New field, no yield

The initial plan

In fall of 2021, Bonita Vista High (BVH) started construction of their new track and field. As of the 2022-2023 school year, the expected completion date is this December. However, questions have arisen about the stadium’s construction and its ability to support BVH’s varsity football games.

The funds for the stadium come from Proposition O. Proposition O funds are approved by the Sweetwater Union High School District (SUHSD) taxpayers, allowing BVH to upgrade their facilities. According to SUHSD Superintendent Moises Agurrie, physical limitations played a larger role than funding in determining seating capacity.

“Another requirement [project planners] have in place is the division of the state architect. When you reach a certain size threshold, it triggers a lot of other requirements. Because of that, this was about as large as the project could go without triggering some of those other requirements,” Aguirre said.

Aguirre, who previously worked with BVH’s principal Roman Del Rosario Ed.D, participated in the planning of the field. His previous position of Assistant Superintendent for Facilities and Operations allowed him to strategically divide the budgets for the project from Proposition O.

“Going back several years, before COVID-19, part of the work I did was in oversight and supervision of the planning and construction office. Before you do any type of construction, you need to plan it, so that was mostly the work around that,” Aguirre said. 

The funds received from Proposition O for the track and field are decided based on resources, such as “bond funds, maintenance and mello-roos,” according to Chief Facilities and Operations Officer Janea Quirk. The funding allowed architects to conduct an Environmental Impact Plan (EIR), which was required under the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA).

“For the BVH stadium, due to the site not having lights at the stadium, a full EIR was required. The district hires an environmental consultant to review lighting, sound and traffic impacts and identify parameters within the design process to ensure [size] thresholds are not exceeded as identified by CEQA,” Quirk said.

During the conduction of the EIR, reports found that the construction of BVH’s new field could affect  areas surrounding  the school. This is especially true for nearby neighborhoods.  

“As projects develop, we inevitably have to change orders within a project, which are covered with project budgets. That said, COVID-19 continues to create unprecedented impacts on costs, delay and access to materials,” Quirk said.

Quirk had taken on Aguirre’s previous position of District Facilities and Operations Officer. He then was ultimately in charge of outreach to the communities and people who would be affected by the project. However, the EIR itself did not affect the funding of the project.

“When projects are developed, there are multiple layers of cost forecasting and estimates developed by the architect and engineering professionals, the estimates have line-item values based on elements included within the scope of work,” Quirk said. 

Aguirre worked with design professionals and architects during the planning phase to determine soft costs, which identified a budget for the field design, to submit for review. Soft costs then lead to actual construction costs, better known as hard costs. Both costs impact how the field would be designed and how the funding would be spent.

“Once the budget is identified, you take the recommendation to the [SUHSD] board, [who recommends the project] and then the board approves; there is a check and a balance,” Aguirre said.

However, concerns remain prominent on whether BVH would be able to use the field. BVH Athletic Director Tyler Arciaga’s role in the construction centered around communication with the stadium itself and its use.

“Because of the size of the stadium, about 1900 capacity, there are certain [football] games that are still up in the air because [the stadium is] limited,” Arciaga said.

It’s important to note funding was not a deciding factor for the construction of the field. Instead, these concerns lay around the planning process and whether the capacity would allow the school to hold varsity football games. 

“Going forward, [BVH is] exploring different options based on the capacity limits that we have. So whether it’s playing at Southwestern or not, we’re in the hands-on exploratory phase on it,” Arciaga said. 

Although there were many obstacles the project dealt with, as the time gets closer, Aguirre has overall hopes that the turn-out and struggle for the field will be worthwhile for BVH. 

“We definitely believe this can be a great add-on to the Bonita campus, not just to the school, but the community at large as well,” Aguirre said. “I hope it brings a lot of pride into the community. Every campus needs a project like this and it’ll be great for the community, that’s my hope.”

From a neighbors perspective

Since the construction of the new football field at Bonita Vista High (BVH) has started, much of the BVH community has been impacted. This includes the students, teachers, staff, but also the neighborhoods that live alongside the school. Once construction started, many neighbors had to adapt to the casualties that came with it.

Many neighbors have different opinions on how the construction affects them based on each of their own personal lives. While some are in support of the construction, like BVH neighbor and JV baseball coach Mark Tighe who has lived near BVH’s football field for 13 years, others have less concerns, like BVH neighbor Tim Carter who has lived near BVH for around seven years. Additionally, some BVH neighbors, such as Hector Ramirez who has lived there for almost 25 years, are completely unhappy with the mess construction has caused.

“It was good living next to the school but it was very ugly looking over the fence,” Tighe said. “Both my kids play sports there so it was kind of an embarrassment watching our kids and students play football and track on that field.”

Tighe talks about how the construction will be a “good implementation” for the students and athletes. He noticed that the fields have been worn down for a long time because the school was made a long time ago and hasn’t been remodeled since.

“It’s nice looking over the fence and knowing that my kid and other kids going to that school are going to finally have a nice field to play on,” Tighe said.

Carter explains how he is excited to see that the school is getting a new field. His son is a BVH alumni and he emphasizes that the new stadium will be “good for the students that currently go there now and continue to.” However, his main concern was that he and his fellow neighbors had no idea what the construction was for because they weren’t given a notice about it. 

“My biggest complaint is that there was no notification to the homeowners [that live] next to the school [about the construction]. We didn’t even know when it was going to start. It just started and we had to deal with it,” Carter said. 

Ramirez agrees with Carter and explains that he too was never told when the construction was going to happen. He believes this was “not right” to those living near the school and is upset that he had to figure out for himself the purpose of construction 

“[The construction company and school officials] didn’t call me, I had to call them. ‘Hey what’s going on? When are they going to start building?’ They told me that since they had already started building the field, there was nothing they could do to accommodate the neighbors homes,” Ramirez said. “Now I am probably going to have to make my wall alongside my backyard a little bit higher–like seven feet–to block out the noise so I don’t go crazy.” 

Another common complaint between all three neighbors is that the construction has caused mass amounts of dirt to land on their property. The dirt has made its way into their cars, plants, roofs, and even inside their homes.

“Probably the other complaint would be the dust because as they dug the field up, it was dirt flying around for a long time. You could see that the dirt would settle on everything out here like the trucks and cars and stuff,” Carter said.

One concern that Ramirez has are the floodlights that were built for the field. Along the sides of the field there are four floodlights, meaning that there are two floodlights right next to the neighbors’ backyards. Each floodlight has a pole with about 16 individual lights pointing in different directions to make sure it lights up the whole field.

“There are two floodlights near my house. One of them over there has an angle on one of the individual lights that directly shines on the left side of my yard and it is very bright and distracting,” Ramirez said. 

With these concerns, many of the neighbors living next to the school are left uneasy as they wait for construction to finish and BVH begins to host games. Overall, the neighbors like Ramirez and Carter wish that there would be more consideration for the impact construction has on them and their homes.

“When you build something, build it the right way,” Ramirez said. “Why isn’t there any consideration for the neighbors?”

The ongoing connection

The ties between the BVH and SWC stadium

From the beginning of the 2022-2023 school year, Bonita Vista High’s (BVH) staff advisory and students have been building up excitement for the new field that is under construction. However, as the months pass, questions arise on whether or not BVH will still be using the DeVore Stadium—Southwestern College’s (SWC) football stadium.

Throughout the years, BVH has not been able to host varsity football games, considering the small field. This resulted in the school’s sports teams like football holding their games across the street at SWC. Historically, these games have been considered “home” games because they are still close to the school’s campus. Director Campus of Enterprise Services Marquise Jackson reveals more, explaining BVH’s long-term contract with SWC.

“Our relationship dates back to the original Joint Powers Authority established between the Sweetwater Union High School District [SUHSD] and Southwestern College in 1970. That agreement was amended in 1976 upon the opening of DeVore Stadium. That amendment allowed Bonita Vista High to play its football games in DeVore Stadium,” Jackson said.

BVH has been building the football stadium since the 2021-2022 school year, continuing into the 2022-2023 school year and is projected to be open and in use by early October. Students and staff have been yearning for a new football stadium and the wait is almost over. Athletic Director and varsity football coach Tyler Aricaga mentions when the first game will be played in the new stadium.

“As of right now we’re looking in October and early mid October, to be able to utilize it. We are planning October 10th as the first game on the field which will be a field hockey game against Southwest Highschool,” Arciaga said. 

Now with the new field in progress, the BVH community has been wondering whether or not the school’s athletic teams will continue using the DeVore stadium to host varsity football games. Even with this pressing concern, Arciaga explains that question is yet to be discussed.

“I don’t really have a definitive answer for you. Like “hey this is what we’re doing” or whatever else. Quite frankly, we’re trying to get through this year and then I know that we’re sitting down and really trying to hammer this [project] out. So that we can try to create a win-win situation for all in this scenario,” Arciaga said.