Turf field would reduce water runoff in Leechburg, officials say

A proposed artificial turf field at Leechburg’s Veterans Memorial Stadium would reduce water runoff to neighboring streets, according to an architect and the company that makes the turf.

Drainage from the field was a concern of at least one Veterans Avenue resident, who said runoff from the current grass field has contributed to flooding at his home during heavy rains. That prompted questions from the Leechburg Area School Board.

Al Winkler, a landscape architect for the civil engineering and land development firm J.R. Gales and Associates Inc. of Pittsburgh, showed the board diagrams of the field before and after the proposed construction.

He said the area of the school’s property that drains toward Veterans Avenue is 3.53 acres, while the area that drains toward Wesley Avenue is 1.27 acres. The turf installation would reduce the area for direct storm water runoff toward Veterans Avenue to 0.49 acres and toward Wesley Avenue to 0.10 acres.

“So there’s (a more than) 80% reduction in storm water going through there?” board President Neill Brady asked.

Winkler said that estimate was correct, and added, “We’ve reduced this (water draining toward Veterans Avenue) drastically by 3 acres of drainage area.”

Ray Battistel, a representative from Georgia-based Shaw Sports Turf, said the artificial turf that would be installed in Leechburg would sit on a base of gravel a half-foot thick.

“The water hits our turf and goes directly through our turf to that drainage layer,” he said.

Battistel said that would prevent pooling or puddling on the field surface, which often happens on natural grass.

In addition to the gravel base, there would be 6,100 feet of pipe measuring between 6 and 12 inches in diameter under the football field to aid in drainage and 4,500 feet of pipe under the track next to the football field.

Water would be channeled from those pipes to a 179-foot-long detention line of 24-inch perforated pipe along Veterans Avenue that would rest on another bed of gravel. It would connect to the borough’s storm water drainage system crossing under Veterans Avenue.

“We’re using the same drainage path but we’re lessening the amount of outflow,” said Craig Collins, an architect from Monroeville-based Axis Architecture, which is handling school renovations for the district, including improvements at Veterans Memorial Stadium.

Battistel said the drainage system for the fields where his company’s turf has been installed works well. He said Shaw has replaced field turf on about seven of the fields it has installed in Western Pennsylvania after they reached the end of their projected life.

“I can tell you in my 22 years we’ve never had to replace anything within the drainage system,” Battistel said.

Collins said the borough’s engineer would check Winkler’s data on the drainage report to make sure it is accurate and sign off on it before the district proceeds.

Higher-than-anticipated bids for the project prompted Leechburg’s school board to seek new bids. Low bids for the stadium improvements had come in at $1.24 million and brought the total cost for athletic facilities upgrades to nearly $2 million. The district had budgeted $1.6 million for the work, according to Superintendent Tiffany Nix.