AGNEW — Soccer players of all skill levels will have a place to shoot and score for years to come, with assists from an Agnew neighborhood coalition, a local soccer club, a state grant and Clallam County.
The Clallam County Parks Department dedicated the $411,000 soccer fields at the southeast corner of Old Olympic Highway and Barr Road on Wednesday in a 40-minute ceremony.
“Opening this new park for the public use is both exciting and very, very rewarding,” said Joel Winborn, Clallam County parks, fair and facilities division manager, who served as master of ceremonies.
“It keeps a valuable community asset in the hands of the public.”
The 7.4-acre, tree-lined park is the only one of its kind between Port Angeles and Sequim.
It has two regulation-sized soccer fields that can be coned off to give youngsters more fields to play on.
“These fields are equally-located between Port Angeles and Sequim, so they get a lot of use from both of those communities,” said commissioner Steve Tharinger, whose district includes Agnew.
“Having been a soccer player, and also a Sequim High School coach, and having coached youth soccer you really can’t have enough fields.”
The Agnew Helpful Neighbors Club, a small group of Agnew citizens that funds scholarships for area youth, leased the land to the Storm King Soccer Club. The soccer club built the fields and has maintained the fields for more than a decade.
In 2007, Agnew Helpful Neighbors Club realized it needed to sell the property to maintain its scholarships.
Neither club wanted to see the land developed, but the Storm King Soccer Club didn’t have the money to buy the fields.
“The Storm King Soccer Club was very, very close to purchasing this ourselves — we were only about $300,000 short,” said Jeff Pitman, Storm King Soccer Club president.
Members of both clubs urged commissioners Tharinger, Mike Chapman and Mike Doherty to try to preserve the public fields.
The Agnew citizens’ group did its share, donating $60,000 of the value of the property to help the county match a $205,000 grant from the state Recreation and Conservation Office.
The grant — along with the $60,000 donation — enabled the county to the buy the land.
“This was kind of turn key operation for us,” Tharinger said.
“We really appreciate the fact that the Agnew Friends were willing to look at this as a community resource instead of something that might be developed.”
Clallam County has built up an $11.5 reserve fund this decade, and plans to use about $2 million of that rainy day find in 2010. Tharinger said fiscal discipline over the past nine years allowed the county to make the purchase.
Craig Jacobs, Clallam County Public Works Director, outlined a sequence of events that began in 2007.
To apply for the state grant, the county first needed a waiver from the Recreation and Conservation Office because grant timelines didn’t match up.
In the spring of 2008, Agnew Helpful Neighbors agreed to keep the property off the market and the state granted the waiver.
“The county executed this in a speedy and efficient way, which RCO greatly appreciates,” said Sarah Thirtyacre, Recreation and Conservation Office outdoor grants manager.
“It was very clear to our evaluation panel that this project was needed, and it was supported and it truly was a community effort.”
The commissioners in May 2008 added the Agnew soccer fields to the county’s parks master plan.
“It was really kind of a classic no-brainer for us,” Tharinger said.
“We had the dollars because we’ve managed our budget pretty well.”
To secure the property, the county conducted a property appraisal, review appraisal and a phase one environmental assessment.
“There’s a lot of things that have to take place to make an acquisition like this really happen,” Jacobs said.
The Recreation and Conservation Office approved the grant on Dec. 2, 2008, contingent on the state legislature approving the funding.
“A partial part of it was on the chopping block,” Jacobs recalled.
“The stars lined up.”
The county entered into negotiations with the Storm King Soccer Club to maintain the fields. An agreement was reached in July.
“We really needed Storm King to step up and make that offer to us in order to make that whole deal come together, which they did,” Jacobs said.
The county closed on the property on July 29.
“A lot of things had to happen, and I want to really emphasise the initial agreements with the Agnew Helpful Neighbors Club were really critical in getting this process through,” Jacobs said.
Jerry Reid, Agnew Helpful Neighbors Club President, said club membership has dwindled from about 200 in the 1960s to about 10 currently.
The 81-year-old nonprofit charitable club acquired the land where the fields are now located in the 1980s.
“It was decided that we didn’t have enough people to have fundraisers and things for our scholarship fund,” Reid explained.
Keep as park
“With the diminishing of the club membership, the board of directors elected to sell this piece of property. And again, it was a mutual consent that none of us wanted to see homes developed here. We wanted to keep it as a park.”
The Agnew neighbors club will use the money from the sale to set up a trust fund for $15,000 yearly scholarships for the next 20 years, Reid explained.
Jerry Royal, Clallam County Parks and Recreation Advisory Board chairman, said the Agnew soccer fields will serve the needs of the public for two generations.
“By purchasing this property, we have ensured that this facility will remain open for the enjoyment of our youth,” Royal said.
“The mutual agreement between the Storm King Soccer Club and the county will ensure that this facility will remain a top-quality facility and provide a venue for soccer lovers for years to come.”
Rather than a ribbon-cutting ceremony, the dignitaries who spoke at the dedication ceremony kicked soccer balls into a ceremonial goal.
“All the way down the line, this is a classic community effort,” Tharinger said.
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Reporter Rob Ollikainen can be reached at 360-417-3537 or at rob.ollikainen@peninsuladailynews.com.
