As leaders from the Concord School District and city government prepare to convene on the future of Memorial Field, some mutual agreement has emerged that the project ought to move forward sooner rather than later.

Latest designs would break the revamp down into two main phases carrying a total price tag of $28.5 million. With the track there rapidly approaching the end of its life, some city leaders want to move forward quickly, rather than putting money toward a temporary fix. To do so, they would need the school district on board and a cost-sharing arrangement hammered out.

Timing, though, will be key.

Plans for a new middle school, now moving ahead at Rundlett, would take all of its field space out of commission during the bulk of five years, according to current district construction estimates. A timeline places the start of construction in the fall of 2026. Work at Memorial Field, to fix persistent drainage and flooding problems, includes a structural rebuild of the fields from the earth up. Losing both playing spaces at the same time would force nearly all field sports at both the high school and middle school to relocate.

As city parks and recreation Director David Gill has previously noted, “The city doesn’t have the capacity to handle losing even part of both facilities at the same time.”

At-Large city councilor Nathan Fennessy — who has children in Concord schools at the middle and elementary school level — has said before that moving fast on revamping the fields seems imperative. At a biannual meeting of school and city leaders Friday, he reiterated that belief.

School board President Pamela Walsh seconded his comments.

“Obviously, that would be ideal from our point of view,” she said. “We’re ready to sit down and move on this whenever.”

But there are still details to work out, not limited to how much can each side afford to do and when and how they will work together to pay for it.

With a joint committee appointed, both sides said on Friday they’d like to get to work on developing a plan sometime in the next few weeks.

School board members Jim Richards and Barb Higgins will serve alongside city councilors Jeff Foote and Fennessy on the joint committee. They will be joined by city and school staff.

Catherine McLaughlin can be reached at cmclaughlin@cmonitor.com. You can subscribe to her Concord newsletter The City Beat at concordmonitor.com.