SARANAC LAKE — The Saranac Lake Central School District’s new artificial turf athletics field project is under review for a permit by the Adirondack Park Agency as the district prepares to start construction over the summer.

The agency is accepting public comments on the project until June 12. Comments can be submitted online at tinyurl.com/avu9trum, by email at RPcomments@apa.ny.gov or by mail to “Virginia Yamrick / Adirondack Park Agency / P.O. Box 99 / Ray Brook, NY 12977.”

The field at the district high school is anticipated to be complete by the fall.

The lighting poles planned for the field are taller than 40 feet, which put the entire project within the APA’s jurisdiction for review. The project calls for the installation of four 80-foot stadium lights and two 60-foot stadium lights.

SLCSD Superintendent Diane Fox said district officials did not fully understand the APA timeline, so the project is getting started later than anticipated because they did not know about the public comment period.

However, unless something unexpected comes up, she expects the permit to be approved some time after public comment, which will trigger the groundbreaking.

APA spokesman Benjamin Brosseau said they do not anticipate that this project will require a board vote.

SLCSD Construction Manager Chris Payette said the benefit of the APA review is that now, the APA knows where the wetlands actually are on the school’s property. Before, the boundaries of the wetlands were not clearly defined.

Payette said, currently, completion is pushed out into mid-September; but he’s fairly confident he can trim 17 to 20 days off the construction “without any magic.” This is all weather-dependent, though.

“The weather is the one thing Chris cannot control,” Fox said.

Payette’s personal goal is to be finished before Sept. 1, though it might take longer. He agreed to delay his retirement until this project is completed, to see it through.

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Reining in the light

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Even with lighting up an entire sports complex, the project’s lighting received a Dark Skies certification for limiting light pollution, Fox said.

“That’s why the light poles had to be so high,” she said.

These LED lights don’t just flood the area, they are pinpointed to specifically light the field, and not much beyond that. They’ve been described as creating a bubble of light, without much spill-over.

“If you walk beyond these lights, away from the field, with your back to the field, you will walk 10 feet and you will see darkness,” Payette said.

The board has approved a purchase agreement with Musco Sports Lighting, LLC for the lighting costing $582,855, as well as an award of $329,500 to Next Era Contracting for electrical work bringing electricity from the main building to the new lights and bleachers at the field.

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Turf talk

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District voters narrowly approved the turf project in a vote last year, amid a debate in which opponents of the project voiced concern over the turf product carrying hazardous chemicals called PFAS, or “forever chemicals.”

The artificial turf field proposition was controversial before the May vote but was narrowly approved with a 53.59% majority. With 1,478 total votes, 792 voted for the turf and 686 voted against it.

In January the board selected a turf product billed as having “PFAS-free fibers” and said it will match the state’s new standards banning PFAS in artificial turf, which start in 2026.

Fox said the APA had additional questions about stormwater drainage, but none about the turf product.

The contract for the turf product and its installation comes to just more than $2.1 million.

To read more about the selection of this turf, go to tinyurl.com/3nw6t5jp.

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Plans for the field

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The turf, lights and scoreboard project will not increase local taxes. This project will use $2.8 million of the district’s $3.8 million Capital Reserve Fund — a construction fund for borrowing money — along with $397,563 in additional capital funds.

The new field is expected to support more sports — football, flag football, soccer and lacrosse.

Students in soccer and lacrosse will go from playing on the district’s worst fields to their best. And SLCSD board Chair Mark Farmer said the rising tide will raise all ships. Modified teams will get to play on the field at Petrova Elementary School — up to now, the district’s best field.

In November, the board agreed to transfer the name of Wilson-Raymond field — currently where the Red Storm play football behind Petrova Elementary School — to the new turf field at the high school.

The Petrova field will still host modified soccer and football, practices and other sports if the turf field is booked. Right now, there aren’t any plans to rename it.