By GREG HAYES
July 8, 2008
Posted: July 8, 2008, 10:25 PM CDT
GROVES – Football fans with disabilities should have plenty of places to sit or put their wheelchairs in the new Port Neches-Groves stadium when it opens late this coming season, but they might not be able to see the game all that well.
At a regularly scheduled meeting Tuesday evening, the school board received a complaint that the stadium’s seating for those with disabilities allows other fans to walk right in front of them, which might obstruct their view of the game.
Roping off the section was the suggested solution to the problem.
“There is an aisle in front of the handicapped seating,” J. Luis DelValle, SHW Group architect, said of the 72 wheelchair spots with companion seats. “We will have to look at it and see if we can come up with a solution. But you are not supposed to obstruct an aisle way, for emergency reasons, even if it is only with tape.”
It seems that otherwise, things are moving along with the project.
Lamar Urbanovsky, director and educational program manager with Lan Walton Program Management from Bryan, said work at the stadium is right on schedule and should meet the deadline.
“We are still committed to the completion schedule of October. We are also going to be installing Duro-Last roofs on all seven elementary schools. This should stop all leakage,” he said in reference to another bond project.
Monument Constructors will be installing the Duro-Last roofing at Port Neches Elementary at a cost of $276,161 and on Van Buren Elementary for $260,593.
The remaining five elementary school roofs will be installed by Parsons’ Commercial Roofing. Groves Elementary will be completed for $316,087, Ridgewood Elementary for $277,180, Taft Elementary for $283,396, Woodcrest Elementary for $237,632 and the West Groves Education Center for $266,103.
Two retention ponds being dug at Port Neches Middle School were discussed as well, with board member Harvey Brown asking if some of the dirt being dug up and hauled off was being wasted.
“The soil hauled away would have been deemed unusable by the crew,” Thomas Neild, vice president of H.B. Neild and Sons, Inc., said. “Mostly they have been hauling away brush and the grass.”
“It didn’t look like grass to me,” Brown said. “It looked like dirt.”
Neild said his crews are reusing all soil deemed reusable from the retention ponds at all of the district campuses.
“This has created a savings of around $100,000 at each campus,” he said.
In other business, the board voted to allow the district’s superintendent to OK all change orders of less than $25,000. Previously, construction has had to be stopped to bring the change order before the board for approval.
Change orders over $25,000, however, still must be brought to the board.
http://www.beaumontenterprise.com/news/local/complaint__pn-g_stadium_sea…
