Verde Design completed facility condition assessments at seven high schools for Sacramento City Unified School District (District). The assessments were completed to serve several roles. The first was to identify any immediate safety concerns with the District’s facilities. Second, we were to assess the existing landscape, irrigation, fencing gates, backstops, paving, and other exterior elements associated with the high school athletics and adjacent grounds.
As a result of the assessment, we prepared master plans for five high school athletic areas. The master plans involved outreach to the school faculty, coaches, and athletes. The result of the master planning process was a plan and associated costs to allow planning for an upcoming bond.
For one facility, Hiram Johnson High School, we immediately developed a new track and field facility to address student safety concerns. In our assessment, it was determined that Hiram Johnson was best characterized as an aging facility where several of its elements and systems had reached the end of their useful life. The field was in poor condition due to gopher holes and a poorly operating irrigation system. The facility was deemed unsafe and thus unusable for students. The results of the assessment put the project of restoring the stadium in motion.
The stadium at Hiram Johnson is unique in that it serves as a water detention basin for the City of Sacramento in a flood event. Because of this, one of the necessary design elements for the new stadium was water storage. The challenge was to keep the capacity for flood water the same, while also designing the stadium to be ADA accessible, NFHS compliant and prepared for future phases which will add grandstand seating, and sports field lighting. The track and field project is the first of several projects the District has planned for Hiram Johnson.
Distinguished Track and Field of the Year, 2019 (Hiram Johnson High School)
