By NEAL WAGNER / City Editor

Pelham High School officials unveiled plans during an April 12 parent meeting to build a new 2,700-square-foot field house expansion and a new ticket booth building at Ned Bearden Stadium.

During the meeting, which was held in the PHS football field house and drew a crowd of about 30 parents, school and city officials and coaches, Lathan Associates architect Shawn Calma presented conceptual drawings and blueprints for the two projects.

The plans called for the field house addition to be constructed near the eastern end of the current field house. The addition would feature separate boys’ and girls’ locker rooms, bathrooms and showers for the school’s soccer and track teams.

The addition also would include storage area for the two sports and two coaches’ offices.

“Track and cross country can go in, and on day one, say this is ours,” said PHS Principal Bob Lavett, noting the school’s soccer team also will be able to utilize the facility. “Athletics are important to me, they’re important to our kids and our community.”

The stadium currently does not have separate girls’ and boys’ locker rooms and restrooms for those two sports. If constructed, the field house addition would look similar to the current field house building.

Calma also presented plans for a new ticket booth and stadium entrance to replace the aged current ticket booth near the stadium’s west parking lot. The plans called for ticket booths and surrounding decorative black iron fences similar to the booths and fences at the PHS baseball stadium.

The ticket booth building would feature four ticket windows on the outside and windows to sell merchandise such as T-shirts on the other side, Calma said. The ticket booth could be constructed as early as next football season, Lavett said.

Calma said he had not yet determined a “firm cost” for the projects, but said he will work with school officials to estimate a dollar amount.

Pelham Mayor Don Murphy said after an approximate cost is determined, he will present the project to the City Council.

“I think if we get firm prices and we get the support of our city and our parents, we can get this done,” Lavett said. “To me, these are the finishing touches (to our athletic facilities). It will put us in good shape for years to come.”