Verona Board Weighs Football Field Options

The Verona Board of Education is looking into several different options to fix the High School football field, which is peppered with sink-holes that popped up during summer practice.

Shortly after, the Board hired French and Parello Associates to test the field and report back.

On Tuesday, May 14, representatives of French and Parello Associates presented their findings to the board with several different options.

Geotechnical engineer Joseph Tierney and environmental engineer Bryan Heller discussed the history of the field, which was filled in with soil and debris in the 1970's.

The concrete and rebar materials created voids, or sinkholes, which developed in 2002, August 2012 and October 2012.

In September of 2012 French and Parello Associates used ground-penetrating radar to search for additional voids or anomalies. In March 2013 they dug several test pits to identify “areas of interest,” said Tierney.

“We found debris, soil, rebar and pieces of steel,” he said.

The half of the field closest to the school is solid ground and soil, but the other half is filled with debris, he said.

The first option is a complete site remediation, Tierney told the Board. This would involve digging up the entire field and removing all debris underneath. This would cost approximately $7,135,750.

A second option would be ground improvements, which would require compacting and resurfacing. A machine would be used to compact the ground and collapse all of the underground sinkholes, said Tierney.

The process, which would only take a few weeks to complete, would lower the field about two to three feet. After putting down two feet of topsoil the field would comply with New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection regulations and would once again be usable by the football team, said Tierney.

The ground improvements would cost the board about $1,976,850.

A final option would be to install a fence or barrier around the field, declare it unusable and monitor it for the next 30 years. This would cost about $97,500.

The Board will need to weigh all options before making a decision.