Formula For Victory: Don't Let Opposing Team Wash Their Hands!

Thanks to an eagle-eyed community resident, we were alerted to take a closer look at the architectural plans which were drawn up for the proposed new team locker rooms/PPA lockers/public restroom complex at Ashley Field.  What we found raised eyebrows; what we DIDN'T find raised the "ick" factor.

Excerpts from architectural renderings for Ashley Field Project

The home team (Sun Prairie) locker room is slated for 98 lockers (hold that thought!), 3 toilets (or "two-holers" as Caren Diedrich calls 'em), 6 urinals (or "one-holers" as [school board member] Caren Diedrich calls 'em), and 4 sinks.  The visitors side gets ONE toilet, THREE urinals, and NO SINKS!  We got news for you, Ms. Diedrich...those "one-holers" might be forced into service as "two-holers".

No Sinks
Really?  We had a locker room facility designed with NO SINKS for the visiting team?

Bigger Shower Area...for the Visiting Team
We also couldn't help but notice that the visitors shower area is at least 25% larger than that of the home team.  Does that mean we expect them to get dirtier than us?  Or do Sun Prairie players (with 25% more lockers) just like to shower in a more cozy situation?  You know...save water...shower with a friend?  The team that showers [more closely] together performs better?
Oh wait...now we get it...instead of sinks, they wash their hands in the shower area!

NINETY EIGHT LOCKERS...AYFKM?
With any building, space is cost...right?
NFL teams are allowed a 53-man roster, yet only 47 can "dress" for the game.
We reviewed all 2011 Big Eight rosters and found that the largest was Sun Prairie with 72; the smallest team had 41 on their roster (tie: Madison West and Madison Memorial).
Anyone that knows anything about building knows that cost is by square foot.  Building in larger locker space than is really needed or excess shower area just means a higher price tag for whoever pays the bill.

Are Women Are Just More Sanitary?
The design for the women's public restroom calls for 7 toilets and 4 sinks (3 plus 1 which appears to be optional).  The men's public restroom includes just one toilet (Dude...do you know what those stadium hotdogs do to a guy?) and 3 urinals.  Then there is one less sink than in the womens (2 plus 1 which appears to be optional).

Never Mind the Beef...Where's the Quality Control?
2012 isn't starting out much better than 2011 for the quality of information provided by the district.  How did these things pass muster?  Didn't ANYBODY review this?  At least we can understand from the drawings, as the drawings were both created and reviewed by a "JLP".  So they didn't receive a second tier review by the firm, and IF they were reviewed by district staff, it was clearly a sub par review.

This is really status quo for this district.  Tim Culver constantly verbalizes what a stellar district we are, but those are just words.  This is information available to the public, and it just doesn't cut it.  The school board and taxpaying public should certainly expect better data from people that are paid more than $100,000 per year.

Yes it only cost $5,000...but that's $5,000 we won't ever get back, and it's money that could have been better spent elsewhere.  Wasting other peoples' money has simply become first nature in this school district.

The Worst Cut of All
What is really the most embarrassing part of all this is that no one from the district caught these issues.  It took people from the community that have no knowledge whatsoever about architecture.  But you know what?  They know when something makes no sense...and it appears that's something they have over the highly compensated district administration.

Maybe someone should do some homework:
How To Design a High School Team Locker Room --by Rich Young (Young Equipment Sales) OCTOBER 27, 2011