A $13 million renovation of Delta’s athletics fields has been in the works since 2022. The athletic fields have been worn out and have many hazards that could potentially cause many of the athletes injuries. Though repair work has not yet begun, the college is hoping to have the project approved by Nov. 21.
“Later this month, we will have a final presentation from potential contractors,” Director of Communications Alex Breitler said in an email interview. “Then the College will deliberate and pick the best design build team to move forward. We expect our final selection to go before the Board of Trustees for consideration at the Nov. 21 Board meeting. The work will begin as soon as we have signed contracts in place.”
Programs such as football, softball, baseball and track and field athletes have been affected by the long wait for reconstruction, playing their games at places like the University of Pacific, and McNair High School or rescheduling to play at the visiting teams’ fields instead.
“This constant water found areas in the track that were not chemically lime treated raised the track making it a tripping hazard…The lettering in the Football end zone is 2” below the grass level causing a tripping hazard…The Baseball and Softball fields have been plagued by irrigation problems due to the rock causing the fields to sink in areas.
The fields have become unsafe due to the uneven playing field,” according to the board presentation on Nov. 22, 2022, about each hazard on the fields.
“On July 19, 2022, & Sept. 6, 2022, we went to the Board of Trustees meeting to receive approval for a Design-Build project for the Renovation of our Athletic Fields,” according to a PowerPoint presentation presented by Director of Facilities Planning & Management Stacy Pinola during the March 3 board meeting.
Delta is going to streamline the project by going with a “design-build” approach because “the designer and builder work together under a single contract. This approach helps save money and time,” according to Breitler.The normal process for a new state-funded project is,“design-bid-build, with construction contracts awarded to the lowest, most responsive and [sic]responsible bidder. While this delivery method is intended to provide the lowest price to the public agency, it often fails to consider the best value,” according to a document presented by Vice President of Administrative Services Augustine Chavez.
After the initial approval in September 2022, the RFQ (request for quote) / RFP (request for proposal) process was set to last from October 2022 to January 2023. The board would have approved the design and build choice in February 2023.In the March 2 board meeting it was confirmed that “Siegfried has been selected as our Bridging Architect firm which is currently working with the district on the request for a qualification proposal…Once we have the request for qualification the next phase will be issuing the request for proposal for the design-build teams. Interviews will be held to pick the design-build team and the winning design-build team will go to the board for approval,” according to a presentation by Pinola.
According to Breitler, there has been no delay in the project so far.
“My understanding is that we haven’t experienced any particular delay. The overall design/construction timeline is still March 2023 to December 2024,” said Breitler.“This is a major project and it just takes some time to get something of this magnitude off the ground. We also want to make sure that we don’t miss any important details.”