The Year in Review: School athletic facilities plan enters fourth year in the news

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by Eric Marotta

Editor

Nordonia Hills -- After more than three years of planning, the Nordonia Hills Board of Education is hoping a second shot at the ballot will bring the district enough money to upgrade athletic facilities around Nordonia High School.

The Board of Education approved a 0.5-mill, 22-year bond levy for the March ballot after an identical levy failed in November.

The levy would raise $7.5 million to pay for a bond the Board of Education would use to rebuild Boliantz Stadium and upgrade tennis courts, baseball fields, parking and drainage around the high school.

School officials say the project would cost $8.5 million. The district already has $1.7 reserved for the project, generated from interest on $38.5 million in bonds the district issued to complete its districtwide building improvement project several years ago.

District officials say the $8.5 million project would be better than the piecemeal approach the district had been considering at the end of 2005.

In December 2005, the Board of Education voted to authorize the expenditure of up to $1.7 million for improvements over the next several years, mostly involving Boliantz Stadium. Those improvements included replacing home and visitors bleachers, resurfacing the track, regrading the football field and replacing the stadium press box and sound system.

However, a task force that had been meeting for about one year recommended all the same improvements, but included them in an overall plan which would complete the upgrades at one time and include added parking, improved drainage and new tennis courts, soccer fields and other facilities.

Sold on the task force's plan, the Board of Education decided to pursue the $8.5 million plan in February 2006 was planning to ask voters to approve a 1.33-mill, five-year levy for the project.

That's when the Wolstein Sports and Entertainment Group offered the district a deal worth up to $8.5 million by the end of the year. The district would get the money up front, plus up to $200,000 per year for 30 years, in exchange for permission to use property tax money to pay for construction of a Major League Soccer Stadium on land in Macedonia and Northfield Center.

At the end of 2006, after it became apparent the Wolstein Group's plans were not being realized in the near future, the Board of Education agreed to go to the ballot to pay for the athletic improvements.

Although athletic boosters campaigned for months to get the November levy approved, voters rejected the issue 4,494 to 3,713, according to the Summit County Board of Elections.

E-mail: emarotta@recordpub.com

Phone: 330-688-0088 ext. 3171