- The Alachua County School Board approved purchasing and renovating Citizens Field and building a new stadium at Buchholz High School with a 3-2 vote.
- The school board authorized up to $12 million for improvements to high school athletic facilities amid concerns about funding from some members.
- An interlocal agreement with Gainesville requires the board to pay $5 million and cover demolition and new stadium costs estimated between $22 million and $25 million.
The School Board of Alachua County (SBAC) voted 3-2 Tuesday night to move forward with plans to purchase and renovate Citizens Field and build a new stadium at Buchholz High School (BHS). The board also unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with the city of Gainesville to purchase and renovate Citizens Field.
During a workshop before the SBAC’s regular meeting on Tuesday, the board was given a detailed overview of a stadium feasibility study prepared by PBK Architects’ Sports Division for Alachua County Public Schools (ACPS) that evaluated possible sites and options to address the district’s future high school stadium needs.
The study looked at six potential stadium locations. This included three district-stadium sites – Citizens Field, Diamond Sports Park and Professional Academies Magnet (PAM) at Loften High School – and three on-campus stadium locations at BHS, Eastside High School (EHS) and Gainesville High School (GHS).
A possible seventh location, the former Terwilliger Elementary School site off 62nd Avenue across from Oaks Mall in Gainesville, was initially considered but later removed from consideration because of zoning restrictions, according to the study.
While briefly reviewing the stadium options at the SBAC’s regular meeting, Chad Jones, a managing principal with PBK Architects, said a stadium at GHS was also ruled out because of wetlands and buffers. That left BHS and EHS as the only potential on-campus sites.
The study estimated that the total conceptual costs to build a new 2,800-seat stadium at BHS would be $18,516,207, while a similar stadium at EHS would cost $17,587,793.
Of the three district-stadium locations, the study estimated Citizens Field, the current primary athletic home to BHS, EHS and GHS for football and soccer, to be the cheapest, with a total cost of $24,776,531.
During the public comment portion of the regular meeting, several people advocated for on-campus stadiums, with many of the commentators endorsing BHS specifically.
“Our students deserve their own field,” said BHS parent Amy Gandy, who also serves as the band booster president. “Although we understand the importance of Citizens Field to the history of our community, our students deserve to have pride of their own. They deserve to have pride in their own fields, at their own schools, and to have a safe environment.”
Beyond the pride factor, BHS parents, coaches and alumni who attended the meeting also shared concerns about scheduling, transportation and injuries as it relates to Citizens Field.
“Scheduling is a nightmare for all three schools [BHS, EHS and GHS],” said Dr. Peter McDonough, president of the Buchholz Football Boosters. “We have a rolling schedule that bounces from year to year. It doesn’t work. Going on campus would solve a lot of these problems for all three schools.”
While some of the speakers were in favor of on-campus stadium sites, others were in favor of renovating Citizens Field and having it continue as a shared space for BHS, EHS and GHS.
“I have a lot of history out there at Citizens Field,” resident Carol Strickland said. “Citizens Field is a good field. We can make it a better field. We just need to invest, put some money in there, and get the work done.”
During the board’s discussion, board member Tina Certain moved to purchase Citizens Field and authorize construction of a new stadium at the site. Board member Sarah Rockwell seconded the motion.
“When we’re looking at equity, equity doesn’t necessarily mean that everyone gets the same thing. It’s about everyone getting what they need,” Rockwell said. “And I think continuing with our historically shared stadium but making it a stadium that we can all be proud of, as well as making sure that each of our schools have adequate on-site fields for their girls’ sports and JV sports and those other smaller sports, is going to be the most cost-effective and responsible thing to do.”
Certain shared a similar perspective to Rockwell, saying that from the start of the conversations about renovating Citizens Field, she knew it would be the “most economical way, or feasible way, to meet the need for providing a facility for the three high schools to play.”
Vice Chair Leanetta McNealy and board member Janine Plavac were also supportive of renovating Citizens Field; however, Plavac said she also feels that “Buchholz deserves their own stadium.”
“I hate to see division in this town, but I believe Eastside and GHS should play [at Citizens Field],” Plavac said. “That’s their stadium. It is Buchholz’s stadium, but I also believe Buchholz should have their own stadium like Newberry High School, like Hawthorne High School, like Santa Fe High School.”
Plavac made a motion to amend the motion on the floor to have a stadium built at Buchholz, in addition to renovating Citizens Field. The amended motion was ultimately approved by way of a 3-2 vote, with Certain and Rockwell in dissent.
While in favor of moving forward with Citizens Field, both Rockwell and Certain said the addition of a stadium at Buchholz was “fiscally irresponsible.”
“We have limited funding. We have upgrades that are desperately needed at every single high school, and I just cannot support encumbering the amount of money it would take to do all of those upgrades at one of those high schools,” Rockwell said.
Vu said he believed they could do it all.
“I’m still somebody who believes that we need to build sooner rather than later because of interest rates,” Vu said. “We’re just expecting more rate rises in the future, more increases in cost for construction …”
Board members discussed the idea of also adding a stadium at Eastside, but a vote was never taken.
While he voted for the stadium at Buchholz, Vu said he still feels like “every school should have its own stadium, ideally.” He added that he would love to see a plan in 10 years or more for GHS to have its own stadium and a “big remodel” that the school “so desperately needs.”
It’s unclear when work will start on the renovations to Citizens Field and on the construction of the new stadium at Buchholz.
Athletic enhancements for high schools
Also, during the meeting, the board voted 3-2 to authorize interim Superintendent Kamela Patton to bring back a list of improvements for local high school athletic facilities totaling up to $12 million.
Rockwell and Certain were the two dissenting votes, with the two again voicing concerns about the financials.
“I was 100% in favor of making equitable improvements to all of our high school athletic facilities so that we would have safe, functional, well-maintained facilities for all of our sports,” Rockwell said. “But we’ve just encumbered up to $45 million [for two stadiums], and I am not comfortable authorizing $12 million more without having a deep dive into our budget and what the impact of that would be.”
Interlocal agreement with Gainesville
The board also unanimously approved an interlocal agreement with the city that establishes a partnership between the parties regarding the redevelopment of Citizens Field.
The agreement requires the SBAC to transfer $5 million to the city at closing. This amount includes the board’s contribution for its part of the estimated remediation cost.
According to the agreement, “The Actual Remediation Cost shall be determined upon the final completion of the Remediation and reconciliation of all related project costs and grant funding…”
Per the agreement, the city is responsible for the “Required Improvements” to the Citizens Field property, including “parking, stormwater, paved vehicular access and landscaping constructed in certain portions of the City’s public park property abutting, but not including, the Stadium Site, but which are necessary to serve the Stadium.”
The SBAC, meanwhile, is responsible for the costs associated with demolishing Citizens Field, as well as all costs to build a new $22 to $25 million stadium, according to the agreement. The project includes a natural or synthetic playing turf field for football, soccer, lacrosse and track and field events; seating for 3,000 to 5,000 spectators; a press box with media facilities; home and visitor locker rooms with restroom and shower facilities; concession stands and public restrooms.
Nick Anschultz is a Report for America corps member and writes about education for Mainstreet Daily News. This position is supported by local donations through the Community Catalyst for Local Journalism Fund at the Community Foundation of North Central Florida.