School district stadium plans for Niwot High

St. Vrain Valley School District (SVVSD) superintendent Don Haddad and several staff members met with approximately 15 Niwot residents, primarily from the Morton Heights subdivision, to present the district's plans for completing a stadium for use by football, soccer, track and other activities at Niwot High School (NHS).

The district added lights to the existing football field a few years ago, and also installed artificial turf to replace the sod field, with the goal of creating a full stadium at the site. For the past two years, NHS has hosted the homecoming football game at the field, with all other "home" games played at Everly-Montgomery Field in Longmont, as has been the custom since Niwot High School opened in late 1972.

The stadium plans include permanent seating on the west side of the field, perhaps incorporating the existing iconic grass hillside features, restrooms, a concession stand, a press box, and other features whose absence currently make use of the facility for large events a challenge.

Last fall, the district installed a large scoreboard with video capability on the southwest corner of the football field. The sign on the back of the scoreboard reflects the district's recent dedication of the school's athletic facility as the "Art Stapp Sports Complex."

The Dec. 3 meeting, which included NHS principal Eric Rauschkolb, followed an October meeting at the request of residents who felt the installation of the scoreboard was out of place and visually intrusive.

The meeting was conducted by SVVSD Assistant Superintendent for Operations Brian Lamer and project manager Bryan Zwisler, who presented an early design image for discussion.

Based on feedback from the October meeting, the district plans to paint the back of the new scoreboard green over its current black color. In addition, the Art Stapp Sports Complex sign will move to the top of the back of the scoreboard, and the back of the scoreboard will simply say "Niwot High School." Trees will be added as part of a landscaping plan to soften the sight of the scoreboard when viewed from Niwot Road. The cost of the changes is approximately $16,000, according to Zwisler.

Several residents were not satisfied with the changes. "It's an eyesore," stated one resident. "What about making it smaller?" Another resident said, "It's still going to be huge and ugly." Another resident said that Boulder County, which does not govern school district land use matters, would never have approved the scoreboard in that location.

Haddad responded that the district had received many positive comments about the efforts to give Niwot High School its own stadium for large athletic events, including the new scoreboard. "Many people have said, 'That's awesome,'" Haddad said. Lamer noted that having a modern stadium "brings more opportunities to learn, with students participating in extracurricular activities."

As part of the press box discussion, one resident suggested that it be moved to the east side of the field, but Zwisler responded that the press box is customarily installed on the "home" side of the field, so that it is not looking into the setting sun. Lamer said, "We want to custom design the press box," and offered to have it built into the west side of the current grass seating area, rather than project high above the seating area.

As for the scoreboard, nothing seemed to satisfy the residents. Haddad explained that the location at the southwest corner of the field was selected so that the sound and lights of the video would not project into the nearby residential neighborhood. "We're trying to create a beautiful stadium," he said. "It's a sign that represents the school. There is a sense of pride."

The district spent approximately $200,000 to install the scoreboard and video system in its effort to give Niwot and every high school in the district its own stadium, on campus.

Haddad said he went to a board meeting of the Niwot Community Association (NCA) to speak about the stadium. He also asked whether the NCA would conduct a survey of the community, but was told that conducting a survey was the job of the district, not the NCA.

The meeting ended without a consensus, but the district indicated it had recorded all of the comments, and that a community-wide meeting would be planned to discuss all aspects of the stadium.