Kaneland High School track renovations could be put on hold for several years

The Kaneland High School track may not get any major overhauls until 2028, according to a plan presented to the Kaneland Unit District 302 board at Monday night's meeting.

"The high school track is overdue for replacement," said Mark Payton, director of buildings and grounds. "Over the past few years, we continue to patch the track so it's usable for athletic events, but we need to overhaul it as soon as possible."

The capital improvements plan is updated annually. Projects are prioritized based on facility and budgetary needs.

In April, District 302 voters rejected a $57.5 million bond issue that would have funded a new stadium with an artificial turf field and an expanded track at the high school, as well as building renovations.

On Monday, several community members and staff spoke in favor of expediting track repairs during the public comment portion of the meeting. Among them was Kaneland High School track and field coach Andy Drendel, who said the board approved resurfacing the track as a capital project for 2023.

"It was brought to my attention from a community member on Friday that the district is now recommending that we postpone resurfacing the track and runways until 2028," Drendel said. "In 1997, I was 11 years old, and I got to see the track resurfaced. Twenty-six years later, it has not been resurfaced.

"This is long overdue and potentially being set back over half a decade. I don't understand how there is not a single facility in Illinois that has gone on as long as Kaneland without at minimum resurfacing our facility."

Improvements to the high school campus, including improvements to the gym, roof and a recoating of school parking lots, have been prioritized over the track resurfacing.

"The civil engineer and the architect are not recommending major overhauls to the existing track at this time until we can completely remove it, take it down to the stone base and build it back up," Payton said. "That opens a number of questions on location, size and all the other items that then affects.

Repairs were made to the track in 2017, 2019 and 2021.

"The need is going to be larger than our budget as it exists right now," Payton said. "We do patching every year. This year is going to be more significant than what we would normally do, and we're hoping to get a couple, three years out of it, assuming we're also going to still do some patching year over year."

A new track would either require a new location or extensive overhauls to the existing location, Payton said.