By: Brook D. Curtiss - Publisher
A topic on this month’s school agenda may result in a new look at the Plainview Ballfields, north of the football field, if everything suggested comes to fruition.
An agenda item this month indicates a requested $70,000 expense for the Board of Education to renovate the long-standing football “practice field” east of the Legion baseball diamond on the east side of the access road.
The plan, as described by the school, would include bringing in dirt to raise up the level of the plane, and then seed new grass and perhaps even sprinklers. Along with that thought, a map of three new discus areas would be placed in a triangle on the area, and move the shot put area to the east end of the Legion outfield as well.
The consideration was given alongside the paving project that the City of Plainview and Board of Education has approved, where the entities are splitting the cost, each taking responsibility for around $435,000.
The City has agreed to bond it’s “half,” marked at $500,000 in case of change orders or other issues, and the interlocal agreement indicates that the school will pay as it goes for the other “half” but doesn’t mention what funds will be used. The School currently has $800,000 remaining in its savings after the drawdown a few years ago for the high school’s HVAC system, with $200,000 left to bring it back to it’s $1 million that has been in savings since the late 1990s.
The interlocal agreement says that the school will make payment for its 50% share upon receipt of invoices within 30 days.
The agreement also says that “no additional tax shall be levied, collected or accounted under this agreement” noting that no taxes may be increased to cover the cost.
The school has not yet provided information about the possibility bonding its half, which would leave the general fund for the ongoing payments, as the building fund cannot be used under Neb. Rev. Stat. 79-10 and NDE Rule 2, according to a presentation from the Nebraska Association of School Boards.
The presentation says that special building funds can only be used for “acquiring sites for school buildings,” “purchasing existing buildings for use as the school buildings,” “erection, alteration equipping and furnishing of school buildings” or “additions to school buildings.”
Additionally
If the project is approved by the Board of Education, the City Council has not addressed the permanent use nature of the upgrades, including the pouring of cement or sprinklers, and then the question of the elimination of the ability for parking for the baseball fields was also raised by the News.
Dr. Darron Arlt indicated that with the paving of the east-west street between the two locations, the dirt access road going north to the ballfields would be eliminated, which facilitated the upgrade to the practice field and movement of the track pits.
Mention was made that the school and city have always worked together to use the facility, and the school did, at one time, own the entirety of the baseball field areas as well, selling it to the City for $10 in the mid-1980s.
Additionally, the Plainview Ball Backers had indicated at one point that they would like to add third field for T-Ball northeast of the Legion outfield, and southeast from the east little league field, which, would eliminate the remainder of any parking available.
Apparently, upon raising the question – City Administrator Jeremy Tarr intends to move the roadway for access to the ballfields, and all the available parking to the west side of the Legion field.
The land to the west of the Legion field was purchased in 2022 by funds from the Plainview-Brunswick Community Fund (PBCF) from Norda Johnson with the intent to use the land to build the proposed Plainview Community Building.
To utilize the same area amount – estimated in the map nearby this story – would take up a sizeable portion of the south end of the PBCF land.
Though the property is held by the City of Plainview, the original purchase agreement indicated that “the City would not be able to utilize any of the remaining property until the Community Center plans are finalized.”
The agreement with the City of Plainview and the PBCF indicated that “the City agrees to hold the entire property available to the PBCF, until the PBCF has completed final plans…including construction, parking and any other necessary useful space.”
So with one project paving the West Lincoln Avenue between the ballfields, $70,000 in dirt and grass and sprinklers, the possibility of a new t-ball diamond, the question came to whether the proposed parking area would even be possible.
The City of Plainview has indicated the street between the fields would be paved in the next few months, but the School has indicated the change to the ballfields could not possibly happen for this football season, and would likely have to wait until spring, which could alter the soccer and ball seasons for the summer as well with the removal of the parking, which cannot be put in place until the PBCF property question is answered.