By Pepper Fisher
PORT ANGELES – The Port Angeles School Board got an update Thursday night on the planned $1.5 million Monroe playfield project near Roosevelt Elementary School.
Architect Derrick Eberle presented an updated site plan and talked about scheduling the project for next summer.
“We’re shooting to be able to submit permits, perhaps by the middle of next month. We need to do a pre-application meeting with the county to determine if there’s any other things we need to revise and make sure we’re on the right track, but that’s our current goal.”
Some of the funding for the project comes from a voter-approved capital levy that passed in February of 2020. Additional funding for the field will come from real-estate transaction revenues and savings from construction projects previously allocated to contractors and were instead completed with internal resources.
Located on the lot that was partially occupied by Monroe Elementary School, the new, multi-use playfield will be unlike any other facility in Port Angeles. The synthetic turf and a layer of soft padding underneath will ensure year-round playability for any number of sports, and will save a lot of money in terms of maintenance costs in the long term, says Maintenance Director Nolan Duce:
“Sports fields, you’re putting a lot of labor in and with that labor, you’re also paying benefits. And so, when you look at the labor and benefits and then the water, huge amount of work to keep it green, to keep it looking good, and to keep it in shape. We don’t have enough fields to support the use that we put on them, and so there’s times where they just get tore up and we have to close them up.”
Duce says the all-weather field will be used for football, soccer, baseball and other sports, and is expected to improve the competitive level of our athletes.
Eberle, a Sequim High School graduate now working out of Seattle, says the overall project will be more than just a sports field.
“I’m excited about this project in this community. It’s going to be a nice blend of providing sports uses for sports groups and people who want to use the field, and also a park-like setting for the rest of the public who can come and walk around the trails, you know, have a picnic, or just enjoy kind of watching some of the events on the field. So I think it’s gonna be a real special project.”