With national competition looming for Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team, uncertainty regarding current lease situation hangs over team

It’s been an uncertain period for the Gig Harbor Canoe and Kayak Racing Team in possibly the most important time of the year for the team. That uncertainty brought them to the Gig Harbor City Council on Monday night where the council closed with nothing being done in regards to their current lease, leaving the team in further limbo.

This all comes in the midst of the team preparing to compete for Nationals in Georgia in August. They have been concerned about whether they will be able to continue to practice at Skansie Park in the short term, while they also hope for a dock to be built at Ancich Park.

The issue stemmed from a July 9 Public Works Committee meeting where Ken Malich, City Council Member, raised concerns about the team’s current use of Skansie Park.

“Think about all the kayakers in that back corner back there, making it impossible for people to use the park,” Ken Malich said in a Public Works Committee meeting on July 9. “We basically have made Skansie a storage area for the kayakers for free.”

The concerns were a surprise for many on the team who showed up to pack the city council meeting in order to make their opposition to the comments Malich had made known and express support for the team’s efforts to secure a more permanent home.

“I’m not anti-kayaker, but I do believe that they have to pay their way like every other boater has to pay their way to use the facility,” Malich said in that same meeting.

In that meeting, Malich proposed bringing the issue before the entire Council to discuss. The Committee voted 2-1 in favor of the motion to bring the agreement before the council. Malich and Jim Franich voted in favor of it with Bob Himes voting against it.

That conversation, along with the mention during the Committee meeting to put the team on “notice” brought out community members, competitors, family, and veterans of the program who all spoke to the concerns they had.

“It’s a whole lot of nothing really. Nothing progressed,” Jackson Plymale said after the meeting.

Plymale, a senior on the team, also joined those that spoke during public comment on the agenda item. He read a statement from coach Aaron Huston who had left for Romania that day that expressed concerns about how the “timing of this is really bad for our organization” in light of the proximity to nationals. This was echoed by Plymale after the meeting as well as he tries to keep the attention on competing even in the midst of the uncertainty about where the team can practice long-term.

“I have to really focus on my training right now personally and I just can’t let this get to my head,” Plymale said.

Plymale isn’t the only one. Teammate Frankie Kelly, who is one of the younger members of the team at fifteen, also emphasized this need and struggle to focus.

“I would say that it has definitely impeded our mental progress because a huge part of racing is mentality,” Kelly said. “We’ve been training super hard all year. I know everybody’s really physically and mentally strong. I think we’re prepared enough in that aspect but the thing with the parks, I think it just added a little bit more stress.”

Malich felt that there had been a misunderstanding of remarks he had made both in the July 9 Committee meeting as well as in statements he made to the Gateway about the intentions of the council which he attempted to clear up.

“What I was trying to do with my general comments to the press was I was looking out for the public,” Malich said. “I wanted the public to know that that park belongs to them and it doesn’t belong to any specific group.”

That didn’t seem to satisfy the concerns many had and left many frustrated as they headed out of the council especially from Plymale who felt like the initial committee meeting was an attack on his team.

“The last ten minutes of that recording is basically just the City Council trashing the team,” Plymale said. “Strong language is used and the word ‘eviction’ is one of them. I feel like the Council in their comments just glossed over that.”

The Council moved onto other items of business after voting down a recommendation that staff look into expanding the space the team can use at Skansie to 1,800 feet.

This story was originally published July 25, 2019 at 7:17 PM.