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08/26/2005: "Athletic Fields Concept Moves Forward"

SJI School District Meets With FH Athletic Association Board
At a special joint board meeting between the SJI School District and the Friday Harbor Athletic Association Boards, a presentation was given to the School District on what is involved in obtaining a Conditional Use permit to construct athletic fields on school property, and an overview of what, exactly, is being proposed, and what the expected cost of developing, and maintaining the fields once they are constructed, will be.

Speaking for the Athletic Association, Board member John Linde laid out in sequence the steps of obtaining the Conditional Use permit, and emphasizing that the permit process allows the Town to impose whatever conditions on the project that the town finds to be necessary to make the proposed use of the property compatible with the surrounding uses; which in the case of the athletic fields is single family homes.

The development of the fields is being proposed to occur in two phases. The first phase, which is projected to run from 2005 to 2008, will be the developing of the infrastructure by providing utilities, sidewalks, improving Carter street, and performing the clearing and grading for the fields. Once the infrastructure is in place, the Association will build one multi-use field that will accommodate soccer, football, lacrosse and -of course- Frisbee play. There will also be two baseball fields constructed.

This will be followed by phase two (from 2008 to 2010) which will include the construction of two soccer fields, one baseball field and the construction of field buildings.

According to a cost analysis prepared by the Association, the cost of phase one will be 1.4 million, and phase two will be $301.560.00. Mr. Linde reminded the school board that the Association has been active since 1990 when they sent a letter to the school board proposing to build a club house for the school at no cost to the school, and that they have met all of their obligations to the school, and at no cost to the school. This project is similar, in that there will be no cost to the district. Linde then went on to give examples of other projects in the county that have been successfully completed without cost to the taxpayer, and expressed his confidence, based on the history of community participation, that the money will be raised to complete the project. So far the Association has a combination of a quarter of a million dollars in actual contributions and pledges from donors.

At the end of the discussion the school board voted unanimously to authorize the drafting of a letter to the Association that would allow them to move forward on the development of the school property, and the construction of the fields for both phase one and phase two.