PORT ANGELES — A project to create a public and scholastic athletic venue received congressional attention when U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer visited the site with officials of the Port Angeles School District, which is behind the effort.
Kilmer — who represents Washington’s 6th Congressional District, which includes Clallam, Jefferson, Kitsap and Grays Harbor counties, along with portions of Mason and Pierce counties — grew up in Port Angeles and was familiar with the site.
“My grandparents are buried across the street (in Mount Angeles Memorial Park cemetery),” Kilmer said during Tuesday’s tour. “Last time I was here, about a year ago, I drove in and took a picture for my dad.”
The complex, called Monroe Fields, is being built on the footprint of the former Monroe School, which was decommissioned in 2004 and demolished in 2017. It sits adjacent to Roosevelt Elementary.
Preliminary design discussion on Monroe Fields is underway with completion of the project scheduled for fall 2022.
The exact configuration of the site and final budget is expected to be determined in July.
Project manager and landscape architect Derrick Eberle has been selected to oversee the design process with civil engineering and geotech services provided by Seth Rodman of Zenovic & Associates.
When finished, it will be the only athletic site of its type on the east side of Port Angeles.
Funding for the project is tied in with a $52.6 million capital improvement levy passed by school district voters in 2020.
Other projects targeted with the levy include now-complete safety vestibules for all five elementary schools to provide single-point secured entrances for the safety of students and staff, as well as major rehabilitation to Stevens Middle School.
U.S. Rep. Derek Kilmer, left, looks over a copy of the Port Angeles School District’s 30-year plan with Roosevelt School principal Jennifer Van De Wege. (Keith Thorpe/Peninsula Daily News)
The levy added $2.62 to every $1,000 of assessed value to property for five years, a $655 property tax increase for the owner of a $250,000 home. It will be up for renewal by voters at the same rate in 2025.
Nolan Duce, the school district’s director of maintenance and facilities, said Monroe Fields fills a serious gap in the community.
“We’re very shy on sports fields on the east side — in fact there are none,” he said. “So with the capital levy campaign, we’re going to build a field here. Our goal is to have a high-quality sports field on the east side of Port Angeles.”
Current discussions include site rehabilitation to provide a sand base for improved drainage covered by natural grass with an irrigation system.
A portable building at the site could be used for visiting teams using the complex.
Duce said the creation of Monroe Fields would be an asset both to the school district and to the community, which would see the added benefit to restaurants and motels from visitors coming to Port Angeles for athletic tournaments.
“The more quality sports fields we can have, the better off our community gets,” he said.
School Superintendent Martin Brewer said the addition of a sports venue would help alleviate pressure from overuse on other fields in Port Angeles.
At the same time, Brewer said he wished the school district could afford to install artificial turf as part of the project. Finding grants for that kind of an upgrade has been unsuccessful so far.
“With Port Angeles, we need fields 365 days a year,” he said. “Turf fields would be great, but we simply can’t, in my assessment — and that would up to the school board to determine — afford turf fields.
“We would love to put lights out here and have athletic fields which are synthetic-based, but we just have to be really, really careful.”
Kilmer said that he supported the project, but he wasn’t sure if he could swing federal funding for something that specific. However, he said the infrastructure plan proposed by President Joe Biden did include funds for schools that could be allocated at the local level.
“In the president’s infrastructure plan, he included funding to modernize K-12 facilities,” he said.
“I think there is an appreciation by Democrats and Republicans that the investments we make in our schools are both useful in that they put people to work in the short term, but are also a smart investment over the long haul to make sure our kids are put in an environment to learn and compete around the world.”
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Photojournalist Keith Thorpe can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 59050, or at photos@ peninsuladailynews.com.
