The Brookhaven School District is movingforward on plans to build a new baseball field house, with a Maydate eyed for the start of construction.

    Gary Bailey, of Bailey Architecture Education, appeared before theschool board of trustees at its Tuesday night meeting with theplans for the new field house. Bailey said bids for the projectshould be about $360,000.

    “The total may come in a little less because there is a lot ofcompetition right now,” Bailey said. “A lot of people are hungryfor a project.”

    Bailey said the cost may seem high for a building of its size.

    “Field houses are one of the most expensive to build per squarefoot,” said Bailey, estimating the per square foot cost at$130.

    Field houses are expensive because of the amount of plumbingrequired, Bailey said. The field house will include multipleshowers and bathrooms for both guests and athletes.

    The plans call for the current field house to be torn down andreplaced by a totally new building located on the same site. Baileysaid the building called for by his plans should be “very durable,very simple, but hopefully handsome.”

    The outside of the building will be a brick veneer, with brickcolors to be selected at a later date by Superintendent LisaKarmacharya.

    Bailey proposed bids be taken in February and the project awardedin March, with construction to begin in May after baseball seasonhas ended.

    Construction would need to be finished over the summer, the boardagreed.

    After Bailey’s presentation, there was some discussion of the factthat his plans call for wooden lockers in the field house.

    “It’s 3-inch, marine-grade plywood,” Bailey said when questionedabout it. “It’s very durable.”

    Board member Willie Harrison initially expressed skepticism aboutthe merits of wood versus metal lockers.

    “The football lockers are wood,” said board member Stan Patrick.”They still look fine. They don’t get dented like the metalones.”

    Harrison said he was fine with wooden lockers if the districtalready has some in use, but he then expressed his desire to seesecurity cameras in the building. Patrick agreed.

    Bailey said the capacity to add security cameras is included in hisplans, but the actual costs of the cameras is not.

    “For a building that size, adding cameras should not be veryexpensive,” Bailey said.

    The board voted to accept Bailey’s plans. The board also approvedDeputy Superintendent James Tillman to move forward with the bidprocess, with the caveat that security cameras will be added to thebid.

    Board attorney Bob Allen also alerted the board of the need toschedule a school board election as the term of current boardchairman Carl Aycock expires in March of 2012. The election willoccur March 3 from 1 to 6 p.m. in the Brookhaven High SchoolGym.

    The qualifying deadline for the election is Jan. 23.