Allegheny Valley School District eyes ending lease with Springdale for use of Veterans field

The Allegheny Valley School District’s long association with Springdale’s Veterans Memorial Field could be in jeopardy.

School directors Tuesday night decided to put the issue of terminating the lease with Springdale on the agenda for the Oct. 18 board meeting.

The field, built in 1938 as part of the Works Progress Administration under President Franklin D. Roosevelt, has part of its wall leaning toward the field’s interior from the Lincoln Avenue side of the facility.

While no cost for repairs has been figured, Senate Engineering Co. told the school board in May that establishing buttresses could be a remedy, but more buttresses might have to be built later.

Each buttress could cost at least $10,000 and might not be a permanent fix.

Senate’s Bill Braun also told the board in May the wall appears to be nearing the end of its normal life.

The school board is required to give the borough 12 months’ notice if it wishes to terminate the lease. If the board votes to give a termination notice, it would be effective Nov. 1, 2023. The WPIAL football season is scheduled to end Oct. 27 next year.

Ultimately, school board members would like to renegotiate the lease with the borough, at least on the issue of maintenance. School Director Salvatore Conte, however, said the district could lease a field elsewhere, as the Freeport Area and Kiski Area school districts have done with municipalities until recently.

Replacing the wall could be cost prohibitive.

“We’d have to get some numbers from Senate Engineering. It will be significant,” school board President Larry Pollick said. “It is our responsibility to adjust to the change around us and see what’s best for our four municipalities and residents.”

The school district uses the field only for football. Board members asked about the feasibility of playing football games at the district-owned field across Butler-Logan Road from the high school.

Athletic Director Amanda Noel said the field is torn up from having at least two soccer games per week there, and district custodians have enough of a challenge maintaining the field.

Allegheny Valley officials had looked at building a multimillion-dollar football stadium there in the early 2000s, but they instead were able to secure a lease agreement with the borough for what the locals affectionately call “The Vets.”

At the time, it was felt that a stadium across from the high school could only be configured for about 1,500 fans, not enough for the many who followed Springdale Dynamos football during its 11-season WPIAL playoff run.

The school district formally took over the field in 2005.

The wall’s problems have been caused by 84 years of freeze-thaw cycles, and more water damage might be uncovered if extensive testing takes place.

In 1946, Springdale played its home games at Tarentum’s Dreshar Stadium while Veterans Memorial Field was undergoing renovation. Springdale again played at Dreshar from 1973 to 1977 while extensive renovation at “The Vets” took place. Now, Dreshar Stadium has been changed to accommodate two Little League baseball fields.

Springdale is one of at least 20 WPIAL schools that play home football games away from their campuses, including Leechburg and Apollo-Ridge locally.