The lower parking lot at Blankenship Field, which is used for football games and high school graduation.
A parking lot paving project at Blankenship Field could cost $225,000, according to an engineering estimate, a city official said Monday.
The City of Oak Ridge is working with the Blankenship Field Revitalization Foundation to address some questions about the work, Public Works Director Gary Cinder said at a City Council meeting on Monday.
The Oak Ridge City Council agreed in May 2014 to use $180,000 in traffic camera money for improvements to the lower parking lot at Blankenship Field, which is used for football games and high school graduation.
The work could include resurfacing work at the lower parking lot and access to the lower levels and visitors bleachers under the American with Disabilities Act. The project had been reviewed by the city staff, city officials said at the time, and it could include resurfacing, ADA improvements, handicapped parking, and new pavement and striping.
It was expected to complement a now-completed project to replace the demolished visitors bleachers at Blankenship Field, a project that was unanimously approved by the Oak Ridge Board of Education in March 2014 and had a low bid of about $525,000. The bleachers had been deemed unsafe. The school board agreed to use the school system’s fund balance to pay for the replacement bleachers.
The work is also expected to complement work planned by members of a Blankenship Field Revitalization Foundation and a separate Jackson Square revitalization project that started in January 2015 and is using a roughly $800,000 state grant.
Sam Hopwood says
let’s see if I have this right. The BOE spent $525K to replace decaying bleachers at Blankenship which are seldom used due to declining attendance by visitors and local folks but they need several millions for teacher salary increase’s, administrators salary increase’s, 1.1 programs etc. The city will spend – apparently – what ever it takes to spruce up the lower Blankenship parking lot. Meanwhile, back at the ranch, Oak Ridge property owners are looking at a massive tax increase this year. What am I missing here??
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Matt Bailey says
That nothing is free?
WK Hyatt says
If those bleachers had gone down with 2000 people on them, $525k wouldn’t even have begun to pay for the lawsuits, that was a run to failure must fix. That was also the first large sum of money the schools had to spend on Blankenship since 1979. The parking lot was work agreed to by Council using red light camera money and part of it was to improve handicapped access. Sounds like as with many projects, engineering has increased the cost about $50k.
I get tired of hearing that “oh Blankenship is not used much etc.” It’s not like the City or Schools have spent a fortune on it over the years. It’s just reaching a point that things are wearing out or just need to be fixed or replaced and we are trying to raise money to avoid using City or School money as
WK Hyatt says
BTW: We cut 1400 seats with the new visitors side, 2000, down from 3400 on the old ones. We also have a new schedule this year with teams that travel better, so I anticipate the visitors side getting a lot of use. If one was at the Rhea County playoff game last year, those new visitors seats were full. If these new jobs coming in here turn out, Oak Ridge may start growing again if we can get those people to live here, and attendance will start back up, especially if we have a nice stadium there to watch a game. The new basketball arena has been a great success, I saw some really good crowds there in the last few seasons, more than in the old gym. Also, Blankenship can be used for other events, if it is made nice like the plans show. We will get donations, as much as we can.