The Community High School District 99 Board of Education has decided to go forward with an architectural and engineering study of its outdoor facilities.

The study will cost the district $100,000 and will take a year to complete.

“The goal is to lay out what the options would be with the fields and outdoor facilities,” said District 99 spokeswoman Faith Behr.

Behr said there were a number of concerns about the fields and stadiums used for high school sporting events.

“There’s not only crowding on the fields, the stands and the stadium but also there is not enough space to practice on,” Behr said.

After use in a sporting event, the field gets torn up — and sometimes the damage is bad enough to have games from other teams switched to an alternate location, Behr said. Replacing grass with synthetic field turf is an option.

Since the football stadium was built before either of the high schools had soccer teams, there is a problem with soccer fields spilling over to field walkways, said Behr.

The tracks have also reached their life expectancy.

“The safety of some of the track area surface is failing,” Behr said, adding they need to be repaved.

A redesign of the concession area, bathrooms and squad rooms is also up for consideration, Behr said.

After the study is complete, Superintendent Mark McDonald recommended a master site plan be developed. The School Board can then prioritize the renovations in sequence.