Island voters have approved the Vashon Island School District’s nearly $10 million capital facilities bond that will go on to fund a variety of improvement projects at the district’s three schools.

According to King County Elections, more than 73 percent of island voters cast ballots in favor of the proposition. More than half of the island’s registered voters returned ballots.

The largest project to be funded from the measure will be the construction of an all-weather turf field and rubberized, all-weather track at Vashon High School (VHS) budgeted for $5 million. The island’s athletic community has sought improvement for both facilities for years as the current track and field are decades old and suffer from draining issues. Both flood in the winter and spring, and Nisqually League track coaches have refused to hold track meets at Vashon, citing the unsafe quality and age of the facilities.

Former VHS track coach Russ Brazill headed the school’s track and field program from 1970 to 2002. The school’s first and current track was built in 1969, but the 1970 spring track season was the first time it was used. That was also Brazill’s first season and he said the track had its problems from the beginning, but he was happy to have a track at all.

“Most of the schools were putting in all-weather tracks even at that time,” he said. “Ours … had its problems. It was too narrow to make eight lanes. We had to do with seven lanes or even less because even in the beginning there were drainage problems. We would spend hours and hours out there every year trying to get the thing in shape. We would … dig ditches into infield to try to get the water to drain off the track,” he said.

Brazill said Vashon was still holding home track meets when he left in 2002, but just a few years later, league schools were refusing to compete on Vashon and determined that the track was no longer safe for league meets.

“A lot of schools who came here didn’t want to run on it,” he said explaining that unlike other cinder tracks, Vashon’s never seemed to become hard packed and loose rocks were always present on the surface. ”

The construction of a new all-weather track will change that and allow for home meets once again.

Meanwhile, the high school’s field is closed most of the year to maintain its quality. VISD’s former facilities manager, Dave Wilke, said the field is used for only 50 events each year (club lacrosse games, school soccer games, school football games and graduation) and water use can exceed 1 million gallons annually.

An artificial turf field is more expensive than a natural grass field and needs to be replaced more often, but board members believe the all-weather surface will allow for more community use throughout the year. As for mounting controversy of crumb rubber infill for artificial fields and the potential for it to cause serious health issues, the school board has made a commitment to using an alternative infill material for the field. A community group is being formed to decide on the field’s details.

Hans Van Dusen, president of the island’s soccer club, said the club is ecstatic about the bond’s passage and upcoming construction of a new field.

“We’re just excited for the youth to be honest,” he said. “We know the value of sports and exercise and are excited for more opportunities to grow strong and healthy kids. And as a tangential benefit, we look forward to the use for our programs to supplement what the school does.”

Other projects to funded by the bond include repairs and renovations at McMurray Middle and Chautauqua Elementary schools, a new district maintenance facility and renovations to Building K — which houses the district’s StudentLink and FamilyLink alternative learning programs. Project planning has begun and a timeline was presented to the school board at last Thursday’s meeting. According to that document, construction work on the smaller projects included in the bond — a new roof on the VHS gym, repairs to the VHS outdoor grandstand, VHS gym bleacher repairs, gym seismic bracing and a new kindergarten playground — will occur this summer. Construction of the larger projects, such as the new facilities maintenance building, high school track and field and the installation of new windows at McMurray Middle School will happen in the summer of 2018.

At last Thursday’s school board meeting, board members expressed their happiness about the bond’s passage with such a large margin.

“I thought it would pass, but I didn’t think it would pass like that. It’s amazing,” board member Dan Chasan said.

The bond is the fourth athletic facilities-related bond to be brought to voters in the last decade. Last February, island voters rejected a proposed $26.9 million bond that, in addition to the projects mentioned in the current bond, called for the construction of a new high school gymnasium. Before that, there was a two-part bond for a new high school and athletic facilities that failed in 2011 and a $75 million bond for a high school and athletic facilities in 2009 that was a “massive failure,” according to Vashon Island School District (VISD) Superintendent Michael Soltman.

Board meeting discussions also addressed the financing of the 15-year bond. VHS alumni and vice-president in the Piper Jaffray public finance group, Ryan Swanson, met with the board and explained that the school district’s current $1.48 per $1,000 of assesed home value tax rate will not change with the bond’s passage.

The bond’s success marks the end of a nine month-long process over the course of which the district’s five board members chipped away at the projects listed in last February’s failed bond. VISD brought in capital projects management consultant Brandy Fox, who has worked with the cities of Mercer Island and Tacoma, as well as the Mercer Island School District, who recommended seven areas of focus and excluded an overhaul of the VHS gymnasium.

The gym is one of three remaining buildings leftover from the original high school built roughly 40 years ago and concerns have been raised over whether the gym is seismically sound. When the planning process for the current bond began last summer, Fox worked with Steve Kicinski from Vashon’s Ellisport Engineering whose team reported there are no seismic upgrades required. A gym overhaul was taken off the table and replaced with plans for a new roof and minor seismic bracing of equipment. The gym projects will cost around $500,000.

Soltman attributed the bond’s success to Fox, who he said enabled the board to have confidence in her numbers and estimates.

“I think the board was really responsive,” he said. “I think they were thoughtful about each school receiving something to extend the life of those facilities.”

He said the campaign was also “a lot better” and cheaper than the one for the previous bond, Soltman said. He said the district spent $5,000 on the campaign for last February’s $26.9 million bond. This time, the district spent $2,000 and focused campaign efforts on social media, specifically Facebook.

“I think that’s the way to do it,” he said.

More than half of Vashon’s 8,725 registered voters cast ballots in this April’s election. Final results will be certified May 5.