KP Little League scores $75,000 grant

By Chris Fitzgerald, KP News

 

The Key Peninsula Little League received a $75,000 grant

 in April from the State of Washington Recreation and Conservation Funding Board for renovation of baseball field No. 1 (the field with lights) in Volunteer Park. Funding for the project comes from the Youth Athletic Facilities grant program, created through a referendum that provided public financing for the Seahawks’ stadium. “Washington has a wealth of outdoor recreational areas,” said Kaleen Cottingham, director of the Washington State Recreation and Conservation Office, which administers the program. “These grants help us take care of and expand those resources.”

Grant applicants not only must compete on the technical merits of their projects, they must bring additional resources to the table. “Asking local communities to contribute to a project helps ensure the board is funding only the best, most needed projects,” Cottingham said. “It means those projects brought to the board are important to the communities.”

Volunteer Park is home to the only high school regulation

 baseball field, and is the only lighted playfield on the KP. Originally built on clay without any subsurface drainage, the field has been damaged by flooding, leading to the need for a protective retaining wall. Work will include changing the irrigation system, installing new backstop fencing and increasing and improving access from the parking area to the field for people with disabilities.

Kurt Self, current president of the Key Peninsula Little League, said Key Peninsula Metro Parks District Director Scott Gallacher learned of the grant opportunity and approached the organization to partner with KPMPD for the application. That made funding possible — it had to come through a nonprofit 50l(C)3 organization. The KPLL has this designation; KPMPD does not. The resulting grant funnels through KPLL. Project costs are projected at about $180,000, with a $112,860 contribution from the grant recipient, according to Cottingham’s press release. KPLL has no money; KPMPD will provide that funding through donations of cash, equipment, labor and supplies. Self said no fundraising request was made of little league participants by KPMPD. 

Gallacher said the district is in the process of working up specifications and a “Request for Proposals” for the entire project. Both he and Self anticipate breaking ground on the project midsummer or in the fall. A company specializing in ballfield construction has been identified. 

In an email response to the KP News, Gallacher wrote, “Key Pen Parks is thrilled to have successfully partnered with Key Peninsula Little League on the Youth Athletic Facilities grant as we work together to improve Field No. 1 for all current and future users, both youth and adults.”     Self was equally pleased. “This grant shows what great partnerships can be developed with KPMPD and KPLL, creating a common goal,” he said.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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