Tommy Oliver Stadium renovation to begin July 1

PANAMA CITY — Fans accustomed to attending high school sports events at Tommy Oliver Stadium will experience  changes as immediate as track and field meets this spring and extending into the 2015 high school football season.

The Bay District School Board has approved renovation construction to begin as early as July 1. Immediately impacted are all track and field meets, which no longer will be held at Tommy Oliver Stadium and instead moved to the tracks at Mike Gavlak Stadium at Arnold and to Bozeman School.

The project eventually is expected to include the demolition of both existing grandstands at the stadium and could include an artificial turf playing surface being installed.

In additional to events at the track being affected, the first phase of renovation will relocate football games regularly held at the stadium until at least the beginning of October in the fall.

In the short run, Arnold and Bozeman will be used for all high school football games early next season. Bay, Mosley and Rutherford commonly play their home games at Tommy Oliver, so they must reschedule and use other venues in the county.

 “We’re allowing track practices but not track meets” at Tommy Oliver Stadium, Bay District Schools Athletic Director Kirk Harrell said Monday. “Runners are avoiding bad areas of the current track.”

Harrell said that football coaches in the county have been informed of the need to be creative in their scheduling for next season.

“In the short run, we’re going to have some flexible scheduling on football games in the fall with them not knowing when the stadium will be available again,” Harrell said. “We’re shooting for a Sept. 30 deadline, and until then games will have to be played at Gavlak and Bozeman’s stadium.”

Harrell said that will necessitate more games played on Thursday nights, and didn’t rule out the possibility of some Saturday high school football games.

Track meets will not be held at Tommy Oliver Stadium during both the 2015 and 2016 seasons.

Harrell said that changes to the stadium, constructed in the early 1950s, had been discussed since early last fall.

“We knew that something had to be done with the track” because of the running surface, Harrell said. “And we’ve had to cut back on the use of the stadium because the turf has been in such bad shape.

“We knew that change had to come; the stadium has a limited life.”

Construction is expected to proceed in two phases. The projection for Phase One as supplied by the district: Install turf, demolish existing track, replace visiting side bleachers, construct new concession building on one end and build retention pond on north side of stadium for drainage. Start time, July 1, 2015. Estimated completion date Sept.30, 2015.

Phase Two:  Demolition of home side grandstand, construct new field houses, construct new track, track bleachers installed, parking, etc. Start date, July 1, 2016. End date about 10 months.

For the second phase of construction football and soccer games are expected to be held, but there could be some inconvenience to fans with construction ongoing. There would be bleachers only on the visitors’ side, the possibility existing for temporary bleachers being brought in for the home side. Parking and accessibility also will be much more challenging.

An employee in the office of the Director of Facilities for Bay District Schools said the district has recently begun the advertising process for an architect to spearhead the project. Once resumes are submitted a committee will review them and interviews conducted.

The district is hopeful that the selection will be concluded by Feb. 24. Director of Facilities John Bozarth is away from his office this week attending a conference and wasn’t available for comment on Monday.

Funding and estimated costs of the entire project will be discussed in future stories, as well as an artist’s depiction of the new Tommy Oliver Stadium revealed when one is supplied.