Group raising cash for turf at Vernon Hills High School

Five years after Libertyville High School became one of the first schools in the suburbs to equip a football field with artificial turf, a community group is raising money for the same project at sister school Vernon Hills High.

Organizers of the Project Turf effort hope community donations can fund the work, which is estimated to cost $800,000 to $1 million.

"We recognize that the economy is not as strong as it was in 2005 when (Libertyville) installed their turf," Dennis Donelon, the Project Turf chairman, said in an e-mail. "However, we are confident that it is possible, given our strong history of support from our families, as well as local community business partners."

Libertyville-Vernon Hills Area High School District 128 officials have predicted the current grass playing surface at Vernon Hills' Rust-Oleum Field will need to be replaced in 2012.

"Timing is good," District 128 spokeswoman Mary Todoric said. "Ultimately, the success of the project will depend upon the money that the Project Turf committee is able to raise, and final board approval."

A synthetic playing surface would be weather resistant and allow more student groups, classes and teams to use the field, District 128 officials said.

It also would eliminate the need to relocate home games because of poor field conditions, which happened last season, Donelon said.

The Libertyville High Wildcats began playing football on artificial turf in August 2005. A community group raised $650,000 for the project after the team won the Class 7A state title in 2004.

It took about six months for the group to raise the necessary funds, Todoric said.

Because of the mandated bidding process, District 128 won't necessarily use the same vendor at Vernon Hills, if the money is raised, Todoric said.

The Libertyville High field isn't the only artificial turf surface in the district. Turf was added to the Vernon Hills High baseball field's infield in 2008 because of ongoing drainage problems.

The district covered most of that project's cost. The field is one of the few artificial baseball surfaces in the state.

Artificial turf is more common on high school football fields. In Lake County, Lake Zurich, Grant High in Fox Lake, Grayslake Central, and Carmel Catholic in Mundelein are among the schools with man-made fields.