POULSBO —The need for additional sports facilities in North Kitsap is at the center of a plan to develop a multi-million dollar recreational complex along the Poulsbo stretch of Highway 3.
Doug Nelson, owner of Landmark Properties and a Bainbridge Island resident, has purchased a 5.4 acre parcel of land near the North Kitsap Little League fields for the development of several sports and recreation facilities.
“The Zone Sportsplex,” equipped with two indoor turf fields, up to nine batting cages and a cafe with viewing areas, has already been announced as the first facility to be built on the property.
Poulsbo resident Ted Thatford, who brought the initial idea for a complex to Nelson, will manage the 36,000 square foot facility which has a target opening date of late 2004 or early 2005. Thatford said he hopes it can fulfill the needs of the area in ways that have not been achieved in the past.
“In Kitsap County, the only indoor (sports) facility is in Bremerton,” Thatford said. “There is no place to play indoor soccer, indoor baseball, softball and lacrosse.”
Thatford’s sportsplex will make up about half of an Nelson’s plan. Another complex will be built adjacent to the Sportsplex and occupy about 40,000 square feet on the 5.4 acre property. Four other Kitsap businesses have already committed to using the additional space, Nelson said.
Thatford’s “Zone Sportsplex” will include regulation size baseball and softball infields, a 185’ by 85’ infill turf field for soccer, lacrosse and flag football and up to nine batting cages for softball and baseball. Thatford commented that he’ll need four to five permanent employees at the facility and anywhere from 25 to 60 employees to work anything from the cafe to being referees at games.
For Thatford, building a community-centered sports complex is nothing short of a dream.
“I’ve spent the last 16 years working in software and the hi-tech industry,” he said. “But I keep falling back to find a way to work in the community. In researching finding something that gives back to the community, I found a passion of wanting to do this.”
Ground breaking on the Sportsplex is slated for July. County permitting processes are underway for the project, Thatford added.
Doug Stevenson, a Bainbridge Island boys-12 and under soccer coach, is thrilled with the possibility of an indoor complex closer than traveling to Bremerton.
“It’s a very positive situation,” he said. “It will provide a safe and controlled environment for clubs in North Kitsap and Bainbridge to get teams indoors and to practice.”
Stevenson said the drive to Bremerton for indoor use coupled with the fight for outdoor fields closer to home makes it a challenge to schedule practices and games.
“We’re constantly competing with lacrosse and baseball for space and we’re competing with our own spring soccer program as well,” he said.
For North Kitsap men’s lacrosse coach and founder Brian O’Connor, the opening a complex will provide not only a new field for use but a new season in which to play.
“(The complex) will allow us to play in the winter time,” O’Connor said. “I’m really looking forward to it (opening).”
O’Connor’s lacrosse team, which has grown from in its first two years from 10 to 27 players, didn’t even receive a game field this year because all of North Kitsap’s available facilities were full. As only a second-year team, they’re low on the priority list against teams that have been established for decades in North Kitsap.
“We’re pretty low totem pole,” O’Connor said. “Everyone else gets field allocations before us.”
Aside from having an additional facility in which to practice and play, O’Connor said all the teams in the region will benefit by establishing winter leagues. Currently, players from Kitsap County and surrounding areas have to travel to Redmond or Seattle if they want to play in the winter leagues.
