$7M fields to help with waitlists for kids sports in this part of Pierce County

Construction is underway on two artificial turf fields at the future Gig Harbor Sports Complex, another step forward in a massive project to address the demand from youth sports for lit turf fields in Gig Harbor.

Phase 1A of the Gig Harbor Sports Complex will add two synthetic turf fields, field lighting and 100 parking stalls next to the existing Tom Taylor Family YMCA, according to the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties website and a 2021 press release.

A multi-year fundraising campaign for the project is nearing the finish line: Donations stood at $6.9 million Thursday, only about $100,000 short of the $7 million target, according to YMCA spokesperson Jyot Sandhu. That total includes about $1 million expected from the state capital budget, which awaits the governor’s signature by May 17, and $2.3 million from the city of Gig Harbor.

The YMCA is still asking for donations, and is offering inscribed bricks to recognize donors of $250, $500 and $1,000 amounts, according to the YMCA website.

The groundbreaking ceremony at the Tom Taylor YMCA was at 1 p.m. on May 2.

Sports fields funded with YMCA, city and state contributions

The minimum cost for the fields was originally estimated at $3.85 million, to be funded mostly by the YMCA except for a $350,000 grant from the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, according to the original lease agreement between the city and YMCA signed in May 2021. An amended lease signed and approved by the city council in March of this year indicated that the estimated minimum cost had grown to $7 million, and the city committed to providing $2.3 million of that total.

$2 million of the city’s contributions would come from the Hospital Benefit Zone fund, the updated lease said.

City Clerk Josh Stecker wrote in an email Friday that the Hospital Benefit Zone fund is drawn from sales tax revenues, and “is not an additional sales tax levied by the city” but “a portion of the state’s 6.5% sales tax that is set aside specifically for this fund.”

Only capital projects within a certain distance of St. Anthony’s Hospital are eligible for money from the Hospital Benefit Zone fund, city Parks Manager Jennifer Haro wrote in an email Monday.

Asked via phone Friday about the city’s decision to help fund Phase 1A, Mayor Mary Barber said there were several factors, including the COVID-19 pandemic.

The pandemic “changed fundraising,” Barber said. “We did need to pivot and make some adjustments, and the city believed so strongly in the project that we were willing to commit that funding.”

The fundraising campaign took longer than expected, pushing back the project timeline, The News Tribune reported.

The YMCA is scheduled to have the fields complete this December after the city extended the deadline by another year, according to Jessie Palmer, senior executive of financial development for the YMCA of Pierce and Kitsap Counties. Each field will be 360 feet by 210 feet, which allows them to accommodate sports including soccer, youth football, lacrosse and Little League baseball at the T-ball level, Palmer said in an interview on April 29.

Meeting demand for youth athletic fields

“These fields are not just an investment in our youth, but in our local economy too, with the potential to bring in future tournaments and visitors to support nearby businesses,” Barber said in a YMCA press release. “This public-private partnership that we initiated with the YMCA over a decade ago is a great example of how we can come together to create more places for kids to play, grow, and thrive.”

The YMCA press release noted that there are over 9,000 youth who participate in field sports in Gig Harbor and surrounding areas.

“Local sports groups have had to limit the number of participants and put kids on waitlists because there are not additional fields to accommodate the demand,” the release said. “The synthetic turf fields will also help ensure fewer cancellations due to poor weather or muddy or unsafe field conditions. Additionally, well-lit fields will keep events safely running year-round, even during dark winter hours.”

A timeline on the Gig Harbor Peninsula Youth Sports Coalition website tracking the community’s journey toward establishing the sports complex says that Gig Harbor has faced a lack of sports fields for decades. Several land acquisitions and many public meetings and open house events helped push the project forward, according to the timeline.

The fields will also allow the YMCA to offer more of its own programming, like summer day camp activities that they previously had to host in the parking lot with tents and roll-up artificial turf mats, according to Palmer.

The city of Gig Harbor donated the land for the two fields, after paying $3.5 million in 2017 to purchase it along with land to build an adjacent park, according to city Parks Manager Haro. The city council approved a master plan in 2018 directing the design, permitting and construction for the sports complex; and has committed a total of $10.5 million for the complex so far as a whole, according to the city website.

City park amenities nearly complete

A city newsletter on April 23 said that construction is set to finish in late May on another phase of the larger sports complex: a park next to the YMCA-operated turf fields. The city’s budget for that phase was $5.2 million in the 2023-2024 budget, per the city website.

Phase 1B will add a variety of recreational amenities to the sports complex, including a restrooms/concession building, picnic shelters, event lawn, bocce ball courts, pickleball courts and more parking, per the city website. It will also feature a ship play structure, Native American canoes on the playground and a performance stage and lawn, according to a measure recently reviewed by the city council to decide on a name.

After receiving 24 suggestions from the public, the city council landed on the name Doris Heritage Park, according to a city resolution on April 28. The name honors a Gig Harbor athlete who broke two world records and won dozens of national and world titles for distance running, including at the Olympics, according to her bio in the National Track & Field Hall of Fame. Doris Heritage attended Peninsula High School — at a time when girls weren’t allowed to run on the track — and finished her career as a running coach for four decades at Seattle Pacific University, the resolution says.

Phases 2 and 3 still in design stage

There’s also a second and third phase projected for the project, though no funding has been allocated yet for the design, permitting or construction of those phases, according to city Parks Manager Haro. She also wrote that the city doesn’t have any agreements in place to partner with other organizations on the phases.

The city paid $125,000 for a feasibility study of Phases 2 and 3. Estimated costs for those phases stand at $28 million, Haro wrote in her email. The city council approved that feasibility study from consultant BCRA in March 2024.

Phase 2 will convert the Peninsula Light Fields currently leased by Gig Harbor Little League to artificial turf, and Phase 3 will develop additional turf fields on undeveloped land south of the existing Tom Taylor YMCA, according to the city website.