-square-foot concrete block concessions stand, electrical room and restroom building.
• Restriping new PE basketball courts on the existing blacktop and installing new backboards and rims.
• Demolishing the existing student parking lot on the west end of the tennis courts and repaving and stripping them for standard and ADA parking compliance.
•  Installing new metal carports with underground electrical conduit to a vault for future solar panel connections.
• Installing approximately 157 parking stalls on the south side of the main campus along Harter Avenue.
• Demolishing the old existing storage building and constructing a new block storage unit with metal roofing.
• Designing a new 1,000-square-foot concrete block storage and restroom building near the softball field.
• Repositioning the track and football field while installing a new synthetic running track and synthetic turf field with cool-down irrigation.
• Building stadium bleachers for 2,000 home fans with a media box and seating for 1,000 fans on the visitor side.
• Making minor adjustments to the existing baseball site’s outfield fencing.
• Building new batting cages and equipment storage buildings near the baseball diamond.
• Building a new north-facing softball diamond with clay infield and natural grass outfields. Installing new backstop fencing, dugouts and five-row bleacher.
• Reconfiguring the tennis courts to allow a new synthetic soccer field.
• Installing new lighting, with emergency-backup lighting, at the football stadium along with new lighting at the tennis courts and baseball diamond.
• Installing landscaping and irrigation fixtures for all grass fields and parking lot planters.

The project is expected to take at least six months and the district is anticipating breaking ground sometime in 2012.

During a phone interview, when asked about the contract being awarded without a competitive bid process, Superintendent Patti Jaffe said, “The district has had a long, ongoing relationship with Westberg + White.” She added, “These types of services done by the architects at this stage of the project are exempt from the competitive bid process.”

About the completion date of the project, Jaffe said, “It’s too early in the process to establish a time frame. But, as soon as the district gets a sense of a timeline, it would let the community know the schedule of the high school improvements."

Ali Delawalla, the assistant superintendent of business services, echoed the superintendent’s statement about the competitive bidding process not being needed this early in the project. He also was reluctant to give a time frame for the project, saying, “The plans have to be drawn up and approved by the Division of the State Architect (DSA), the requests for quotes need to be sent out and evaluated, and the board needs to approve the contracts. This all takes time.”

When pressed about a time frame, Delawalla explained, “The project will take a minimum of six months. I anticipate it being done in sections. We must keep in mind that we have to accommodate the high school’s June graduation ceremony and the annual July 4th firework show.”

When asked about the possibility of reconfiguring the stadium seating, he said, “There are no plans, at this time, to switch the home and visitors' sides. They will remain where they are now with the home side nearest to Harter Avenue.”