Community Education Government
Trade school, Fox Island park reap capital budget funds
Local lawmakers helped restore capital budget funds to renovate West Sound Technical Skills Center and heaped grants on PenMet Parks’ Fox Island sandspit park.
The Bremerton-based skills center will receive $42 million to modernize its existing building. The school serves 560 juniors and seniors from 10 school districts, including 55 from Peninsula.
Second phase wasn’t in budget
Earlier versions of the 2025-’27 budget did not include funding for phase 2 of the West Sound Tech project. The skills center had requested $54 million to modernize its original structure, built in 1977 as a lower-quality warehouse-grade facility. Improvements include replacing the HVAC, making safety and structural upgrades, updating shops for existing programs and creating space for new ones.
With the legislative session ticking away in March, West Sound Tech Director Ryan Nickels and students testified before budget committees and visited legislators in Olympia. Their actions and a push by local lawmakers proved successful.
“This funding means that our students are receiving the best possible education and learning in environments that reflect the real working world,” Nickels said in a press release. “The students we serve will be better prepared for the future and more competitive after graduation.”
Phase 2 is renovating the original building to look like this. Sketch courtesy of West Sound Tech
The center provides trades and skills training in construction, welding, automotive and collision repair, medical and dental, cosmetology, maritime, criminal justice, culinary and early childhood learning.
The funding reversal was a budget highlight for 26th District legislators.
Legislators rejoice
“This is a huge win for students and the community at large,”said Sen. Deb Krishnadasan, D-Gig Harbor. “I’ve been an advocate for career technical education since my time as a school board member. The facility’s completion will expand opportunities and create pathways for students wanting to pursue a trades career, which can lead to living-wage jobs right out of high school. This program also addresses the urgent workforce needs in so many of our local industries.”
Rep. Michelle Caldier, a West Sound Tech alum, said the school had no way to complete the critical project without state funding.
“The House and Senate budgets originally had no funding for Phase 2 and would have left the building unusable and open to the elements,” said Caldier, R-Gig Harbor. “The Kitsap delegation worked together to get funding to complete the building, which is the Legislature’s responsibility. Skills centers have no ability to procure revenue from bonds or levies and are completely dependent on the Legislature for capital projects.”
The funding will provide a huge opportunity not only for Peninsula School District students but for those going into the trades from across the region, said Rep. Adison Richards, D-Gig Harbor.
“It was astonishing that there wasn’t any funding when all the budgets came out, so we had to do a lot of work,” he said. “Ultimately we were able to get what the project needed, for which I’m very thrilled for the students about. I’m also really excited about the other projects we had funded in this community, from the fields at the YMCA to improvements at the sandspit park.”
Sketch of upland improvements at the sandspit park. Courtesy of PenMet Parks
Sandspit park receives four grants
Four grants totaling $2.4 million will support upland improvements, land acquisition and shoreline restoration at PenMet’s Tacoma DeMolay Sandpit Park.
The Commerce Department’s Local and Community Projects Fund provided $515,000 and the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account $521,000 for park upgrades and accessibility improvements.
Following a master plan written last year, PenMet intends to add more parking, new picnic areas and restrooms, and replace a steep asphalt driveway with an ADA-compliant path to the beach. Construction is tentatively scheduled for summer or fall of 2026 after design and permitting are completed.
PenMet in February 2023 approved a $1.9 million budget to pay for the master plan and $1.2 million for the highest priorities identified in it. With the total cost estimated at $3.5 million, the project will be broken into two phases.
PenMet is buying two parcels abutting the sandspit park. Photo by Ed Friedrich
The parks district also will receive $511,000 from the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Wildlife Recreation Program to acquire two parcels abutting the sandspit park for $2.5 million. The properties will add 3.6 acres to the 5-acre park.
The new properties are mostly wooded with steep slopes. They add 265 feet of Carr Inlet waterfront and offer westward views of Key Peninsula and the Olympic Mountains. The uplands will remain in conservation except for some trails.
Pierce County Conservation Futures already awarded PenMet a $2.25 million grant to acquire the property. The two grants will serve as matches for each other.
Conservation district gets one of them
The Recreation and Conservation Office’s Estuary and Salmon Restoration Program awarded the Pierce Conservation District $697,000 to restore the sandspit park shoreline. On Feb. 18, after a study session about the final design, the PenMet board authorized Executive Director Ally Bujacich to sign an agreement with PCD to begin construction.
PCD is the lead agency in the project that primarily will remove about 600 feet of old concrete bulkhead from the 2,000-foot beach and restore a gradual slope between the shoreline and the uplands. Permitting has begun. Construction is expected to start in late summer or early fall.
Part of the bulkhead that will be removed has fallen down. Photo by Ed Friedrich
PenMet Parks is coordinating its upland improvements with the PCD’s shoreline restoration.
“PenMet Parks is deeply appreciative of the 26th District legislators, including Senator Krishnadasan, Representative Caldier, and Representative (Adison) Richards, for their support of our community’s local parks,” Bujacich said. “We know that parks and recreation are essential to a thriving community. This funding will create more inclusive opportunities at the DeMolay Sandspit so everyone can enjoy this remarkable place.”
Fifth award goes to Narrows Park
PenMet will receive one other grant not related to the sandspit park. It was allotted $521,000 from the Recreation and Conservation Office’s Aquatic Lands Enhancement Account for accessibility improvements at Narrows Park near the Tacoma Narrows Bridge.
The parks district didn’t receive funding for its other legislative priority. It requested money to fully design a new Peninsula Gardens park and prepare the site for construction. It completed a master plan in 2024 and allocated $500,000 this year to begin park design and demolish old buildings.
Other funded Gig Harbor-area projects include $1 million for YMCA sports fields and $21 million for bathroom renovations, new roofs and preservation at the Purdy women’s prison.
The city of Gig Harbor sought but didn’t receive $1 million for its commercial fishing homeport project.
The House and Senate passed the $77.8 billion capital budget on April 27. Gov. Bob Ferguson has until May 17 to sign or veto it.