Turf for New Field Selected, Bid Approved

R.A.D. Sports of Rockland, MA, the company that transformed the turf from natural to synthetic at Gillette Stadium in 2006, has been chosen to do the same for Stonington High School.

The Board of Selectmen made it official Wednesday night by unanimously approving the bid award to R.A.D., which was the low bidder. R.A.D. will use the same structural engineering firm that it worked with on the turf field at Cheshire High School, which was completed in 2011.

Last week, the Athletic Field Improvement Oversight Committee voted unanimously to recommend the town choose R.A.D. The committee was impressed by R.A.D.'s work on other high school fields in the state such as Cheshire, Hamden Hall Country Day School and Norwich Free Academy.

The type of turf will be Legion turf, a product sold by Shaw Sports Turf that is ideal for multiple field uses. The committee chose to have the turf installed in alternating shades of light and dark green.

The $1,066,219 project also includes a structural strengthening of the surface. Existing sprinkler systems installed in the current natural-grass field will be ripped out. Work on regrading and replanting other town athletic fields will begin after the turf project is under way.

"It's going to be very impressive," First Selectman Ed Haberek said at Wednesday's Board of Selectmen meeting. "I think it was great work by the Athletic Fields Improvement Oversight task force."

The groundbreaking for the artificial turf project is tentatively scheduled for early May, and the project is set to be completed by Aug. 1 in time for the fall sports season.