'Build the Hive' looks to November ballot for second chance at funding

May 25—FAIRMONT — Closing in on two years of "Build the Hive," the stadium project at East Fairmont had the opportunity to secure more money through the school board bond in May's election, unfortunately, voters turned down the bond.

"Everything's kind of ready to go just towards fundraising," Tyler McCutchan of the East Fairmont High School Foundation Inc., said. "The school bond was probably our biggest opportunity to get something started."

Money for the stadium wasn't a major focus of the bond. It was meant to give money to all the schools for various needs, including athletic facilities. McCutchan said the project would have received whatever money remained after roof and drainage repairs were made to East Fairmont High.

The project will go forward as planned. The question now is where will the funds needed to pay for the projected $8 million facility, the current project estimate McCutchan has.

It's been over a year since the Marion County Board of Education gave a thumbs-up for the project. Since then, the main focus has been community fundraising, such as selling Build the Hive shirts at football games in the fall. McCutchan hopes to get corporate funds too.

Something that McCutchan said will help the project build momentum for support is reaching the first million mark.

"I think the first million dollars is definitely the hardest," McCutchan said. "I think after that allows us to generate momentum towards it. I don't think anybody in the county disputes the need to have something at East Fairmont High School. It's just a matter of how we get it and how we fund it."

The need for a new stadium seems to be greater than it has before. East-West Stadium, the current facility for East Fairmont athletics, also hosts sports for East Fairmont and West Fairmont middle schools, and Fairmont Senior High plus other events.

"The turf doesn't last as long, the track doesn't last as long," McCutchan said. "You have two high schools, two middle schools, and all their feeder schools trying to use the same facility, and it's hard. It's a nightmare."

East Fairmont head football coach Shane Eakle team, who also coaches East Fairmont's track and field team, knows firsthand how difficult it is to not have a stadium for the school to call its own.

"Time management for kids, the ability to walk out of your building and be able to practice right there and not have to worry about buses over back and forth," Eakle said. "Special events, as far as being able to juggle summer events, even giving back to the community, those kind of things are hindered."

Some of the summer events Eakle named included Special Olympics and sports camps and leagues for youth.

According to Eakle, East Fairmont only has one locker room at East-West Stadium, and the football team gets one day a week to practice there. The track team can't even host meets as a way to generate revenue for team expenses because the track isn't up to standards.

And it's not just football and track that would benefit from a new stadium. Eakle said soccer and band would reap the benefits of it too.

There have been attempts to build a stadium at East Fairmont High since the building was constructed in 1993. According to McCutchan, the construction went over budget, and a stadium couldn't fit. Since then, all other attempts have fallen short.

So far, Build the Hive paid McKinley Architecture & Engineering from Wheeling to do a feasibility study and create a 30% design for phase one of the project. While one might not see room for a football stadium with an eight-lane track around it to fit behind the high school where the grass practice field currently is, Eakle said there's plenty of room to make it work.

"It's hard to see a project when you haven't broken ground," Eakle said. "It's actually a pretty big space down there, and when they drop down there's additional roads off to the side to widen that out a little bit. It becomes larger as you go down a few feet."

Eakle also said school officials have talked with Wayne Ryan, assistant executive director at the West Virginia Secondary School Activities Commission, and the designs for the stadium fall under the requirements to host football playoff games and regional track meets.

According to McCutchan, the City of Pleasant Valley has given its support for the project, along with the Marion County Board of Education. Unfortunately, the Board can't provide much monetary support due to state laws regarding sports facilities. McCutchan said that aspect may make businesses less interested in helping fund the project.

As for what's next, McCutchan said the project will present the full 30% design phase to the Board to go over the plan in detail and make any necessary updates. He also hopes that an adjusted bond for November's election will give a little more money to the stadium project.

"Another goal is to tweak the bond to allow a little bit more to go into the start of this," McCutchan said. "We're upgrading North Marion. We're upgrading East-West Stadium, which, if enough money went to East Fairmont, we can officially make that designation that Fairmont Senior would have their own facility.

"It's a tough road for sure. I don't think anyone on the [stadium] committee is going to give up or stop working towards it. I hope that we can get the bond passed with some adjustments and get a good jump start on this."

Reach Colin C. Rhodes at 304-367-2548