Big plans for new SV athletic fields

St. Vincent High School sports teams are moving from the equivalent of a one-bedroom condo to a penthouse.

An anonymous foundation has made “a considerable” donation that will allow the Petaluma private school to install a synthetic playing field that will accommodate football, soccer, baseball, softball and physical education classes.

Although St. Vincent plays its home football games at turfed Keily Field on campus, and also plays softball games on one corner of the field, most outdoor teams, including both boys and girls soccer and baseball, have to use city facilities for practice and games.

The new facilities will be in approximately the same location as the current field, but will also utilize an undeveloped half-acre of land in the northeast corner of the campus behind the gym that was purchased in 2006.

St. Vincent principal John Walker says the plan is for a field that would be large enough to accommodate a combination football/soccer field, a varsity-sized baseball diamond, a softball diamond and also provide ample room for physical education classes. A practice running track will rim the facility.

“We’re very excited,” said Walker. “I love the idea that kids can get out of class and go to a game right here.”

St. Vincent currently plays baseball games at McNear Park and soccer matches primarily at Prince Park.

Instead of the current turf, spotted by bald spots resulting from heavy use, the new fields will be modern synthetic turf similar to that used on several fields in the area, such as the football fields at Santa Rosa High and, in St. Vincent’s league, St. Helena High.

Walker said with the donation from the undisclosed foundation, there is enough money to complete the basic renovation, estimated to cost about $1.5 million.

Other amenities, such as a snack bar and new bleachers, will be added as more funds become available. Initially, the current bleachers will be used, although they will be relocated to the south end of the football field.

Eventually, an outdoor amphitheater capable of seating 400 will be added.

Walker said the hope is to play football and soccer on the new field next fall, but cautioned that may be optimistic. “Everything has to fall right for that to happen,” he said.

Walker said he began hearing about plans for the new fields when he arrived at the school in 2004, but planning really started in earnest when the additional property was purchased in 2006.

He noted that planning began picking up momentum over the last year, but was still a dream until the anonymous donation a couple of weeks ago.

Gary Galloway, who has been coaching football, baseball and, until two years ago, basketball at St. Vincent for almost three decades, said he was “tickled.”

“It has been a long time coming,” he said. “This will make a huge difference.”

He pointed out that the new field will allow St. Vincent to truly host North Coast Section playoff events. Although the Mustangs are often seeded high enough to host NCS events, those games have in the past been played primarily at Santa Rosa High School.

There is also the advantage of playing games on the same facility where you practice. “That will make a huge difference,” said Galloway.

“It will also be a big difference for us in scheduling. We will have our own field and won’t have to schedule around what is available.

“I’ve been waiting for this for 29 years. About 15 years ago we kind of put a Band-Aid on it when we re-graded and renovated our field.

“We talked very seriously about this for about a year and a half. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too high until the last piece of funding fell into place.”

One of the advantages to the synthetic surface is the savings in water.

“The water savings will be huge,” said Walker, “and there will also be a savings in fertilizer.”

Steve Bolman, deputy superintendent for the Petaluma City Schools, responding to an inquiry from Petaluma City Councilmember Mike Healy, estimated that the water savings, if synthetic turf were used at Durst Field on the Petaluma High campus, would be between 4.6 and 6.6 million gallons per year. He said he would guess that the savings at St. Vincent might be slightly less because there is an area besides the field inside the track at Petaluma.

There have, for the last few years, been discussions about using synthetic turf at both Petaluma and Casa Grande high schools, but Bolman said “there is no time line for synthetic turf to be installed.”

He explained that money for those and other projects would come from the proceeds from a sale of school district property adjacent to Casa Grande High School.

Sale and development of that property has been stymied by the current economic conditions.

(Contact John Jackson at acsports@arguscourier.com)