By: JOSEPH KELLARD
The manure-type odor arose after workers uplifted and churned the grass and soil on the athletic field at the Fulton Avenue school, and residents immediately surrounding the field complained of the smell to the school district. At one point, some people residing further away were also confronted with the smell.
"I live three blocks from the school and in September I could smell it at my house," said a resident of W. Waukena Avenue. "It wasn't always like that. For the most part, you could smell it a block around the perimeter of the school. But it did get so strong that you could smell it a few blocks away."
As part of its district-wide multi-million-dollar capital improvement project, Oceanside schools awarded the project to a construction company in late July, which started work on the field soon after. When the smell began plaguing the neighborhood, community complaints over the problem reached the desk of assistant superintendent Lou Frontario, who oversees the district's construction projects.
"Even under the best conditions I didn't anticipate that there might be an odor," Frontario said.
The district went door to door at homes surrounding the school, handing out letters to residents about the status of the project, including reasons why they might be experiencing odors.
"When all the dirt was being churned, you have natural organic debris that was decaying to some extent," Frontario explained to the Herald.
He said the project got off to a relatively slow start, but is now nearing its final stages, with the irrigation system and sod to be installed next.
"The field has basically been re-grated already, and we should be putting down sod any day now, and then it will be done," Frontario said.
Like many other athletic fields in the school district, School 8's field has become a centerpoint in the community. Frontario met with and informed the athletic leagues who regularly use the field that the project would put it out of use until May 2005.
"They recognized the fact that we're putting a lot into the field," Frontario explained, "and that it takes time for the sod be able to take hold."
The assistant superintendent also received calls from residents wanting to know why the field needed to be worked on in the first place. With the field worn down to half-grass, half-dirt, district officials said the time had come.
The school board voted to weave the reconstruction of the field into its $28.6 million building alteration and improvements project that the community approved in January 2003. Including the replacement and upgrades to school roofs, windows, ceilings and floors, the project also included the construction of four new classrooms at both the high school and middle school.
"Out of all the projects, and we've done some Herculean things already, this has become such a problem," Frontario concluded. "Certainly we apologize for any inconvenience it may have caused, but we appreciated the residents' patience and know it's going to be better when it's all done. "
