The complete renovation of Dietz Stadium may not be crossing the finish line for a few more months, but local officials have said the project is on schedule and should be ready for the start of Kingston High School’s fall sports season.
In the June 28 edition of his weekly newsletter, Kingston Mayor Steve Noble provided an update of the project, saying, “construction at Dietz Stadium is moving swiftly and is now close to 70 percent complete. Most of the planned work is expected to be completed in time for fall sports and home games starting in September, except for the interior of the grandstand, which is expected to be complete at the end of October.”
According to Noble, rock removal from the site is complete, totaling over 3,200-cubic-yards, or over 200 truckloads. Previous work on curbs, sidewalks and other paving were complete in time for the reopening of Andretta Pool.
Within the sports complex, turf on the playing field is complete, with the track expected to be finished by mid-July. E\Save for siding, exterior work on the new ticket booth, visitor concessions, and visitor side-storage buildings are finished, with interior work now underway. Roofing is currently being installed on the home concession building, and scoreboard and field lighting foundations are just underway.
In the grandstand, interior walls are completed, while new windows and doors are being installed and painting is underway. The tunnel from the grandstand to the field is also complete, with exterior weatherproofing and traffic coating progressing between 6 p.m. to 2 a.m. due to extreme daytime temperatures. Electric work within the grandstand is also underway, as is the steel framing for the upper roof of the press box.
Electricity is already complete in all other outbuildings, and power up of the site is expected in early August.
According to Noble, site crews are currently focused in three areas: Grading the practice field, working on the southeast corner of the loop road, and bringing the remaining sewer and water connections to the grandstand.
Kingston City School District Superintendent Paul Padalino said he was looking forward to returning to Dietz after more than a year of sports and Kingston High School’s graduation ceremony being in exile.
“We are really pleased that we’re moving along nicely,” Padalino said, adding that while it won’t be a seamless transition, it will be good to be back home.
“The one downside is the locker room and the bathrooms will be a little delayed, but we’ve made plans for that,” he said. “We’re bringing in a portable bathroom, and the mayor’s made the locker rooms over at Andretta Pool available if necessary.”
In the meantime, the district is getting ready.
“We’re inventorying and collecting our equipment, figuring out what needs to be moved, so we’re ready to go the second we’re ready to go,” he said.
Still, the district is also maintaining its athletic fields at M. Clifford Miller Middle School and Chambers and Crosby elementary schools just in case.
“That way we still have the capacity to do everything that needs to be done with our kids in the fall,” Padalino said.
That includes football practice, which begins in mid-August, and will not take place at Dietz Stadium. The Tigers’ varsity season begins with a non-league away game at Nyack on Saturday, September 7. They’re slated to host their home opener at the newly renovated Dietz on Friday, September 20 against non-league visitor Beacon, the first of four Friday night games in Kingston. That includes the Orange County Interscholastic Athletic Association (OCIAA) Section 9, Class AA opener against defending champ Middletown on September 27; a visit from Valley Central on October 10 and the regular-season finale against Pine Bush on November 1.
Kingston had three “home” games in 2023, all played at Rondout Valley High School. The rest of their schedule was comprised of road games.
Padalino said that district officials and KHS coaches toured the ongoing project last week and came away impressed.
Kingston High School is fresh off its first — and last — commencement exercise at Edward R. Crosby Elementary School in the Town of Ulster, with the graduation ceremony honoring the Class of 2024 coming off mostly without a hitch.
“I think that the team that pulled that together did a great job,” Padalino said. “It was a very different atmosphere. I felt like I was at like Tanglewood (festival grounds in Western Massachusetts). We ran shuttle buses, and I can’t thank the Town of Ulster Police and the Ulster Hose enough. They came out and helped us huge between parking and just being there, making sure that everything was known as it should be.”
Padalino added that the convivial nature of the day helped make it special for graduates, families and the KCSD community at large.
“It was actually a really nice community event where a lot of people came together to make it happen,” he said. “But I’m looking forward to getting back to Dietz Stadium.”
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