SUBMITTED PHOTO — Clapsaddle-Garber Associates presented the Franklin Field concept to the Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education during the regular Monday meeting. The plan is to put the project out for bids in the middle of January.

The plan is to open bids during the first half of February for upcoming work on Franklin Field.

During the Marshalltown Community School District Board of Education meeting on Monday, Boyd Jones Construction Manager Pete Perez said design development of the Franklin Elementary field is continuing and they want to put it out for bid in mid-January. He expects it to be a three or four-week bidding period.

“The reason we want to get it out as soon as possible is the contractors and the suppliers that put together this type of product fill up very early in the year for their summer season,” Perez said.

His hope to move the process along quickly as the ground freezes during Iowa winters and projects have to wait until it warms up.

“Our goal is to get in the ground as soon as the frost lets up and the ground thaws out,” he said. “In order to do that, we want to make sure we get the bulk of this work done during the summer, and we can minimally disturb the activities of Franklin Elementary school.”

Superintendent Theron Schutte said that unlike the field at Marshalltown High School, there is no pressure to get the work completed before next football season.

“The middle school uses the high school for their football games,” he said. “Currently we’re kind of sort of anticipating that is going to be the case for most, if not all of this season. So in my mind, I’m more interested in making sure it is ready for that first track season in the spring of ’26. It will be a bonus if we can play any football out there before the season ends next fall. The logistics are a little bit different because we’re needing to meet the needs of elementary students and staff.”

The work on Franklin Field is part of the Reimagine Miller project, for which Marshalltown voters approved a $57 million bond referendum during the Nov. 5 general election, which will be paired with $49 million in Securing an Advanced Vision for Education (SAVE) bonds for a $106 million renovation.

Design

Also presenting Franklin Field project updates on Monday was Clapsaddle-Garber Associates engineer Adam Daters. He told the board the area is “tightly squeezed” with the nearby Franklin Elementary building, Braddy Creek to the north and some residential homes in the northeast corner.

The field will be similar to what is at MHS. There will be lighting, a scoreboard, playclocks, a synthetic turf field and asphalt track with polyurethane surfacing. Daters said the first step was determining what was going to fit in the field. They used the MHS template with the eight-lane 400-meter track.

“It fits geometrically, but just barely,” he said. “We’re pushing right up against the right-of-way on 14th [Street], right on the property corners of the properties to the northeast and really just off the right-of-way on 13th Street there.”

Then they reduced the size of the track, changing it from eight lanes to six, but keeping the straightaway as eight lanes. They kept the fixed point on 14th, which pulls away from 13th and helps with the construction of a retaining wall. That left a little more room between Franklin Elementary and the straightaway, which is where they might place bleachers or a press box.

Daters said they have encountered some design constraints. Toward the north, there is a floodway and Braddy Creek.

“It acts as a bounding line we want to stay out of,” he said. “We can cut in there with earthwork. We can usually install utilities, but we really want to stay out of there. We really want to avoid building any kind of obstructions within that floodway or else we open ourselves up to a much higher level of design needed and permitting through the DNR [Iowa Department of Natural Resources.]”

There is also a city storm sewer pipe running through the middle of the site. Daters said they are potholing to check depths.

“We’ve talked to some people who have experience with this storm sewer line, and they say it gets very shallow as you head toward Main Street,” he said.

The pipe is made of a few different types of materials. Toward the north the pipe is made of concrete. There is clay in the middle and then it transitions to old-style brick arch pipe as it goes further upstream to Main Street.

The depth and material of the pipe are deciding factors in any recommendations to reorient the pipe and replace it with reinforced concrete. Daters said they will talk with the city to find out what the process could look like.

Daters showed the board some design concepts. Due to a 13-foot difference between the roadway and the field elevation, the retaining wall will be roughly 10 feet tall. Entry to the ticket booth will be off of Main and Thirteenth streets, and the site will be ADA-accessible. He said they also want to make sure Franklin Elementary is integrated well into the spectator and school use areas.

The concept designs Daters presented show a playground and a flagpole in an area between the ticket booth and the track. On the west side, in addition to the bleachers or press box, there is potential for a building with concessions and restrooms. On the northeast, there is an area for stormwater detention and some landscaping.

“It’s going to be pretty tight, so we will keep working with district staff and Franklin administrators to figure out what the best configuration will be for them in this location,” he said.

Miller

After the Franklin Field presentation, school board member Zach Wahl asked for an update on the Miller Middle School project. Perez told him the design team is conducting space programming, which he said is determining the number, type and size of spaces. They were at the school on Friday to meet with administrators to get programming meetings scheduled.

“That’s really what’s going to get the ball rolling to come up with a floor plan,” he said. “There’s going to be a series of meetings over the next month, month and a half to make sure the number of spaces, type of spaces and the sizes are what is expected here.”

Perez expects the design for Miller to be finished in 2025.

“We don’t anticipate having construction documents sooner than October or November,” he said. “I’m trying to work with a team to get site work done before the close of fall 2025 so we can get some activity going and get ahead of schedule, if possible.”

Contact Lana Bradstream at 641-753-6611 ext. 210 or lbradstream@timesrepublican.com.