On April 3rd, 2017, the Bellevue School Board approved bids for the replacement of the existing synthetic turf systems at football fields at Bellevue East and Bellevue West High Schools. Bids for the project came in substantially under the budgeted construction costs and the project was awarded to Midwest FieldTurf of Denison, IA. Work will be starting at Bellevue West on or around April 25th with completion of the field at West High around June 1st. The start of the field work at Bellevue East will begin on or around June 1st and will be completed on or around July 14th in time for the start of fall sports.
Going Green: The existing field at Bellevue East has a sand/rubber cushion infill that is an integral part of the field structure. It is planned that the bulk of the current sand/rubber infill will be reclaimed and upwards of 40% of the existing infill will be reused in lieu of being disposed of in landfills. The implementation of recycling the infill also results in a substantial cost savings to the project.
Going Green II: The installation of the new field will incorporate some new crumb rubber infill as part of the field cushioning system. The crumb rubber that will be installed will be processed from recycled tires. With this installation, the field will become eligible for a potential rebate grant available to schools from the Nebraska Department of Environmental Quality (NDEQ) which provides rebates upwards to 25% of the cost of the field installation for the use of recycled materials in the installation of synthetic athletic fields. Applications for these grants will be submitted later this fall for consideration.