Welcome and Thank You to Don Fagan… (more…)
The tennis team currently practices and plays off campus, at Rollingwood Racquet Club. But, if some tennis supporters have their way, by next Fall… (more…)
There are several places where the new fields could use new trees. (more…)
Tonight the Bella Vista Athletic Booster Club Board voted to raise additional funds to place high quality sod on the new soccer and field hockey/lacrosse fields, thus setting the fields up to be competition-ready for the Spring season. This keeps Boys and Girls Lacrosse and Girls Soccer on campus for the Spring and will provide a more uniform playing surface with less initial maintenance. As importantly, this will be a big step to reducing erosion in winter rains of the newly graded fields.
As part of this action, the Board elected to secure a credit line to cover the extra expenditures. The project budget now stands at $105,000, less than 5% over the original budget of $100,400 approved by the Board in June. Given the discovery of loads of concrete rubble and of transite pipe requiring removal as a hazardous material, as well as the District-mandated obligation to provide compost for the soil, this near-budget outcome was made possible by a substantial donation of services by AdLand Venture, the landscape contractor who will oversee our grass planting (open areas, practice fields) and sod placement.
The first part of the Field of Dreams started in 1992 by the football
Parents building the stadium hill and the home bleachers and press
box. By 1997 plans were underway to improve the field and provide stadium lights.
In August of 1999 negotiations to place cellular antennas on light standards were begun. After approval from the school board a private company built the stadium lights and owns the antenna leases.
In the spring of 2001 the Snack Bar and Restroom Facility or “Bronco Plaza” was started. This is a joint venture between the BV Booster Club and the BV Football Boosters. Each group contributed $50,000. In kind donations provided grading, trenching, and utilities. A loan for $45,000 was obtained to complete the project. The Snack Bar opened October 25th, 2001 for a game vs. Rio Americano.
We began pursuing grants for the all weather track in 2001. We were awarded a Sacramento County grant from the Transient Occupancy Tax fund for $150,000 for each of two years. The school board again approved this project and provided a bridge loan to allow construction to begin. A donation of $50,000 from alumnus Nick Sparks completed the project. Started construction Nov 2001 and finished April 2002.
For the next step KASL engineering provided a fly over picture of the field and created a topographical map of our site. California Design West provided a preliminary plan. Due to declining bingo receipts the snack bar loan was not retired until 2004. In the fall of 2005 the booster club began planning in earnest for the next phase of the “Field of Dreams”. A major donation from California Design West for architectural plans allowed us to look for a grading contractor. Granite Construction answered our call for help and transformed the landscape in August. Volunteers installed the irrigation system and the district contracted the storm drains. Adland Ventures provided 160,000 sq ft of hydroseed and arranged for 150,000 sq ft of sod installed. The last piece of sod was placed Oct 31, 2006. On Friday Oct 27 the leadership team for the Girls Softball field and JV baseball field met to set a schedule to allow the first home game in March 2007. Stay tuned for the next phase.