A comprehensive facelift of Santa Barbara High School’s Peabody Stadium received an additional $9.2 million earlier this month, mainly to cover unanticipated costs associated with the site’s collection and drainage of neighborhood stormwater.
“It’s basically a large civil engineering project with a big concrete box with seating on top of it,” facilities director Dave Hetyonk told school board members before they unanimously approved the extra funding; $4.2 million will come from 2010’s Measure Q facilities bond, while the balance will be pulled from Measure I funding, approved by voters last fall.
As it stands, the 93-year-old stadium needs extensive earthquake retrofitting and its track does not meet California Interscholastic Federation standards. Construction is expected to start this spring and take 18 months to complete. The total price tag is estimated at $26.7 million, $5 million of which was raised by the Santa Barbara High School Foundation from more than 800 private donors.