By Brian CHERNICK

City of Glendale officials struck a deal with St. Francis High School to enter into an agreement to use Glendale Sports Complex’s baseball field for the next 10 years. As part of the deal, St. Francis will pay for all facility improvements including the replacement of the current natural turf with a fully artificial field as well as improvements to dugouts and score booth.

The high school will not be charged for normal use during the baseball season, which typically runs from January through May, and will incur normal fees for any usage outside of the agreement.

The deal was first discussed when the school approached the city in 2014 in search of a home field facility for its baseball team. The sports complex, located at 2200 Fern Lane, also includes two other softball and baseball fields as well as two full sized soccer fields. Officials stated that the city is expected to benefit from the artificial turf improvements that will allow local soccer organizations the ability to play on a U12 sized field during baseball’s offseason.

The project is estimated to cost St. Francis $1 million to $1.5 million and construction is expected to be complete in March 2018.

The city anticipates about $90,000 in revenue including $20,500 in rental revenue of the new field.

In the midst of one of California’s worst fire seasons, city officials also approved a $700,000 contract with United Engineering and Construction Inc. to design and build a new firefighter training facility for the Glendale Fire Dept. After expressing interest in a joint use agreement, Glendale City College will be providing $300,000 toward the construction cost. The Live Fire Modular Training Complex will replace the former facility, which was decommissioned in 2010, allowing firefighters to conduct live fire training once again.

Built out of empty shipping containers, the facility will be modular, allowing the fire department to modify the layout of its training and is expected to last longer than the previous complex that was constructed of concrete and wood.

The design and construction is expected to take six months.

  Brian CHERNICK