PenMet Parks boots preschool from historic building to make way for offices

A historic school building in Arletta on the Gig Harbor Peninsula will cease being a Montessori preschool in July 2019 and become offices after a vote from the Peninsula Metropolitan Parks Board of Directors on Aug. 20.

Peninsula Metropolitan Park District’s new executive director, Richard Fink II, faced public backlash after he presented the idea to move staff offices into the Arletta School Building at Hales Pass Park. The building currently houses the Arletta Montessori School preschool.

“... it’s one of our parks property, and it’s the only facility we have on the historic register,” Fink said. “It’s been used as a community space for a long time, and we are excited to bring offices here and continue that tradition of opening this space to the community.”

At the Aug. 20 meeting, 13 parents and teachers came to support the preschool, asking the board to reconsider allowing the school to continue using the historic building.

“I drive from the Key Peninsula for this high level of quality in the preschool. Preschoolers have a very hard time finding a place, much harder than finding office space,” Ryan Campbell, a parent, said at the meeting according to meeting minutes. “Environment is a huge factor in a preschool. Please choose education over offices.”

The school building was built in 1938 and still features its original architecture, floor plan and more.

Fink started his new role with PenMet Parks in spring, after well-known executive director Terry Lee retired. Helping find new office space for his employees was Fink’s first big decision.

PenMet Parks found itself needing office space after Tacoma Screw decided to not extend the agency’s lease on a building now used for indoor soccer and some administrative offices. Tacoma Screw intends to use that building, which is off 36th Street Northwest in Gig Harbor, for its own purposes when PenMet Parks’ lease expires in November.

Eventually, PenMet Parks intends to develop 10.5 acres it owns near the intersection of Wollochet Drive and Fillmore Drive, known as the Peninsula Gardens, for administrative offices and other uses. That move is several years off, though. PenMet bought the property with the abandoned buildings five years ago and has let the Gig Harbor farmers market use the site to create an indoor market since.

In the meantime, the agency needs office space. Fink said PenMet Parks is spending about $10,000 for portable offices at Sehmel Park to meet that need.

“We are having a difficult time providing the level of interaction with the community we need to,” Fink said.

The Arletta Montessori School has leased the Arletta school building for the past six years. According to the lease, the school is leasing one classroom in the building, but Fink says PenMet Parks regularly allows the school to use both classrooms in the main portion of the building.

Cheryl LaPlant, owner of the Arletta Montessori School, declined to comment to the Gateway but spoke at the Aug. 20 parks board meeting. LaPlant has four employees, and her school teaches a group of 3- to 6-year-old children.

“Preschools are bursting at the seams because they are so full,” Kristen Moriarty, a parent, said told the board, according to meeting minutes. “History of Hales Pass is as a schoolhouse, and the significance is historical and educational as the only remaining schoolhouse in Arletta. This is the only school my family can afford.”

According to ChildCare Aware of Washington, a grassroots organization that advocates for easier access to child care, the number of child care providers has remained stagnant the last few years.

Before school started this year, PenMet Parks renovated portions of the inside of the building including painting the walls, eradicating a large family of bats and replacing the building’s ceiling.

“It’s a great landmark in the Gig Harbor community,” Fink said. “The challenging thing about landmarks is there is extra layers of use. So far we’ve been able to maintain the historic character but preserve it.”

Fink said the space can be used as offices, storage and space for community programs such as camps, meetings and more.

The lease between PenMet Parks and Arletta Montessori School is reviewed and renewed annually, he added.

“We have a great relationship, it’s been a six-year long standing relationship,” Fink said. “It’s worked out well as having a tenant. We didn’t want to interrupt the upcoming school year. We have given them one year notice to find a different location.”

The lease required a 60-day eviction notice, Fink said, and PenMet Parks has offered to see if another parks facility might work for the school. The 2018-19 lease was not officially approved until the board approved Fink’s proposal at the Aug. 20 meeting, after the school year started for Arletta.

PenMet Parks Commissioner Amanda Babich said as a mother of young children she understands the testimony presented by parents of the school.

“The location of this school is a gem. It is a heartfelt investment,” Babich said at the meeting. “We must be fiscally responsible. Over two years of searching for a solution for office space and we owe our staff an adequate working environment. Our lease at the soccer center was canceled on us, and our staff need a place to work, and this is the most fiscally prudent option.”

The board voted 4-1, with Babich dissenting, to renew the school’s lease through June 30 and to have PenMet Parks staff continue to work out of portables at Sehmel Park until the school building at Hales Pass is vacated.

This story was originally published August 29, 2018 at 1:00 PM.