Lemoore High School renovation continues as school officials begin work on Tiger Stadium

By Ed Martin, Editor
An electronic rendering of Lemoore High School's Tiger Stadium, expected to be completed by the time school starts in August.
An electronic rendering of Lemoore High School's Tiger Stadium, expected to be completed by the time school starts in August.

Lemoore High School has begun its latest step in implementing Measure L, the $24 million bond measure passed by local voters in 2016. Renovation of the school’s 50-year-old stadium started this week as school officials closed the facility to the public.

On November 8, Lemoore area voters approved the $24 million bond measure to provide its students with an updated learning environment by constructing new facilities and making repairs and upgrades to existing classrooms and buildings, most of which are currently used by and available to the community, including Tiger Stadium.

Lemoore High School Superintendent Debbie Muro said the district hopes to have the renovation completed by the time school starts in mid-August, or at least by the second or third week of school.

“We will be putting up two new ticket booths, two new combination concession and restroom buildings (one on each side of the stadium in the front), redesigning the ramp on the home side, putting in a new press box, a new concession stand at the baseball field and putting in a new service road in the center of campus,” said Muro.

She also said renovation has already started on an older building on campus that will be turned into at least four engineering classrooms. Work on a new academic building will begin next summer. The new building will replace the old gym that sits in the center of the campus.

The stadium is the permanent home of the school’s graduation ceremony, but according to Muro, the stadium will be available for graduation. “We will be working around the construction at graduation so there will be alternate routes to enter as the front will be under construction,” she said. “The interior won’t be started until after graduation.”

The local high school district easily won the bond measure in 2016, collecting 63 percent of the vote. The District needed only 55 percent for passage. Measure L passed with 3,836 yes votes and 2,215 no votes.

Lemoore voters, in its 117-year history, have been generous to the local high school, passing all but one bond measure during that tenure. The only bond that failed was a 1923 general obligation bond that would have built a new high school at what is now its current site. Only a year later, Lemoore’s voters had a change of heart and passed a $325,000 measure that provided the funds for the school’s principal building – which still stands at the corner of Lemoore Avenue and Bush Street.

Before the 2016 measure, the latest LUHS bond to pass muster was a $9.3 million measure in 1997 that passed easily, providing funding for the Event Center as well as upgrades and renovations to many campus facilities.

In 1990, voters approved a $2 million measure to construct a new swimming pool, which will get a facelift with funds provided by the expected passage of Measure L.

The general obligation bond will cost the typical property owner about $27.50 a year – based on every $100,000 of assessed valuation per year. Assessed valuations are often lower than market values.

The district is likely to have access to a total of $30.5 million. In addition to the bond measure, the district could receive $832,000 from developer fees, $1.1 million from the capital reserve fund, and possible funding from the state to the tune of $4.4 million.

 

 

Comments powered by Disqus