A bid was accepted Monday for construction of the Spanish Fort spring sports facilities at the Baldwin County Board of Education special board meeting.

The bid package, received on Sept. 13, for the spring sports included baseball, softball, track and soccer. Earth-Scapes, Inc., has been awarded the contract for the lower bid of $1,854,400. Earth-Scapes, Inc., is an Alabama-based business located in Phoenix City.

Terry Wilhite, director of communications for the BOE said, prior to the meeting, that this is a BOE project, and the city of Spanish Fort had made a proposal to contribute money.

Wilhite said the site would be located behind Spanish Fort High School and on a hillside that had already been flattened. Work will soon begin and needs to be ready by spring, he said. Wilhite also added that the school board has gotten an enormous amount of support from the community about this project.

Cypress Equities has donated one million dollars and the city of Spanish Fort donated $500,000, according to Mayor Joe Bonner. City council members, Mary Brabner and Mike McMillan, who represented the city on a commission to study this project, have met with the school board architects to help work the process through, Bonner said.

“The bid process was a function of the school board,” he said.

Base bids for the spring sports facilities were as follows: Asphalt Services, Inc. for $2,716.961, John G. Walton Construction Company for $2,813,713 and Earth-Scapes for $1,854,400. Lighting of the facilities will be addressed at a later date, according to BOE officials.

Mayor Bonner said the plan had been in the works for two and a half years. It was intended to be a complete recreational package for the “little guys to senior citizens,” he said.

He wanted to make sure that the city didn’t duplicate what the school board was doing, but he would like to have as many facilities as possible. He would like to see the facilities be used by many members of the community, like the tennis courts at Spirit Park will be, he said.

Wilhite said the master plan includes building a football stadium eventually. “As far as the football stadium, I would love to get a partnership,” Bonner said.

Tracy Roberts, BOE vice-president of District 7, said Tuesday the school board has considered building a football stadium at Spanish Fort High School. Though she is not sure if the football stadium is on the October meeting agenda, she said it would be a school board project in conjunction with the city of Spanish Fort.

Roberts is asking the school board to fund the cost of the fields, lights and bleachers. She hopes the city of Spanish Fort would cover funding of completion and amenities to include a field house, concession stand and bathrooms, she said. Roberts said the football stadium project would cost approximately $4.4 million dollars, and is asking the school board to consider funding $1.5 million dollars.