Graham Jaehnig/Daily Mining Gazette CLK Schools Superintendent Chris Davidson (left), and civil engineers Ryan Patrick (center) and Emmett Bjorn, with UP Architects and Engineers, discuss the progress of the Agassiz Field complex that is scheduled for completion by Aug. 28. Patrick designed the stormwater drainage system for the field, as well as the under-field drainage system, and Bjorn designed the field. Both engineers are graduates of the CLK Schools.

et-Laurium-Keweenaw Public School officials received a progress report from UP Architects and Engineers (UPA) Thursday, during which they learned that reconstruction of Agassiz Field is on schedule and on budget. The field is scheduled to be ready in August in time for the Copper Kings’ first home game on Aug. 28.

Superintendent Chris Davidson said there is a lot going on at once, in the effort to meet the completion date.

The project for the field consists of two contracts, one which focuses on site preparation and an underground storm water system, and the other will include under-field drainage with a 12-inch outlet pipe into the Contract 1 stormwater system.

Contract 2, which is a $1.3 million contract with H&H Civil Construction of Collins, Wisconsin, will install the new under-field drainage system. A new synthetic turf will surface the football field, and the site will feature a rubberized athletic track.

Ryan Patrick, an engineer with UPA, designed the drainage system. He said Agassiz Field was located at a low point, allowing rain water and spring snowmelt to accumulate there.

“All of the water came from Elm Street,” he said. “During the winter, homeowners plow all of their snow into a nearby parking lot, and it would melt, and it would all wind up on the field.”

Emmett Bjorn, another engineer with UPA, said that after every rain event, there was a pond directly in front of the locker room building, which took two to three days to drain. He said rain would accumulate on the field from the surrounding three-block area.

“When you build an artificial turf football field,” said UPA Project Manager, Tim Purdy, “like we’re doing here, the contract that Ryan is doing isn’t always necessary. But it’s necessary here, because of their location. The location is a low spot with all the water, so essentially, we had had to build a stone water management and detention system, and that put a field on top of it.”

The project called for leveling the entire field, in order to eliminate an uphill grade. The goalpost on the east end of the field was three feet higher than the post on the west end, because of the drastic rise in elevation.

Bjorn designed the football field, said Purdy, while Patrick designed the stormwater system and the under-field drainage system. Patrick was quick to note also that both Bjorn and Patrick are graduates of Calumet High School, and Patrick played on the field as a member of the Copper Kings.

“Emmett could design a football field to put on the site for the client,” said Purdy, “but it would have been under water.”

According to Purdy, Patrick came in and designed a stormwater system to control all the water before Bjorn came in and laid out his plan for the field.