New Stadium Plans Worth Discussion
Members of the Ohio County Board of Education were right on two fronts during Monday’s meeting: first, following two river floods over the past month, and given the fact the turf on Wheeling Island Stadium already is nearing the end of its life span (it’s 9 years old), the time is right to replace the surface. Mud still covers the stadium’s turf, and instead of spending a considerable amount of money to clean it only to replace it in a year, putting down a new surface now at a cost of $610,000 makes sense.
On the second front, board members also were correct to begin talk about vacating Wheeling Island Stadium in the future and finding a location for a new stadium.
Consider: not only does the stadium’s surface continually run the risk of being flooded (it sits on the lowest-lying portion of Wheeling Island), but it’s only been seven years since taxpayers dumped $700,000 into repairing the stadium’s concrete panels. The structure itself is nearly 100 years old; the costs associated with its maintenance only will grow.
It’s location also is not well-suited for a high school field — particularly one used for practice. Athletes using the field have to drive along Interstate 70 to get to practice; that puts them at unnecessary risk. A stadium nearer the high school or at some other central location in Wheeling would be preferable.
Board members, while split on spending $610,000 for new turf now (the vote in favor was 3-2, with board members Molly Aderholt and David Croft opposing), did agree that talk on a new stadium should begin now.
“In past years, we have talked about maybe moving the stadium somewhere where it doesn’t flood. Maybe we should have that conversation now before we put $610,000 into the Island and it floods again in the year,” Aderholt suggested. “It does cause me heartburn to put that much money into a place that could flood again this time next year.”
“I would like to see us explore the possibility of looking into a new location,” board President Andy Garber said. “We keep battling that flooding issue at the stadium, and it’s a shame.”
“I agree we need a new facility,” board member Pete Chacalos added. “That would be tremendous for our kids, and be somewhere that it doesn’t flood. …”
Building a new stadium would be no easy task; however, the time to study its feasibility is now. Board members should continue to pursue this in the coming months.