New Pierce County sports complex has turf fields and oyster shell bocce courts
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- First two artificial turf fields at Gig Harbor Sports Complex expected to open in March.
- City has budgeted $6.2 million so far but hasn’t committed funding yet to future phases.
- Funding for more turf fields await a decision in the 2027–2028 budget process.
Kids could start playing on the first two artificial turf fields at the Gig Harbor Sports Complex as early as March.
Crews have rolled out all of the strips of turf and are gluing them together using an adhesive, Jyot Sandhu, a spokesperson for the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties, wrote in an email Feb. 9. The fields also have light poles and field goal posts in place, a YMCA blog post confirmed Jan. 19.
The YMCA expects to open the fields to the public in March, “depending on the weather,” Sandhu told The News Tribune.
Along with the new city park that opened to the public in June, the fields near the Tom Taylor Family YMCA represent part of the first phase of the project. The proposed Gig Harbor Sports Complex would add six turf fields to the community once complete.
“It’s exciting to see Phase 1 developing, coming to an end and ready to be used,” Michael Perrow, a member of the Gig Harbor Peninsula Youth Sports Coalition, said in a phone call Feb. 6. “And the community is excited to see Phases 2 and 3 completed to bring even more year-round field facilities to the community.”
Crews also installed new surface material made of oyster shells at the Doris Heritage Park bocce ball courts, according to an update from the city’s engineer, Chloe Wiser, the lead on the Doris Heritage Park project. The city had the courts resurfaced after receiving “feedback from park users that the bocce court surface could be better,” city spokesperson Lori Maricle explained in an email.
The city hasn’t yet committed funds toward the second and third phases of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex, which involve converting the Gig Harbor Little League fields to artificial turf and adding more turf fields to an undeveloped lot south of the YMCA.
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“The feasibility study is the latest action taken on Phases 2 and 3,” city Parks Manager Jennifer Haro told The News Tribune via email. “Currently, there is no money budgeted for design, permitting, or construction of those phases. A funding recommendation for this project will be included in the 2027-2028 budget and will be considered by city council as part of that process. The city council is responsible for enacting all legislation and making general policy decisions governing the city.”
The city’s capital improvement projects website, which is regularly updated, indicates the city has budgeted over $6 million so far for the sports complex. $4.65 million of that total is coming from the city’s Hospital Benefit Zone fund, which comes from sales tax revenues and pays for projects within a certain distance of St. Anthony’s Hospital, city officials previously told The News Tribune.
This story was originally published February 10, 2026 at 11:15 AM.
