When the first signs of spring roll around, most high school track and field teams are anxious to get outside for early season practices.

In recent years that hasn't been an option in Palmerton as the district deals with swampy stadium conditions and a facility that's been, for the most part, unusable for home meets.Plans are in place to rectify that with the addition of an artificial turf playing surface and an all-weather track, but sophomore runner Jacob Martinez encouraged the school board Tuesday night to get on with the project sooner rather than later."I'm not here for myself or any athletic team," Martinez told the board, "I'm here because the community as a whole deserves a facility they can be proud of."Last month, Palmerton announced it was looking at two possible start dates for the project, largely contingent on when a highway occupancy permit from the Pennsylvania Department of Transportation and municipal approvals from Palmerton Borough and Lower Towamensing Township are in hand.The potentially cheaper option, according to engineering firm Barry Isett and Associates, is to put the project out to bid in late summer 2017 with work on the stadium starting after the 2017 football season and being completed by July 31, 2018. That would mean two more track seasons before the team could use the new surface.Martinez favors the fast-tracked option of putting the project out to bid in January 2017 with work at the stadium running from April 1 through July 31, 2017."While that may cost more up front, there are other costs involved with not having track meets here at home," he said.Palmerton has been busing its team to Northern Lehigh High School for home track meets. That not only costs the district for transportation, but while at Northern Lehigh, it's the Bulldogs parents club, not the Bombers, taking in revenue from food stand sales.With a new facility, Palmerton could host multi-team track invitationals, which Martinez said brings in a lot of money to surrounding districts.Beyond the financial factor, he told the board, is the thought of safety."You can ask our trainer how many injuries we have because of having to run indoors," he said. "I was a manager for the track team when I was in eighth grade and they spent five weeks practicing indoors. Half of the team had shin splints or related injuries."Palmerton has made drastic improvements academically, Martinez said, and he wants its athletic program to keep pace."We can't go from this bad cinder track to most of our other competitions including at the district and state level on all-weather tracks," he said. "There is also no reason our soccer team should have to keep practicing down at Seventh Street, which is a softball field and full of holes and divots."Superintendent Scot Engler thanked Martinez and told him many of the issues he spoke about were considered by the board when it decided to move forward with the stadium project."We sent out surveys to other schools and asked them to rank our facility compared to others in the league and we know what they think," Engler said. "Our motion last month was so we could compare these two options. We have to see when we get our approvals in and if that even gives us an option of time lines."Regardless of when the stadium project is completed, Martinez looks forward to having a facility to call home."Northern Lehigh isn't our home for track meets," he said, "Palmerton is."