Stellos Stadium will get its field turf replaced hopefully by the end of November, thanks to the Nashua Board of Aldermen approving $1.5 million for work on the facility on Monday night. (Telegraph file photo by TOM KING)

NASHUA — There will likely be high school spring sports played at Stellos Stadium in 2025.

That’s because the Nashua Board of Aldermen unanimously passed a proposal worth $1.5 million on Monday night for the purposing of installing new field turf at Stellos Stadium and making other improvements to the facility.

The move pretty much ensures, barring unforeseen weather issues, that high school spring sports will be played at Stellos after it was shut down earlier this month for safety reasons concerning the worn turf.

According to Alderman Rick Dowd, a contract will be signed on Thursday with a turf replacement company to perform the installation. Work could begin as early as next week, Dowd said, and be completed by at or around Dec. 1, before winter fully sets in.

The cost of replacing the turf was $848,675, and another $70,000 will be spent to re-do the drainage system, which, Dowd and Nashua School District director of operations Shawn Smith. Also, the family of the late James Stellos, for whom the stadium is named, has donated $200,000 specifically for the turf replacement — not the other improvements. That won’t be available until accepting it goes through the legal and legislative process.

“The turf we’re proposing is good turf, it’s better than anything that’s ever been made,” Smith said. “I think we’re doing all the right things.”

There will also, Smith and Nashua Athletic Director Lisa Gingras said, be a padding underneath the turf to help cushion it.

Gingras said that the facility is used on average for 14-17 games per week, especially in the fall with high school field hockey, boys and girls soccer, and varsity football, not to mention the all-day use on Sunday for youth football. Other areas -tears, etc.– besides the hardness of the field added to the concern, Gingras said, helping to lead after testing early in the month for the field to be shut down.

“I’d say we probably need to ensure we replace the turf more often,” Smith said. “It was 11 years the first time (from when the facility was built in 2001 to 2012) and 13 years this time. When we got the first field they said eight, nine years. This last time they said a little after 10 years, and now we’re at 13. I think that’s the biggest thing we can do is be pro-active.”

Other improvements include gates at the entrance to the stands, removal of the bushes in front of the visitors side to be replace by a fence, and new flooring for the locker rooms to prevent slippage, etc.

“We won’t get all those things done that are on the list, but certainly the turf and under-drainage have to be done this fall,” Smith said.