PORT ANGELES — Geese that trundle around soggy Civic Field may be forced to find other grass on which to leave their calling cards if city voters approve a 20-year, $4 million improvement bond Aug. 7 that includes $3 million for artificial turf.
The often-waterlogged field, built in 1974, can’t be used five months of the year and is barred by the Washington Interscholastic Athletic Association from hosting high school playoffs because of safety concerns.
But it is an attractive destination for the birds, Civic Field Bond Committee President Steve Zenovic said.
“They’d vote against it,” quipped Zenovic, 61, an engineering company owner. “They can’t eat it. It’s not any fun. They’d go away.”
Zenovic said Wednesday the bond committee is beginning its work in earnest after the City Council on Tuesday unanimously approved putting the measure on the Aug. 7 ballot.
“We’ll get together before the end of this week and start pulling things together and start getting the campaign sorted out and up and running,” he said.
If approved, the measure would cost city property owners about 18 cents for every $1,000 of assessed valuation, meaning the owner of a $200,000 home would pay an estimated $36 a year or $720 over 20 years.
The bond would cost $5.5 million, counting interest.
The bond committee headed by Zenovic also includes group Vice President Scott Ramsey, an umpire and referee; Secretary Dave Johnson, an attorney; Treasurer Ron Garnero, a certified public accountant; and businessman Ed Bedford, owner of Northwest Soda Works in Port Angeles.
“I’m very optimistic,” Bedford said.
“The community reacts to things we need to keep going that involve our children. People will understand that infrastructure needs to be maintained.”
The committee, which has raised $8,000 of a $20,000 fundraising goal for the bond campaign, will marshal support through direct appeals to residents and from Civic Field user groups such as the senior and junior Babe Ruth programs, the Port Angeles Youth Soccer Club and Port Angeles Youth Baseball.
Zenovic said the group will spend $5,000 to help the city with what Clallam County Auditor Patty Rosand said Wednesday would be between $5,000 and $7,000 election costs.
The committee will mirror election strategies used in the successful passage of a 2009 measure that created the William Shore Memorial Pool metropolitan taxing district and that set an estimated levy rate for its operations and of a 2010 levy for the North Olympic Library System.
So, look for lots of yard signs and proponents on street corners waving pro-bond placards, and for Zenovic to be contacting “all sorts of civic organizations” to publicize the measure, Zenovic said.
Zenovic described the bond as a “win-win” for citizens of all ages who will get a year-round facility and for a Port Angeles business community that will benefit from games and tournaments that can fill restaurants and hotel rooms and put the North Olympic Peninsula on display.
The library system and pool measures required passage by one voter plus 50 percent approval — a simple majority — while bond measures require 60 percent approval.
Zenovic acknowledged the higher threshold was a tough hurdle for North Olympic Peninsula school districts to jump before voters approved a statewide initiative in 2007 lowering levy victory margins to a simple majority.
He’s counting on voters responding, as they did for the pool and library district, in favor of a Civic Field measure that is tied to specific improvements, including $3 million for the artificial turf and $1 million to repair bleachers, install new lighting and replace a boiler for locker rooms and restrooms that now lack a basic necessity: hot water.
If the bond is approved, the improvement project would go to bid in spring 2013 and be completed in summer 2013 in time for football season, Zenovic said.
Baseball games would be played at Volunteer Field and soccer games hopefully at Peninsula College, where the soccer field is made of artificial turf.
Bond supporters are hoping grants and service groups would help fund new baseball dugouts, a new football scorekeepers booth, a new scoreboard, new bleacher seats, new fencing and parking lot improvements.
Zenovic said a selling point for the bond is that voters are being asked to approve the bare minimum.
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Senior Staff Writer Paul Gottlieb can be reached at 360-452-2345, ext. 5060, or at paul.gottlieb@peninsuladailynews.com.
