The City of East Peoria will move forward on the next phase of a project to install synthetic turf on the EastSide Centre Sports Complex baseball and softball diamonds.
The city council has approved the first reading of a resolution awarding a $3 million contract to ATG Sports for the turf installation on Fields 8 and 9.
During this week’s council meeting, commissioner Seth Mingus said this continues a long-term renovation to upgrade all the primary baseball and softball fields from grass to turf.
“This has been an ongoing project for the last two years to continue to turf the fields up at EastSide, which I think that's a good investment,” he said. “I think that they look good and I think it makes us competitive for baseball and softball tournaments.”
According to the agenda item memo, ATG Sports completed three previous turf installation projects at EastSide. The city staff wanted to stick with the same contractor “to ensure that all of our fields match, and that the quality of play will be the same for all of our fields.”
The new turf material is designed to be longer-lasting and able to withstand higher traffic levels.
Mingus said the once state-of-the-art facility had deteriorated over the years, but it’s reputation is rebounding.
“Going to tournaments three or four years ago, the conversation among parents and across the entire area was, ‘You should do something with EastSide; it’s not as competitive,’” said Mingus. “Just last weekend, I was at a tournament and the conversation was completely flipped. It was that EastSide now is beginning to look like the premier softball facility in the area.”
Commissioner Dan Decker said he’s been impressed by how well the turf upgrades have revitalized the complex.
“We’ve been able to do it fiscally responsibly, and I think that this was the best course of action,” said Decker. “So it’s nice to be able to do this, be able to afford it while we're doing it, and it's going to be the premier place in our area for a long time.”
The total project cost for the installations on Fields 8 and 9 is $2.95 million, plus an additional $148,000 in contingencies. Work is targeted to start in October.
