Soccer fields draw clamor at Council meeting

The public clamor continues to grow for more soccer fields in Kent.

“There are thousands of kids playing soccer in Kent and over 1,500 in the Kent Youth Soccer Association and the problem is we’re running out of field space,” said Michael Gladwell, a Kent resident and youth soccer coach, at a Sept. 1 Kent City Council meeting.

Gladwell said during the public comment session of the meeting that he wanted to know when the city planned to replace the soccer fields lost with the closure of the Commons Playfields two years ago to make room for the ShoWare Center.

“We need to do something,” Gladwell said.

Jeff Watling, city parks director, said in a phone interview Wednesday that while the city has added a couple of soccer fields at the old Sequoia Middle School and Kent Memorial Park as part of a short-term fix, no funding exists for a long-term solution.

“We’re looking at ways to maximize existing public space to try to get the most bang for our buck in the current economic situation,” Watling said.

City and Kent School District officials have discussed an upgrade to fields at Kent-Meridian High School. A proposal to turn the grass fields into artificial or synthetic turf fields with lights for soccer, baseball, softball and football games, would help replace the fields lost at Commons Playfields.

“But it’s all dependent upon funding,” Watling said. “There is no timeline on when the fields could be developed because it’s all based on finding funding.”

It could cost as much as $4 million to $6 million to convert 6 acres of property at Kent-Meridian to artificial fields with lights, Watling said.

An agreement exists between the school district and city to use each other’s fields. High school baseball teams use Kent Memorial Park and soccer teams play on the Wilson Playfields. City-run sports programs use school fields.

Wayne Jensen, president of the Kent Youth Soccer Association, wants to find a way to get more fields built. Jensen said in a phone interview Tuesday that he has encouraged soccer coaches and parents to keep the pressure on city officials to help solve the field shortage as promised when the six soccer fields at Commons Playfields were closed for the new arena.

“I’m telling parents it’s your community, you’re the consumer and you need to be vocal and ask to speak (at Council meetings),” said Jensen, who lives in Fairwood in unincorporated King County. “Let them know who you are and what the city should be doing and why you think this is important.”

Jensen also wants to gather city officials from Kent and Covington as well as from the school district, Kent Knights Junior Football and Kent Little League to try to come up with a plan to build fields to serve all of the groups. He would like to involve local state Legislature representatives at the meeting as well.

“I think if you bring them all together in a room we could come up with a three-to-five-year plan to find funding and bring fields online,” Jensen said.

Dave Lutes, athletic director for the Kent School District, said that the district has no additional property to develop new fields.

“But it is time for our district to maximize the use of our fields with artificial turf and lighting,” Lutes said in a phone interview Tuesday.

The only city, county and school fields with lights in Kent are French Field for football and soccer, Kent Memorial Park for baseball, Wilson Playfields for soccer, baseball and softball; and the Kentlake High fields for baseball and soccer.

With more artificial surfaces and lights, fields could be used year-round, Lutes said.

But the school district has no plans to install additional artificial fields or lights at this time.

Watling likes the potential of the Kent-Meridian fields and the city continues to look for state grants or other funding sources to upgrade those fields. He said the city’s capital budget is very limited because of current budget cutbacks.

“I appreciate that Wayne and the Kent Youth Soccer Association is bringing this need forward,” Watling said of the lack of soccer fields. “It’s very real.”

City seeks input about parks

Residents can tell Kent city officials what changes they want to see at city parks at a public workshop from 6-8:30 p.m. Sept. 29 at the Kent Senior Center, 600 E. Smith St.

City officials are updating long-range plans for the parks, including future development, acquisition and renovation of the parks and open spaces.

For more information, call city parks planner Lydia Moorehead at 253-856-5114.