Monday, November 21, 2022 – Members of the Mount Pleasant Central School District community gathered at West Lake High School in Thornwood, NY to celebrate the groundbreaking of a new athletic complex that will serve both the district’s middle and high schools. The $9.8M project was funded by a bond referendum, and LAN Associates was retained by the district to provide project management, procedural guidance and compliance, architectural design, civil engineering, electrical engineering, and construction administration services to bring the project to fruition.
The project includes a complete modernization of the existing athletic complex that serves both Westlake High School and Westlake Middle School, which are located on the same campus. The goal of the project is to increase the number of regulation fields and field playability for both students and the community. The project includes the removal of the existing grass field and replacement with a new artificial turf field, and the replacement of the running track. LED athletic field lighting, new scoreboards and a new press box were also designed.
The main competition artificial turf will be infilled with a ceramic coated sand to minimize heat gain and reduce exposure to potential contaminants. This will help reduce maintenance and allow for increased usage without compromising playability resulting from inclement weather.
Three natural grass fields at the high school and middle school campus will also receive drainage improvements to increase the playability. New sod and stormwater and irrigation systems will be added at multiple locations, along with new dugouts, bullpens, and bleachers.
During the pre-referendum process, LAN’s internal marketing team assisted the district with the design of referendum display boards to demonstrate the field improvements to the public. The bond referendum vote took place in March 2022 and was approved on a 3 to 1 basis. The complex is anticipated to be completed in time for the start of the sports season in Fall 2023.