A comprehensive renovation of Chelsea Memorial Stadium is underway, with the City and School Department moving forward on installing a new turf field and track surface.
According to Gerry McCue from the School Department, the replacement work on both the field and track will commence at the end of May.
“We have a synthetic turf field at the high school and it’s at the end of it useful life,” McCue stated. “It was installed 17 years ago. They don’t last forever and it’s time to think about a new field. We’ve been working with the City because the cost was so high and we need to have it in the Capital Improvement Plan. We found at the same time the track was in desperate need of repair as well.”
The design process involved consultations with the Planning Department and various stakeholders, including coaches from Pop Warner and Chelsea High School.
The project includes repositioning the track slightly toward the Parkway to allow for improved lighting placement. Additionally, a Phase 2 component is being planned for later in the summer, following a bidding process scheduled for July.
“That Phase 2 will provide new lights outside of the track and a new restroom facility,” McCue explained. “We’re also going to create a Master Plan for our remaining baseball fields and the high school and the Burke Complex.”
Phase 2 carries an estimated cost of $900,000, with lighting comprising $800,000 of that total.
Phase 1 has encountered a challenge, however, as bids arrived at $2 million against a budgeted amount of $1.7 million. McCue indicated they would pursue cost-reduction strategies.
Among the potential savings is eliminating a large Chelsea ‘C’ planned for the center of the new turf field. Reconditioning the scoreboard represents another possible reduction that could be addressed later.
A second sand pit for pole vault and long jump events is also under consideration.
The Stadium is expected to be completely transformed by the following fall.
“We will probably start the project the day after Memorial Day, but it looks like that could slide into mid-June,” McCue said. “We were hoping to have everything buttoned up by mid-September, but it could end up being late September. It will be an exciting project to see completed next fall.”