If projections hold and the summer weather cooperates, Rockbridge County High School’s football team could take the field this fall on a brand new artificial turf surface, one built to professional- grade standards and designed to handle the kind of heavy use that has worn down the school’s existing natural grass field for years.
The project, however, is behind schedule, and w hether it will be ready before the opening of fall sports season remains an open question.
Construction on the $1.7 million turf field was originally slated to begin May 1, then pushed to June 1, but as of Monday no work was visible at Prasnicki-Ross Field at Veterans Stadium. Superintendent Phillip Thompson, reached by phone and email, said last- minute stormwater management concerns raised by a third-party engineering firm have held up the project’s start.
“It will be tight, but we are still hoping to be done prior to the beginning of the fall football season,” Thompson said. “Much of this will depend on the weather over the summer.”
To address the stormwater issue, Rockbridge County Public Schools will need to clear vegetation that has grown into an existing detention basin in the wooded area behind the visitors bleachers. Thompson said a contractor is lined up to begin that work as soon as possible.
Once construction begins, Thompson said the project will follow a roughly eight-to-12-week construction timeline, broken into several phases.
The first weeks will involve site preparation, mobilizing crews, installing erosion controls, protecting the existing running track, and beginning to modify existing drainage infrastructure. From there, the existing grass surface and topsoil will be excavated and removed, with the subgrade shaped, leveled, and compacted to form a stable platform for the new system.
An underground drainage network will then be installed beneath the field, using perforated HDPE (high-density polyethylene) collector pipes connected to the site’s existing storm outfall. A concrete perimeter curb will be poured around the field, which serves both to anchor the turf system mechanically and to define the field’s exact dimensions.
The structural backbone of the field is an 8-inch layer of clean, porous stone, laser-graded and compacted over a geotextile separation fabric, Thompson explained. On top of that goes a 15-millimeter shock pad, followed by the synthetic turf itself, rolled out, seamed and anchored into the concrete curb. Field markings, including lines, numbers, logos, end zone lettering and memorial graphics, will be cut and inlaid directly into the turf rather than painted on, eliminating one of the ongoing maintenance demands of a traditional grass field.
The final phase covers site restoration, cleanup, and staff training on grooming and maintenance procedures.
The project is being contracted through LandTek using a product called Pivot, a non-infill turf system that does not use crumb rubber or sand, Thompson said. Because there is no loose infill material, there are no rubber pellets tracking into players’ cleats, uniforms or school facilities, a distinction from older turf systems that have drawn scrutiny over health concerns related to crumb rubber. Thompson said the technology is similar to systems used at collegiate and professional venues.
Funding
The total cost of the artificial turf project is $1,695,360. The Rockbridge County Board of Supervisors has committed $1,250,000 from the county general fund to the school capital fund — $500,000 in FY2026 and $750,000 in FY2027, pursuant to action taken at the Board’s December 2025 meeting.
Lexington, which sends students to RCHS under a 1989 consolidation agreement, will contribute a share of the turf field cost. Based on current RCHS enrollment figures, Lexington’s portion is calculated at 15.76%, which amounts to approximately $267,188.
The remaining $178,172 will come from the School Board’s capital improvement escrow account.
The project was originally contemplated as part of a broader recreation center bond issuance. When that bond vote did not move forward this spring, the county pivoted to general fund financing for the turf field. Thompson said the turf field was always an independent school facilities project that would have been necessary regardless of the recreation center’s status.
If a bond issue for the recreation center does move forward in the fall, County Administrator Spencer Suter said, funding for a planned tennis court project, similarly estimated at $1.5 million, would likely be included in that issuance.
Planning process
The turf field’s path to approval drew questions at a joint meeting of the Lexington City Council and Lexington City School Board in late April, where officials indicated uncertainty about when and how the project had been added to the county’s capital improvements plan.
Thompson said in an email to The News-Gazette that the turf field had been incorporated into the school division’s CIP following a joint meeting between the School Board and the Board of Supervisors in November 2025.
The field had not previously appeared in the county’s capital planning documents, a point noted at the joint meeting. The recreation center, by contrast, has appeared in capital planning documents for many years. The initial combination of the funding of the projects led to confusion after the recreation center was put on hold.
The county has noted that turf fields typically require replacement after 10 to 12 years, at an estimated cost of $700,000 to $800,000, a future expense that will need to be factored into long-term capital planning.
Thompson said construction access and noise will be coordinated with summer school operations to minimize disruption.
