PenMet Parks sees future of Peninsula Gardens as recreation hot spot

Soccer is such a popular sport on the Gig Harbor and Key peninsulas that it has become a revenue-generating operation for the PenMet Parks District.

Soccer alone generates $200,000 for the district, said PenMet recreation manager Gretchen Hayes.

“It’s a big amount of revenue,” Hayes said. “It covers the salaries of full-time staff, rentals, equipment and maintenance.”

Along with other programs such as archery, flag football and day camps, the PenMet Indoor Soccer Center generates a revenue of $250,000 a year from league and rental fees.

But the indoor recreation facility and indoor soccer field that hundreds of children and adults love to play on is in a temporary facility, making the future of the facility located off 36th St. NW in Gig Harbor uncertain.

The building, which is owned by Tacoma Screw, is leased by PenMet on a year-to-year basis, said PenMet executive director Terry Lee.

“At some point they are going to want to use that site for distribution,” Lee said.

Because the indoor soccer fields have become so popular, the board is working with a design architect based in Seattle to design a future, permanent home for indoor fields and parks at Peninsula Gardens.

THE POPULARITY OF INDOOR PARKS

The current indoor soccer facilities opened in 2014 after Tacoma Screw bought the property and began leasing it to PenMet Parks.

Hayes, who started in 2010, said her original job with the district was to create new programs and manage special events.

“It was challenging to find indoor space,” she said. “Lack of facilities was a problem. We were sometimes able to use school buildings but the schools here have their own busy schedules. The community really wanted more.”

When the new indoor facility was approved, it relieved a lot of stress on the district and also let officials hire a new full-time staff and a large amount of part-time and temporary staff to run programs.

“We have a huge list of programs we’d like to start,” Hayes said. “Every time we think we cannot come up with new programs, we find more. People here keep giving us ideas.”

Some of the programs, such as the Friendship Club and Drop-in Park Day, are free for residents on the Key Peninsula and Gig Harbor Peninsula. But residents are willing to pay a fee to use the indoor facilities during the winter.

There are two soccer league seasons that are the most popular for the indoor field — winter and mid-winter when it is too cold and wet to keep playing games outside. The facilities serve the junior league for children between the ages of 3 and 10, youth leagues for children between the ages of 7 and 18, then adult leagues for those 18 and older.

Some of the leagues are formed by PenMet, others are clubs and some are school based. The facilities have two main league seasons: winter league runs from December through the beginning of February and mid-winter league runs from the middle of February through the beginning of April.

This year, 13 teams had to be turned away from joining the winter league and are hoping to get spots to facilitate games during mid-winter.

“We have 84 youth soccer teams and 45 adult soccer team that play each year,” Hayes said. “(Totaling) over 500 participants in junior soccer program.”

The indoor facilities are more than just for avid soccer fans and players, programs also include an indoor park for preschool children, outdoor soccer leagues for five weeks of games, flag football practices for PenMet Park leagues, school breaks and sports camps, archery, Mommy and Me classes, Friendship Club, which serves special populations for teens and adults, birthday parties, team parties and local sport team rentals.

“We serve such a large population of people,” Hayes said. “Everyone from babies to seniors. It wouldn’t just be a loss of revenue.”

A FUTURE HOME FOR PENINSULA SPORTS

Lee said losing the resources provided by an indoor facility would be a tough blow to the district that serves many.

It’s exactly why the district is looking to building a new indoor and outdoor park facility.

At the district’s Jan. 8 board meeting, PenMet decided to enter a contract with ARC Architects out of Seattle to begin the design of the indoor rec center.

“What will happen is we will discuss how big it will be, how much of a building we can have on this site,” Lee said. “We’ll involve the community and have a constant conversation towards the completion of a master site plan.”

PenMet is looking to use the 10.5 acres it owns near the intersection of Wollochet Drive and Fillmore Drive, where the Gig Harbor Farmers Market currently hosts its vendors every season. PenMet bought the property with the abandoned buildings five years ago and has let the market use the site to create an indoor market since.

The site is perfect for an indoor recreation facility because it has a lot of sight visibility from the street, has plenty of space and is near an underserved part of the community, Lee said.

“They really don’t have a lot of public parks near there,” he said. “In an area that is underserved for regular parks, we could have picnic areas, play structures, trail systems, and this could be incorporated around an indoor rec center.”

The very raw cost for an indoor recreation center with a soccer field is estimated at $14 million. There is a great chance this number could rise depending on how the design turns out and what the district decides to build. This it also includes costs for permitting and any unforeseen construction issues.

In November, voters approved a levy-lid lift for PenMet which raised the tax rate from $62 per $100,000 taxable home value to $75 per $100,000 taxable home value. PenMet cannot raise the tax rate any higher than $75 because of legislation that gives it a cap.

“It was a boost in our budget, but not to the level where we can build whatever we want,” Lee said. “Once the design is done and there is more of a timeline, we can discuss how to budget. We are blessed that everything we own is paid for, but we rely on taxpayers.”

Lee said about 90 percent of the district’s budget is funded by property tax and only about 6 percent is sales tax from programming fees. Currently, PenMet has $6 million in the bank, which would not cover even half the cost of a simple indoor recreation center.

The best option would be to go to the voters for a bond, but Lee said it’s too early in the process to make any decisions about bond ballots. First, the board wants to decide what all could be used at the facility.

If plans move forward, the district will remove all the original buildings from the Peninsula Garden area, and discussions about how to host the farmers market will be made. Lee believes it will be another three of four years until the community sees a new facility.

But overall, the cost of the building could be shadowed by the potential revenue it would make if the proposed center sees as much success as the current facilities.

Hayes is in full support of the project, which could host an array of programs she wants to see, such as baseball batting tunnels for hitting and pitching, lacrosse training and games, box lacrosse, indoor flag football leagues, driving range and skills competitions, First Tee classes, field hockey games, all-day camps, sport camps, softball training, dodgeball leagues and tournaments, gymnastics programs, preschool and youth classes along with adult and senior classes.

“It would be a great addition to our community,” Hayes said. “It would become a new community spot and could add a lot of new things to our district.”

This story was originally published January 22, 2018 at 10:49 AM with the headline "PenMet Parks sees future of Peninsula Gardens as recreation hot spot."