WATSONVILLE — The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees on Wednesday will consider approving a contractor to oversee the long-awaited athletic field at Pajaro Valley High School.
If approved, the district will hire Gilroy-based Kent Construction to manage the work.
PVUSD selected the company from a pool of four bidders. Kent would then put the project out for bid.
The district will pay for the work under a lease/leaseback agreement, through which the district leases the property to the company, and then leases it back over a period of time for a price equivalent to the construction costs.
This method of funding construction is popular among school districts that want to stretch out payments, rather than fund the entire cost during the period of construction.
The sports facility, and the auditorium that is still in the works, are together estimated at $19.3 million. Of that, $18.4 million is covered by Measure L funds, with the remainder covered by one-time funds from Proposition 58.
Voters approved Measure L in 2012. The $150 million bond was created to fund upgrade, construction and repair projects throughout the district. This included funds for upgrading play fields at the high school.
The proposed field has drawn controversy since the school’s approval in 2001, its construction two years later and opening in 2005.
Since then, thousands of students have graduated without a field of their own, and athletes have played home games on other schools’ fields.
Opponents complained that the school was too near the Buena Vista Landfill and the Watsonville Municipal Airport, and it drew legal objections from the Watsonville Pilots Association that ended in 2017 when that group reached an agreement with PVUSD.
WPA withdrew its objections to the project, while the district redesigned the development to be located within the footprint of the school.
It is unclear when construction will begin.
•••
Also at the meeting, the trustees will consider approving a five-year agreement that would allow Aptos Little League to fund improvements at the Aptos High School playing field, in exchange for the use of that field.
The first such improvement would be a water line that would allow installation of a water fountain, which would cost from $5,000-$10,000, Aptos Little League President Chris Martinez said.
The organization is also considering building a public bathroom to be used during little league games, Martinez said.
The hope is that the agreement can in the future extend to the elementary schools in the north part of the district.
The agreement would allow the district to upgrade the field at the school without tapping into its general fund, he said.
“We’re spending the money to make the fields better than they have ever been before,” he said.
•••
In other PVUSD news, a group of school district officials and community members took a tour Friday of school sites throughout the district that underwent major construction projects over the summer using Measure L funds.
“We have done so many projects, and there is no way we could have done it without Measure L,” PVUSD Board of Trustees President Leslie De Rose said.
The tour stopped at Valencia, Radcliff and Amesti elementary schools, E.A. Hall Middle School and Aptos Junior High School. The schools offered a sampler platter of the 38 summer projects, all of which rang in at about a$14 million price tag.
“The tour is to show the community that we’re using their money correctly,” PVUSD Director of Maintenance and Operations Victor Sandoval said.
•••
The Pajaro Valley Unified School District Board of Trustees will meet Wednesday at 7 p.m. in the district office boardroom at 292 Green Valley Road in Watsonville.
For information, visit www.pvusd.net.
