2022 Bond: Austin ISD artificial turf fields delayed

AUSTIN (KXAN) — In 2022, Austin voters approved a historic $2.4 billion Austin ISD bond package.

The money was set to go towards school modernization, safety improvements, new technology and athletic facilities and upgrades.

While some projects are underway, some parents want to know why the athletics turf fields have not been put in yet.

"As you can see, it goes downhill and slopes to the right, and if you look here, you will see the trees that are impeding the play," said Jeff Grosso, whose daughters play soccer for Bowie High School.

Grosso says while the fields are green and look fine now, during the season they were muddy and had ants everywhere. Grosso says the Booster Club stepped in to get rid of ants and help maintain the field, but he was hoping they would be playing on turf fields by now.

"It is both a safety issue and competitive disadvantage to us," said Grosso.

Every high school will have artificial turf by the end of the bond, but AISD said they did not set a deadline for when that will happen.

"We had anticipated that we were going to have some of those installed this summer, and we have not been able to meet that internal deadline," said Michael Mann, executive director of construction management with the district.

Mann says when a bond is passed it can take 5 to 6 years to complete all the projects.

The district also prioritizes projects like school safety and HVAC systems which they are doing now and should have them completed by the start of the school year.

AISD also has to go through permitting to make sure everything is up to code.

Mann says sometimes they do have unforeseen setbacks or complex issues they have to work through, which is causing the delays for the artificial turf.

"Some of our sites are in the Edward's Aquifer recharge zone with SOS standards--Bowie is one of them, and Austin High is in a flood plain," said Mann.

Grosso says not getting projects completed could impact AISD in other ways, especially for parents who want the best facilities for their kids.

"I feel like we are feeding this move towards charter schools because Robin Hood aside we are going to send the money outside the district, I get that, but when you vote on a bond that money stays in the district, but to not apply that in a timely fashion it just fuels the flame," said Grosso.

There is no set timeline for when the turf fields will be installed at this time.

"I think the thing to convey is that while we would like to be able to streamline this and move much quicker, we also don't want to do anything that would compromise the safety of the city in general around water quality and stormwater runoff," said Mann.

Mann says they are about to start work on 9 larger projects related to the bond very soon and are constantly working to get the project started and completed.

Grosso says he is also worried about the location of the practice fields at Bowie High School. He says players have to cross Slaughter Lane, where traffic zooms by very close to the sidewalk.

Grosso says he is hoping they add a guard rail to the sidewalk near the field entrance.