RICHMOND – By next year, students at a high school in Richmond are expected to have a new field house.

Construction for the 30,650-square-foot facility at Richmond-Burton Community High School is anticipated to start “as soon as school is out” in June, with projected completion by the end of December, Superintendent Dan Oest said.

School board members for District 157 unanimously approved the construction agreement for the gymnasium’s expansion at Tuesday night’s school board meeting at the school, 8311 N. Route 31 in Richmond.

The expansion includes an indoor track, separate locker rooms for athletics, more storage space, offices and three courts. With professional fees and contingencies, the project is estimated to cost $5.8 million.

The board received 72 construction bids.

John Mauer, school architect, said the school, in essence, is positioned to afford the expansion project and likely will not run into additional costs.

“Realistically, we’re not expecting to find any surprises,” he said.

Because of time-sensitive issues, the board had to award three bids Tuesday night for three contracting works: ATMI Precast for concrete precasting, S.G. Kraus for structural steel engineering and Premier Mechanical for the installation of heating, ventilation and air conditioning.

Before the vote, the board took comments from some of the approximately 50 residents who showed up at the meeting in the high school’s current 10,000 square-foot gymnasium.

Michelle Graham is a parent of two sons, including one involved with track and basketball at Richmond-Burton Community High School, where about 785 students are enrolled.

She said the gymnasium has been in need of an expansion for some time. Over the last four years, there have been eight runners, who upon graduating received college scholarships to continue in the sport. And to prepare for indoor track meets during the winter, the team would practice outdoors.

“They’d run around for practice outside, like at the state park off of Wilmot Road,” Graham said.

There were some parents and community members who questioned the need for the expansion and questioned whether the $6 million the district accumulated could be used elsewhere.

But Oest and other board members say the expansion has been a need for the high school going back to the school’s construction in 2000.

Since the 2000 building completion, the district has been accumulating reserves for the project under its building and grounds fund, and deferring construction until it can financially sustain its annual operations.