CURWENSVILLE – The Curwensville School District Board of Education is already looking ahead to next year’s football season. The board agreed upon an option on Monday night to replace the outdated and out of compliance bleacher’s at the school’s football stadium.
The option has the possibility to have a seating capacity of 1,496 people, including seating for people with disabilities. The arrangement will be in the “inverted T” shape that the stadium currently has.
According to engineer Joe Bazala of Robert T. Sheeren & Associates, the changes are needed because current structure is out of compliance.
“There’s nothing structurally sound about your facility,” Bazala told the board.
The bleachers are an issue the board has been looking at for some time now. With an option chosen, bids can be awarded as early as Feb. 19. The estimated cost of the option the board chose was $885,000. That number includes general contracting at a cost of $580,000 and electrical at a cost of $305,000, which would include lighting and sound.
The overall cost could change with other add-ons the board is looking at. The board already approved putting additional lighting in the parking area. The board also wants to keep the old rock that is removed from the hillside, which may be more costly.
Another item the board is looking at is whether to have bleachers that are 26-inches wide or 28-inches wide. Changing the bleachers to 28-inches will add an additional $35,000 to the total if the same number of seats are kept. However, to make up for the $35,000 by cutting the seating capacity the board would need to eliminate 170 seats.
