Two grants may help the City of Sequim install new playing courts and improve its ballfields at half the cost.
Sequim city councilors gave the unanimous go-ahead in a vote 6-0 with Councilor John Miller absent on Monday night, April 11, to partially fund new tennis courts at $60,000 in Carrie Blake Park and make improvements in Dr. James Standard Park for Sequim Little League at $20,000.
They approved a resolution to designate the funds from the 2017 budget to meet the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office’s May 2 grant deadline.
Joe Irvin, assistant to the city manager/parks manager, said city staff intends to combine proposed projects in Carrie Blake Park at a cost upwards of $770,000-$800,000 to construct pickleball courts at about $215,000, tennis courts (about $270,000), a new southern road access to the park (about $260,000) and move the playground equipment ($25,000).
By doing this, they cover the projects with a 50-percent matching grant. Between city contributions, pledges from clubs and pending grants, they have $251,000 of the $400,000 needed, so pickleball, tennis and city officials plan to seek the remaining $149,000 funding from further private funding sources, Irvin said.
City Manager Charlie Bush said that he’s worked on a successful grant like this before and “the more funding you can show that’s solidified, the better off you’re going to do.”
Irvin said the region’s grants coordinator told him a few months ago that “it’s attractive if we can pull together more users in this manner.”
Big projects for Little League
City staff intend to partner similarly with the Sequim Little League to to improve the Dr. James Standard Park by combining $20,000 from the city with $5,000 from the Little League to seek a matching $25,000 grant.
Volunteers with the Little League helped create a list of needed projects for the city such as adding perimeter fencing and flood lighting, repairing field fencing, replacing bleacher replacement and creating a docent site. Dr. James Standard Park is outside of the city limits and the property was donated by Maurice and Frances Sherk in 1975.
No lighting is proposed for nighttime play at either park, Irvin said, but merely to minimize crime at Dr. James Standard Park.
If the city isn’t awarded the grants, Irvin said the projects remain ongoing and that city staff and interested parties will continue to seek funding and he’ll propose designated funding rollover to 2017.
Some of the projects have smaller gaps to being fully funded, Irvin said, but certain aspects need to be constructed first such as a portion of the proposed road that extends from Blake Avenue to Rhodefer Road with a roundabout in the middle that leads to the new tennis courts and Guy Cole Mini-Convention Center. This road proposal stems from the Carrie Blake Park Master Plan that advises city staff close the current entrance and shift traffic to the new route between the Sequim Skate Park and Trinity United Methodist Church.
Irvin also advised city councilors that once Keeler Park is paid off at the end of the year, funds from the Park Impact Fee’s end balance could go to tennis court construction. Currently, Sequim High School hosts the only public tennis courts with five, in the Sequim-Dungeness area. Pickleball players use the Sequim Community School courts and Sequim Boys & Girls Club.
The City of Sequim’s 2016 capital parks projects budget is significantly larger than in the past going from no money budgeted in 2012 to its peak at $79,562 in 2014 to $226,000 this year.
Despite supporting the motion, City Councilor Ted Miller said he was skeptical of providing funding without Clallam County supporting projects like these more. He previously stated that the city’s park users predominately come from outside of the Sequim city limits.
Reach Matthew Nash at mnash@sequimgazette.com.
