East Lyme — The Board of Education Monday approved a $2.8 million project to build an athletic complex at the high school that sports teams and members of community have been rooting for.

Town officials will decide next whether to ask taxpayers to endorse the plan, which includes an artificial turf field, track, lights and bleachers. The proposal calls for the town to borrow $2.3 million and the rest to come from an aggressive fundraising campaign.

If approved, the athletic complex could be completed by fall 2011, according to Schools Superintendent James Lombardo.

"I'm excited and pleased that this first phase of the process is completed. It's a smart plan," Lombardo said. "I know this community has been thinking about this for many years."

School board members prolonged voting on the proposal for a couple of months because some wanted more details about the environmental impact of artificial turf. Board chairman Tim Hagen commended the group for their research on the matter.

"The board was magnificent in its thoughtfulness and thoroughness in deliberating," Hagen said.

Board member Beth Groeber and Richard Steel voted against the project. Steel asked the board to wait until the school's facilities feasibility study was completed to better understand the district's priorities. Groeber wanted the board to consider alternative in-fill options instead of using the rubber tire and sand proposed.

Lombardo talked briefly about some of the early findings from the facilities feasibility study, which won't be finalized until sometime in January.

"The (current) athletic complex has significant safety issues and some lifetime issues. ... We can't put those off in order to plan for structural needs that are going to happen," Lombardo said. "I don't think we can wait five years for the field."

The current football field is used about 200 times a year, but its condition limits the number of activities it can hold. Gale Associates, a firm hired by the board to conduct a feasibility study, said a synthetic, or artificial turf, field would almost double the number of times it can be used, from holding 200 activities a year to between 400 and 500.

"Home" soccer games are played off campus at Bridebrook Park; girls' soccer practices are also off campus; and the athletic department is unable to host championship or post-season level events on the field.

The turf field project was included in the town's capital improvement plan, which was approved by voters this May. Voters still would have to approve the bonding of the money to build it.

a.renczkowski@theday.com