Since a semicircle is half of a circle, then the Area of a semicircle is half of the area of the circle! thus
[tex]\begin{gathered} A=\frac{\pi r^2}{2} \\ \\ A=\frac{\pi(9.6)^2}{2} \\ A=\frac{289.5291}{2} \\ A=144.76\text{ ft}^2 \\ \\ \text{ The area of the semicircle is }144.7ft^2 \end{gathered}[/tex]