The Astoria School District Board on Monday became the final party to sign on to the designs of the Astoria Sports Complex.

The facility is expected to break ground in January and host its first event in September.

The board voted 4-0 Jeanette Sampson was absent to move ahead with the project to place a multi-sport complex on the site of a former municipal landfill along Williamsport Road.

We got most, said board member Shawn Helligso, who works for Helligso Construction, a contractor for the sports complex. We didnt get everything but thats the way it is with projects like this.

The district gets a sports complex that can seat 1,200 to 1,300 people, compared to 1,500 at John Warren Field, and parking about 300 vehicles, all while accommodating several sports. It also includes 10,000 square feet of building space for a concession stand, storage, bathrooms, showers, two locker rooms and two team rooms similar to locker rooms, but not entirely built out.

Is there going to be a way for people to walk to this?, asked board member Laurie Choate, referencing something the district didnt get: paved pedestrian access.

John Warren Field, which the hospital will get in exchange for financing the new venue, is located on flat ground, bounded on three sides by city streets, and the main approach along Exchange Street lit at night. The Astoria Sports Complex lies down a hill along a winding, forested road with no sidewalks, shoulders or lights.

Superintendent Craig Hoppes said theres a trail that comes down from neighborhoods up the hill that Western Oregon Wast has agreed to clear, pointing to the citys trail system as the main pedestrian approach.

We can just communicate and plead with parents not to have their children walk, said Hoppes, adding that the district could run shuttles from Astoria High and Middle schools and will likely have to for larger events, along with posting flaggers on the road. He said that there will be changes and additions to the design and specifications of the complex, given its scope.

Hoppes said the citys recent transportation system plan included the recommendation of sidewalks along Williamsport, but thats unlikely because of the cost. A traffic safety plan completed for the complex, he added, only required that the district post flaggers.

Choate said that 10, 20 years down the road, if the area becomes a more popular recreational area, it will need sidewalks. The city plans to eventually put its fleet at a facility near the complex, and Helligso said Recology (formerly Western Oregon Waste looks to improve its facility there as well.

Despite any issues, he said, the district is going to get a safe, well-built sports complex.

You pay me to work on this, and it has been a lot of work, said Hoppes. Sean (Helligso) put in a lot of hours, and he didnt get paid for them.

Hoppes said Helligsos construction experience and advice was valuable in negotiations, which went on for two years with the hospital and the city of Astoria. The district has looked at several locations over the years to site a sports complex, including Warren Field, near its bus barn in Lewis and Clark, near the U.S. Coast Guard Exchange along Marine Drive and at the high and middle schools.