Track at MHS stadium to open for community use

The Maricopa Unified School District is finalizing plans to open the track at the high school stadium for public use.

“We’ve been looking at ways to open up some of our facilities for community access,” said Jeff Kleck, the school district’s superintendent.

Kleck said the district is planning to allow the community to use the track during after-school hours and on weekends. Senior citizens and members of the Maricopa police and fire departments would be permitted on the track for free. Other community members would be required to purchase identification cards for a nominal fee.

“We are thinking for the rest of the community, have them pay a $3 to $5 donation which would cover the cost of an ID card,” Kleck said, adding that the identification credentials would be valid for one year.

Kleck said the district wants to open the track as a neighborly, goodwill gesture to the community.

“We have the only track in town,” the superintendent said. “There are people that would like to use it. We just need to make sure we’re good stewards and protect it to the best of our ability.”

To that end, the school district plans to install lane gates on the track that will prevent runners and walkers from all using the same interior lanes. Lane gates are designed to swing out and block the three inside lanes, thus directing runners and walkers to use the five outside lanes.

“Putting in the lane gates is not just an issue to open up the track to the community,” Kleck said. “You really need lane gates to preserve the inside lanes. It is worth the investment to preserve the life of the facility.”

Kleck said that an expenditure of $10,000 on lane gates will save the district substantial money in the long run.

“It costs you almost as much to repair Lanes 1 and 2 as it does to resurface the whole track,” Kleck said. “You’re talking $200,000. A $10,000 investment in lane gates defrays that cost and gives you a longer usage period for the track. Eventually the track is going to have to be resurfaced, sometime in the future. But you don’t want to speed that up because Lane 1 is worn out and Lanes 6, 7 and 8 have no wear.”

The school district is hoping to have lane gates installed by sometime in October, Kleck said. Once the gates are in place, the track will be opened to the public.

The district also is planning to offer free admission for senior citizens (ages 62 and older) to school athletic events.

“It is always great to have the senior citizens support the schools,” Kleck said.

Photo by Tom Kessler