With football season in full force, it’s still unclear exactly when Gilroy High School will have its own set of home-side bleachers for fans to sit on, and Mustang football coach Brian Boyd isn’t holding his breath for a permanent solution by the end of the season.
“I know they’re not going to fix them this year,” Boyd said. “They (the district) told me not to worry about it, just to coach the football team.”
Back in June, days before graduation season, a large portion of the seats were deemed unsafe and not up to American Disability Act and Division of State Architect Codes. District staff are still working with a hired architect to “craft a potential solution to address the conceptual scope of the structural repairs,” according to Assistant Superintendent Alvaro Meza of Business Services for GUSD.
The visitor-side bleachers on the football field are still in usable condition, and a set of temporary bleachers – rented from Mike Brown Grandstands at a $12,320 cost for the entire season – were installed behind each end zone for the start of football season in September.
But even that has not gone over too well with Boyd – who said most fans are intermingled in the visitors’ bleachers and that predicament could “lead to confrontation (between opposing fans), but so far nothing has happened.”
The coach added that the temporary stands are only five yards off the turf, which he believes is “a little too close” and could be potentially dangerous for a player who runs through the back of the end zone.
“It is what it is,” said Boyd, whose Mustangs are coming off a 28-0 win over Sobrato High School in week two. “It’s been a challenge.”
Boyd, whose GHS squad is 1-1 in two home games thus far, is a bit frustrated that “one of the best stadiums around in the Central Coast Section” is not at its full capabilities with six home games scheduled this season and a seventh against crosstown rival Christopher High. Boyd hoped since the district knew “all the circumstances beforehand” the situation could have been resolved before the Mustangs’ Sept. 6 home opener.
With GHS cheeleaders, the band and home-team fans sitting on the same side as rival fans and cheerleaders, “it’s definitely been different,” said Boyd, who, by choice, keeps his players lined up on the home-side during games. “I’ve heard nothing but complaints from our fans and from the other fans (of the opposing teams).”
Meza could not provide an estimation as to when the final construction documents for bleacher repairs will be presented to the Board of Education for approval.
“This all may seem arduous…but we are under the DSA jurisdiction, and this is the process that we must follow,” he explained.
Most recently, the district’s architect Anthony Palazzo, principal architect and director for K-12 Education Design at Central Coast-based PMSM Architects, met with a forensic structural engineer who “found few areas of concern” and says “the repairs should be minor in nature.”
Palazzo also met with a geo technical engineer, who “did not visually see evidence of soil failure” and will take soils borings to “confirm there is not a potential of foundation/soil friction failure,” according to Meza.
San Jose-based Duquette Engineering was hired by GUSD back in June to do a site inspection and reported the stadium bleachers “badly need maintenance and repair” due to “loose screws, loose bolts, bent planks and missing connectors.” The GHS home-side bleachers were deemed “not structurally sound” and the district has since fenced them off for safety reasons.
Other problems include:
• A lack of handrails on stairs
• The configuration of stairs to seats, which creates a trip hazard
• Walkways are 12 inches wide rather than 24 inches, which does not meet current state exiting code
• There are open stair risers and seat risers, which create a falling hazard due to too much open space
The Mustangs hit the road this week against Monte Vista Christian. Christopher High School (2-0) will host its home opener Friday at GHS against Carmel at 7:30 p.m.
Boyd said the “real challenge” lies in the Nov. 8 inner-city showdown between GHS and Christopher. Up until this point, Boyd said fans have only been using the northern-end temporary bleachers, which have been two-thirds full. However, he expects a full house when the two Gilroy schools take the field, and Boyd plans to open the south-side end zone temporary bleachers for that game.
“It’s kind of a sad thing that it happened this year when we were able to get seven home games, including the Christopher game,” Boyd said.
The Gilroy High School Garcia-Elder Sports Complex caters to hundreds of athletes and their families between the city’s two high schools, Gavilan College and various other community organizations. The problem of constant wear and tear has been an issue of concern for a while. Due to the high amount of use by school and city recreation programs, GUSD Superintendent Debbie Flores previously pointed out a “tremendous amount of pressure is being put on the GHS facility,” which is being used “around the clock.”
In addition to the GHS football, field hockey, soccer and track and field teams, the stadium is also home to Christopher High School, Gavilan College and Pop Warner football teams as well as community soccer teams.
