What’s the plan for Gig Harbor’s new sports complex? Here’s where the project stands
Construction on the new Gig Harbor sports complex is expected to start next year, and the City Council just approved $600,000 for design and permitting work.
The city’s part of the project includes playgrounds, pavilions, pickleball, bocce ball, a concessions building, stage, restroom, and event lawn.
The budget for that phase is $1 million: $600,000 for design and permitting and $400,000 for construction. About $600,000 will be local funding and $400,000 will come from state grants.
Public works director Jeff Langhelm told the council at its March 28 meeting that the concept for the project started in 2013. The city purchased 11.5 acres in 2017 that make up phase one of the sports complex at 10770 Harbor Hill Drive.
The master plan for the project was approved by the council in 2018, and there was “significant” input from the public and the council as that plan was created, he said.
The $599,451 contract with consulting firm BCRA will give the city a traffic analysis, information about light and noise impacts on neighborhoods in the area, soil reports, stormwater reports, parking requirements, and information about tree coverage and retention, Langhelm told the council.
“All of these reports that will be generated through this consultant contract will then be reviewed by city staff and then submitted to the community development department for their review on the eventual land-use application,” he said.
He stressed that the council was not voting on the construction contract yet, just design and permitting for the city’s part of the project, phase 1B. A construction contract is more than a year away, he said.
“We are asking at this point that those with any concerns to let the consultant move forward with generating the documents necessary to review potential impacts,” Langhelm told the council. “… I want to be clear that in order for the city to answer the questions that are being asked of it by the public, we need to initiate this contract, so that we can have the consultant develop the reports that the public is asking questions on.”
The YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap counties’ is responsible for phase 1A of the sports complex — artificial turf fields, lighting and parking. That phase depends on fundraising. The goal is $6.8 million.
The nonprofit has a lease with the city to build the fields on land the city purchased, with a deadline of June 30, 2023, to file permits and Dec. 31, 2024, to have everything funded and built.
Asked what happens if for some reason those deadlines aren’t met, city spokesperson Laura Pettitt said via email: “Theoretically, the lease could be canceled, although those deadlines are more for motivation … .”
She said the fundraising campaign has been live for a year.
Asked how much has been raised, Charlie Davis, President and CEO of the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap counties, said the nonprofit is pursuing major gifts at the moment because of the size of the project, and that they hope to have an update this summer.
Those who want to donate can visit ymcapkc.org/give.
‘The removal of trees’
One resident commented about the project during the March 28 council meeting.
“The sports complex impact steering committee will be circulating a petition from March 31 through April 18 that will be requesting that the city conduct a full environmental impact study on the multi-phase sports complex prior to any clear-cutting or tree or vegetation disturbance in each phase,” Georgina Armstrong told the council. “The residents and homeowners of Harbor Hill are not well-versed in this project. In fact, many know either nothing or very little of the project’s size and scope or the potential impacts it may have on the community.”
Armstrong, who sits on the Parks Commission, told the council she would prefer they put off the vote until the next meeting to give the public more time to understand the document.
She said the last public meeting about the project was in 2018, and that many who live in the neighborhood now weren’t living there then.
“The removal of trees is of great concern to this community,” she said. “And in fact, if you had started the clear-cutting around now, you would have a lot of really stunned people. I want to prepare you for that.”
She asked that issues related to the sports complex be as public as possible, with as much notice as possible.
“While this facility will be of much benefit to the greater Gig Harbor community … any large, regional facility has impacts on the immediate neighborhood where it is located, and it is those impacts in this case that concern many residents in the community,” Armstrong said.
Council member Roger Henderson said he wanted to make sure the public had “ample opportunities” to provide input.
“What I would like to achieve is a great deal of buy-in from the community, because they’re the eventual end users of this facility,” he said at the meeting. “… One of our topics at a study session might be about the landscaping and the tree retention and replanting.”
He stressed the importance of keeping residents in the loop.
“Reading back through older documents, even when my area was built up in Harbor Hill, the forest disappeared over one night and people were justifiably upset,” Henderson said. “I think the city is going to need to step up its game on notifying the public, before we start felling trees, about what’s going to happen, the extent, and maybe even a little something in there that says: ‘Here’s what we plan to do to mitigate the loss of these trees.’”
He also acknowledged construction in this area means trees have to come down.
“I understand we’re building this complex and it’s been stated here a lot that it’s going to be great for the community, but it’s going to be a very tough thing for people to see,” Henderson said.
Council member Mary Barber said she wanted the answers the contract will bring.
“I understand the extreme amount of concern and interest from the public,” she said. “I think that’s a really great thing about this community that everybody is so engaged and wants to be involved, but I would like us to be able to move forward with this contract so that we can get started on the investigation so that we know and have more answers and information for the public about the tree removal and the noise and those kinds of things so that it’s based on facts and studies that are professionally done.”
The council voted 5-2 to approve the consultant contract.
Council members Henderson and Robyn Denson voted against it. Council members Barber, Jeni Woock, Seth Storset, Brenda Lykins and Le Rodenberg voted for it.
Denson said she was in favor of the contract, but worried residents didn’t realize it was being considered. Serving as mayor pro tem while Mayor Tracie Markley was out sick, Denson made a motion to set over the issue until the next meeting.
An extra couple weeks would give more time to get the word out to those who might want to comment, she said.
It bothered her that it had been on the consent agenda (a list of things the council passes without public comment at the start of each meeting) and was later moved to new business. She said she supported that move, but wasn’t sure residents noticed.
“I feel that the community probably didn’t notice it on the consent agenda, and they certainly weren’t anticipating having an opportunity to comment, because we don’t have public comment on the consent agenda,” Denson said. “So they weren’t really prepared to then come and comment tonight if they had any input, pro or con.”
Other business
▪ The council extended two interim measures at the meeting to give the Planning Commission more time to propose long-term measures for the council to consider.
A six-month moratorium on short-term, Airbnb-style rentals was extended for another six months. That gives the city more time to figure out what sort of rules and regulations it wants for those properties, but community development director Katrina Knutson told the council that won’t take the full six-month extension. She thinks the council will have recommendations in June.
The other extension was for six more months of an interim emergency shelter and emergency housing zoning ordinance. Knutson said they shouldn’t need the full six months for that extension, either. She hopes the council will have an ordinance to consider in about a month.
The interim ordinance allows long-term transitional housing in areas that allow residential housing and shelters in any part of the city that allow hotels and motels, The Gateway reported. It brings the city’s code in line with a new state law.
▪ The council also approved the employment agreement for new City Administrator Linda Kelly. The agreement lists Kelly’s start date as April 18 and a base annual salary of $184,679.
