If installation goes as planned, the Fairview Aggies might finally be back in their home stadium by the 2016 season — but that doesn’t mean work is anywhere close to finished.

The bleachers at Fairview High’s Dafford Smith Stadium were condemned and deemed unsafe for use two years ago, so the Aggies have spent the past two seasons playing home games at Cullman High School’s Oliver Woodard Stadium. That should hopefully change in 2016, as the school board has approved $499,950 for CH Harris, Inc. to proceed with a stadium replacement seating project. The funding passed with one vote against, with board member Jason Speegle in dissent. 

“This has the potential to make it where that could be operational by fall 2016, then proceed from there for future upgrades,” interim superintendent Brandon Payne said. 

In an effort to potentially raise grant funds to upgrade the stadium, the school board is considering a plan to lease the property that houses the stadium to the town of Fairview. Ideally, officials hope that will make the project more viable for grant funding. In the meantime, officials hope the new bleachers would also allow the stadium to reopen, though the community at large is still eyeing more ambitious renovations for the facility.

“With that, they’d be able to seek grant funds from several sources,” Payne said of the leasing concept. “Even if it takes 2-3 years to raise the funds, they’ll at least be able to play at home.”

Board member Chris Carter, who represents the Fairview community, championed the decision.

“These are our students,” he said. “We have a band, track team, football players. They’ve missed two seasons.”

Speegle, who voted against the move, said he was concerned the $499,950 could be wasted if the community manages to eventually raise funds for a larger renovation, which might include pulling out these new bleachers. Payne noted this was the cheapest option available to hopefully get the Aggies home next season, and proved a less-expensive route than renting temporary bleachers.

As part of the annual capital plan approved earlier this year, the board opted to earmark $450,000 for repairs at Dafford Smith Stadium, which was condemned in 2014 just a few days before the start of the football season. A structural engineer found the concrete bleachers to be unsafe, meaning they could have potentially collapsed had they been used.

The board has already spent approximately $30,000 to draw up and submit detailed plans for the bleacher replacement project, which will essentially remove the old bleachers and pour new concrete bleachers in their place.

In parallel, Fairview High principal Dr. Chris Gambrill and members of the community have been working on a more ambitious plan that would replace many of the buildings at the stadium, the bleachers, and include the addition of a new track. That proposal is estimated to cost more than $3 million, which Gambrill hopes to fund in phases by raising funds from the community and alumni base.

But, the plans are not immediately complementary, so it remains to be seen how these proposed new bleachers could fit into the larger renovation, assuming the necessary funding can be raised by the community.