(Note: not actual Roberts Stadium water pump; photo credit: www.prospect-sha.com)This past week, I received an email from Jonathan who would like for me to talk about Roberts Stadium's water pumps. Here is his question...
You've stated that raising the floor would fix the water pump issue, but I've heard that the real issue is water flowing under the floor/underground in the soil. Without the pumps, erosion would cause the floor to cave in even if the floor is raised. Could you research this and address out on your blog?
First of all, I would like to thank Jonathan for his question. I really do appreciate all of the emails I have received since starting this blog. This tells me that you the viewers of this blog really do care about Roberts Stadium and want to make sure we come up with a viable plan to keep it around. Feel free to email me anytime: JordanBaer1@gmail.com
Jonathan raises a good question and concern about Roberts Stadium. There's no doubt that the water pumps have been the main source of controversy for Roberts Stadium since they were put in.
For those who don't know, Roberts Stadium's floor sits below the water table. Because of this, water pumps have been installed to pump the water out 24/7. If these pumps are ever turned off, Roberts Stadium's floor would be completely under water.
This wasn't always the case. When Roberts Stadium was built in 1956, it was left above ground. But in the 1990's, city hall decided to renovate Roberts Stadium instead of paying about $78 million to build a downtown arena. This has clearly been a mistake which is why we need to support the arena and support keeping Roberts Stadium intact.
Like I said in earlier posts, we could have prevented this problem. Before city hall gave the green light to renovate Roberts Stadium, they were warned that digging into the ground underneath Roberts Stadium would be unwise...
http://local.evpl.org/views/viewimage.asp?ID=931099
As you can see, our city hall doesn't always make the right decision. This is why it is vital to understand that we desperately need a committee of interested citizens, architects, engineers, business experts, and city officials to investigate Roberts Stadium to the fullest.
By researching and answering Jonathan's question, I hope to begin this process. We need to know what we're dealing with if we are going to make this project successful.
To find the answer to Jonathan's question, I reached out to Lon Walters, who is running for the City Council 2nd Ward. From the moment I emailed Mr. Walters, he has done anything and everything he could to make sure I got my answer. I cannot stress how important it is for those of you living in the 2nd Ward to elect Mr. Walters. Lon made sure he stayed in contact with me every time he got a lead. How many city officials can you name that would do that? Heck, we're lucky just to get one email back from some of these officials. Lon Walters is a hard working candidate and we MUST support him (here is his website: http://lonforcouncil.com/).
Luckily, Mr. Walters knows many engineers. He decided to reach out to a group that is familiar with Roberts Stadium's floor. However, they have left the following message that I will honor...
"...a study commissioned of an Architectural / Engineering Team should be considered."
In other words, we need city hall to commission a report on the idea of raising the floor back up. If city hall has already done this, then great let's see the report and go from there. If city hall hasn't, they need to form this commission immediately before any decision on demolition can be considered. It isn't fair to judge Roberts Stadium's future without first having all the details.
"We would prefer remaining nameless in the background (advising the candidate )awaiting a future Request for Qualifications for Professional Services."
For this reason, I will not be giving out the names of any individuals, any corporations, or any specific job details these organizations have performed for Roberts Stadium and other buildings. You will just have to take my word that these people know Roberts Stadium, and they know what they are talking about. If city hall does the commission, everyone will know for sure what needs to be done. This is just to give you an idea of what to expect.
I have the utmost respect for Mr. Walters, the organizations that participated in this research, and the individuals who helped us out from these organizations. I will honor and respect their requests.
Anyways, the following is a basic, generic summary of what we need to do based on the emails I have received via Lon Walters from engineering professionals...
The engineers said that the current pump system is NOT causing the floor to sink nor would it cause the floor to sink if they were eliminated and the floor raised. They did say some type of pump system maybe needed after the floor is raised due to changes possible in the aquifer level like the high rain fall we had earlier this year but nothing major like we currently have. An aquifer is a wet underground layer of water-bearing permeable rock or unconsolidated materials (gravel, sand, or silt), not an underground river.
There you have it, to raise the floor, we simply need to raise the floor by removing the current floor, filling it in with gravel, sand, or silt, and then pouring concrete for a new floor at our desired level. Why do we need to raise the floor?
For the record, I initially was hesitant to the idea of raising the floor. I love Roberts Stadium in its current state and I would hate to see it shrink. However, if we do this right, it is the correct decision for several reasons...
1. Raising the floor will allow for us to turn off the expensive pumps, which would completely end the pumps controversy and save dramatically on maintenance costs.
2. Raising the floor will allow us to scale back Roberts Stadium for mid-sized events that do not want to perform in a half filled Roberts Stadium.
3. Raising the floor will allow us to remove several thousand seats (ideally 5,000-6,000 seats). We can either 1. sell these seats to finance the renovation or 2. Use these seats in the construction of 8 new ball fields at Kleymeyer Park and use a small piece of the Innkeepers Tax to finance the renovation.
4. Raising the floor is mandatory to have a regulation size field for indoor football and soccer.
5. Raising the floor will prove once and for all that Roberts Stadium will not compete with the new arena.
6. Raising the floor will bring the sky boxes closer to the action.
7. Raising the floor will bring the floor back to its original level where Ralph Legeman and Hank Roberts intended for it to be.
8. Raising the floor is cheaper than demolition. Initial estimates are roughly $400,000-$500,000 (this isn't written in stone so don't quote me on that estimate until we have a commission that has evaluated all of Roberts Stadium's structure).
9. Raising the floor will allow us to bring the handicap seats closer to the action which will comply with ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act).
10. Raising the floor will increase the amount of seats in the front row, thus creating more high valued seats.
The engineers also assured us that raising the floor will not affect Roberts Stadium's structure which is still on firm ground. The funny thing about it, is that if we were doing this renovation today, we could...
- Take the concrete rubble from the Executive Inn to Roberts Stadium to use as fill to raise the floor.
- Take the removed seats from Roberts Stadium to Kleymeyer Park and install them in 8 ball fields that represent vintage MLB ballparks.
- Take the dirt removed from Kleymeyer Park and use it as fill to level off the land underneath the former Executive Inn.
Amazingly, we had the opportunity to solve many problems by solving one problem! Still, this makes sense for both the Roberts Stadium and Kleymeyer Park/ ball fields projects.
For those of you who have been told that we cannot raise the floor, we should not raise the floor, or had not even considered the idea of raising the floor, I hope this answer to Jonathan's question helps you out with your concerns about Roberts Stadium's water pumps as well. It is extremely important to realize how big of an opportunity we have for our city.
We can either do the right thing and simply raise Roberts Stadium's floor up, or we can do the wrong thing and demolish our historic icon which will leave us with nothing but a higher bill.
You've heard the phrase, "Raise the Roof." Now, we need to RAISE THE FLOOR!
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