GULF SHORES, Ala. – A football analogy is apt as the city weighs its options on resurfacing the track at the Sportsplex.

Officials have decided, after getting conflicting opinions and advice from three separate contractors, to back up, punt and try another approach.

“We’ve spoken with three different companies about what has to be done prior to putting the surface on it and what type of surface to put on top of it,” Director of Recreation and Cultural Affairs Grant Brown said. “Quite frankly, each of them have a different story.”

To clear up the confusion and to make sure Gulf Shores gets a top-notch new surface, the City Council unanimously approved hiring a sports architect to guide the city through the process of upgrading the worn track.

And officials opted for the higher-grade surface that will cost less to resurface when it begins to wear in eight to 10 years. Work could possibly include the addition of a new steeple chase feature and improvements to the pole vault area.

Gulf Shores’ Sportplex has been the site of the Alabama High School Athletic Association’s track state championships for the past eight seasons. It is also under contract to host the meet again the first week of May.

Part of that contract says the city must provide adequate facilities and the 13-year-old surface was in a state of disrepair. The meet attracts about 4,000 people to the area and brings an economic impact of more than $1.1 million to the area.

In July the council OK’d $250,000 to $300,000 to resurface the track and sought bids. A better track, officials said at the time, could be used to keep the state meet and perhaps attract other Baldwin County school meets and even college events to the Sportsplex on County Road 6.

The three bids received following this action just created confusion.

“As we have gotten more into the resurfacing project at the track at our Sportsplex, it became very obvious there are specifications in the bid document process that we need to make sure are accurate,” Brown said.

To that end, he recommended Ed Norton of Holcombe Norton Partners, a sports architect from Birmingham hand coming up with specifications for the project, examining the bids and seeing the project through.

“He will actually come down and do sign offs on the work,” Brown said. “He will make sure it designed a proper drainage system because that’s probably the biggest problem we’ve had.”

Brown estimates the project could cost anywhere from $300,000 to $450,000 depending on the options the city decides on for the surface. Norton’s services would cost 7.8 percent of the total cost, projected to be just more than $23,000.

“What he has provided for us is an hourly rate to exceed on the low end of the $300,000 project at 7.8 percent architectural fees of a $23,400 cap,” Brown said. “That’s the most that this contract will cost us. In addition he will go through all these steps with us, help us prepare specifications, be sure that the bids are accurate and go through the rest of the process with us.”

The first part of the project will laying down new asphalt and making sure the grade meets collegiate standards, officials said.

The polyurethane surface proposed to and agreed on by the council, Public Works Director Mark Acreman said, is the most expensive option to start with. But he said it will be more economical in the long run, especially when future repairs are needed.

“We’ll save money in the long run and more than cover the cost of the architect, in my opinion,” Acreman said. “Polyurethane is an impermeable surface and once it’s down, just a small milling of that surface in the future and another layer of polyurethane when we need to resurface it.”

Another, less expensive, option involved a “sandwich” layer between the asphalt and polyurethane, to cut costs. The council felt the more expensive and durable option would better serve the city’s needs.

“If we don’t broaden it out to where we can do other things out there, this is money spent for a single event without ever having a return on the investment,” Mayor Robert Craft said. “But putting it in shape to where we can do other things gives us the opportunity to take advantage of both of these.

“So it’s my feeling if we’re going to do it, let’s do it right.”

Councilmen Jason Dyken, who first brought up the resurfacing issue in July, said this facility will attract other events.

“Doing this and doing it right really opens a lot of potential doors and we’d always said we were committed to that track,” Dyken said. “We’re in it for the long haul, so let’s do it right.”