By Kevin Hanson-The Courier-Herald
Plans to replace the venerable Pete’s Pool football field have been discussed for years, but the effort has consistently stalled. That’s changing, as a new effort is under way to involve the city, school district and community members in an effort to overhaul the existing facility.
At the urging of Enumclaw Mayor John Wise, who has long advocated for serious upgrades to the football field used by Enumclaw High and the Wolverine youth program, a Stadium Task Force has been created. The group has met twice and the Enumclaw City Council last week began the process that will establish a special account to handle finances for the project.
The existing field boasts a grass surface, making the EHS Hornets one of the rare teams in the region not playing on an artificial surface. The field is also recognized by a healthy “crown” running the length of the field that promotes runoff.
The field is part of the Enumclaw Expo Center grounds, so developments fall under the administrative jurisdiction of Parks and Recreation Director Larry Fetter.
Fetter explained that the overall project is viewed as a two-part process. Phase I deals with the field itself - flattening the field, adding drainage and making the other improvements necessary before an all-weather surface can be installed. The final step in Phase I would be to put down Field Turf or something similar.
“There’s a number of different products out there,” Fetter said.
The first phase carries an estimated price tag of about $1 million, Fetter said.
Phase 2 is the more costlier step.
Stadium boosters are considering new grandstands on the west side of the stadium that would seat 2,000 fans. The seating would be covered and would include an announcer’s booth, locker rooms, storage and an area for concessions to be sold.
Task force members haven’t figured a preliminary price tag for such an undertaking, but they need not look far for a similar undertaking. Two years ago, the White River School District put a bond issue before voters, hoping to add covered grandstands at the high school field. Plans were similar in that the White River project called for a press box, restrooms, locker rooms and storage; it was slightly bigger in scope, calling for 2,500 seats.
Voters rejected that $6.2 million proposal.
As part of the Expo Center project, the existing grandstands would be kept, Fetter said, and used for visitor seating.
“As long as it’s serviceable, there’s no reason not to keep it,” he said, adding that seismic improvements were made by King County in the late 1980s.
As part of the stadium upgrade, Fetter envisions pulling more groups into the fold
“We imagine soccer’s going to be the biggest user group,” he said, acknowledging the many soccer divisions that exist in every community. Like their football counterparts, the Enumclaw High soccer teams - boys and girls - are rare in that they play on real grass. The EHS teams play at Southwood Elementary School.
Members of the Enumclaw City Council have endorsed the idea of bringing the Pete’s Pool field into the 21st century, as long as it doesn’t put a crimp in the city budget. For now, staff time is all the city is investing.
“We’ll be putting together a financial package,” Fetter said, “and we think there could be some big-name interest.”
While looking for a key player with deep pockets, stadium backers are planning a strategy that would allow for broad-based support. Fetter said early talks have centered around the possibility of getting half the needed revenues from a “big money” source, with the rest coming in the form of smaller contributions. There’s even a likelihood of in-kind contributions, Fetter said, as “there’s been a lot of local interest” from those offering to help with things like earth work, drainage and curbing.
Members of the stadium task force, aside from Wise and Fetter, include Mike Nelson, Enumclaw School District superintendent; Chris Van Hoof, member of the Enumclaw School Board; Jeff Beckwith, Enumclaw City Council; athletic boosters Rick Bathum, Frank Osborne, Shelly Thiel and Bill Wheeler; Paul Adam, Cascade Foothills Soccer; Gregg Joshlin and Joe Deters, Wolverine football; Jill Burnes, Enumclaw High principal; and Don Bartel, EHS football coach.
Reach Kevin Hanson at khanson@courierherald.com or 360-802-8205.
