As the school year wraps up and summer training begins, youth athletic facilities in Tomball and Magnolia will see new safety features and aesthetic improvements for 2016-17.

New football fields

Student athletes in Magnolia will return in the fall to find improvements to district facilities later this year as work begins on projects funded by the November bond propositions.

During its April 11 meeting, the Magnolia ISD board of trustees approved a $2 million contract with Navasota-based company Burnside Services Inc. to construct synthetic turf football fields at Magnolia and Magnolia West high schools. Construction and installation work on the new fields will begin in May.

“Our plans are to have the new artificial turf in by the end of July and be ready for the start of football season,” MISD Athletic Director Mike Spradlin said. “As of right now, the fields are in very good shape. We have maintained them for our spring sports just like any other spring.”

The funding will come from the $8 million bond approved by voters in November. The remainder of the bond funds will be used for the construction of a multipurpose conference center that is expected to break ground in mid-2017.

Spradlin said the athletic department is also researching how to improve the appearance of the rest of the stadiums at both of the high school campuses. However, funding for any additional improvements has not been determined and would not come from the bond package.

“We are working on a plan to improve the overall look at the stadiums [including] some banners and stadium wrap, along with general paint,” Spradlin said. “[The] improvements will allow us the opportunity to host more playoff games in the future for both football and for soccer, which will generate more revenue for Magnolia ISD.”

Baseball complex upgrades

In Tomball, parents and officials with the Tomball Little League organization recently completed improvements to the youth baseball fields located at Cherry Street and Hufsmith Road.

In November, Tomball City Council approved a $200,000 expenditure to reimburse the organization for expenses needed to make safety upgrades to the eight fields and improvements for visitor facilities.

“[The improvements make] that Little League field part of a premiere site, not only for our community but for other communities that want to come over and play,” Council Member Chad Degges said. “That site is really well-known in the baseball community—not just ours. It’s really a treasure of Tomball.”

Tomball Little League President Nancy Newton said the funds allowed the organization to put in new bleachers, replace lighting around the fields, make areas of the park compliant with the Americans with Disabilites Act of 1990 and resurface the fields. Much of the outdoor lighting and seating was installed over 25 years ago, she said.

“It was in desperate need of improvements,” Newton said. “We were having lots of injuries from where the fields were just very uneven, and there were holes.”

As many as 1,300 children use the fields throughout the year, including the spring season and off season tournaments. Newton said the field improvements will help to attract more tournaments, which could potentially provide a boost for the city’s hotel occupancy tax revenue as many families travel from across the state to participate.

“Our ultimate goal is to make Tomball one of the locations for the Little League international games,” she said. “We host All-Star games and things like that, and that brings a lot of people into town. When you can make the fields playable for tournament play, people travel for it.”