Updated: School Board Nears Votes On FieldTurf, Land Swaps

The Oak Creek-Franklin School Board on Monday is scheduled to take up a proposal to install an artificial playing surface at the .

Commonly known by the brand name FieldTurf, the surface looks like real grass but is actually a synthetic playing surface that has become widely-used at football stadiums throughout the country.

If approved Monday, the turf would be installed in time for the start of the 2012 football season.

The estimated cost is $1,042,370, according to minutes of a school board committee meeting Feb. 20. School officials say it can be paid for through the district's exisiting budget and would not require raising taxes.

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Update 10:50 a.m. The School Board could also vote on with the city and Wispark tonight. Under the proposal, the school district would exchange 50 acres of vacant land near Oakwood and Howell for the city-owned Civic Center site at the corner of Puetz and Howell, which could be used for a potential expansion of .

The city would then swap that 50 acres for seven acres at the Delphi site, on which it would build a new library and city hall. Wispark, the development arm of We Energies that also owns the Delphi site, wants to use the 50 acres on Oakwood for the development of a business park.

The swaps need approval of the school board and common council.