The Staples High School Gridiron Club and the Diamond Club, supporters of Wrecker football and baseball teams, are offering to jointly fund construction of a new $250,000 concession stand and coaches’ offices at the rear of the school.
Dan DeVito addresses the Board of Education on Monday night. (CLICK TO ENLARGE) Dave Matlow for WestportNow.com
The proposal was outlined to the Westport Board of Education at its meeting Monday night by Dan DeVito, president of the Gridiron Club, and others.
Proponents said the new building would be a two-story structure with the concession stand and permanent and handicapped accessible restrooms on the first floor and the coaches’ office and conference room on the second floor.
The current one-story concession stand is more than 50 years old and there are no permanent restrooms outdoors at the athletic complex.
The current coaches’ offices are small and windowless under the field house with limited ventilation, according to proponents.
They said they want the concession, restroom and coaches’ facilities to reflect the quality of Staples’ outstanding athletic teams as well as be consistent with the rest of the upgraded outdoor sports facilities in the school’s athletic complex.
Moreover, the current coaches’ office is not a good working environment, they said.
The Board of Education must vote to accept gifts such as this from outside organizations.
Because this is such a large gift and involves the construction of a new building that is approximately 2,200 square feet, the board said it wants to be sure that the funding will be in place before construction begins,
The board said it also wants to make sure that the construction will be properly bid and supervised and that it will not inadvertently create a burden on the building maintenance and management staff.
Because the proposed building is new construction on land that has been subject of concerns by the neighbors over the years, the Gridiron and Diamond clubs will have to get approval from various land use boards including the Architectural Review Board, the Zoning Board of Appeals, and likely the Planning and Zoning and Conservation Commissions, according to the proponents.
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Dave Matlow contributed reporting for this story.
If construction will be funded by these groups, will they also fund the maintenance of the structures and the routine cleaning required? If not, who will be responsible for that?
This structure is much needed and the construction cannot be delayed long term by the various required approvals. I hope that the entire town will get behind this project and support Dan Devito and the many Staples Gridiron and Diamond Club members who contributed the $250,000 to make this possible. Go Wreckers!