The Key Peninsula Civic Center Gets a Facelift

This is the best year we have had for a long time in getting funding.”

Thanks to funding from Key Pen Parks, the state capital budget, and the Pierce County Historic Preservation Grant Program, the KP Civic Center gym has a newly sanded and finished floor, the westwall will get new shingles and other needed repairs, and both the main building and the annex will be repainted. 

“This is the best year we have had for a long time in getting funding,” said Bruce Macdonald, the civic center board president and a board member of the Key Peninsula News.

Macdonald approached Key Pen Parks Executive Director Tracey Perkosky about resurfacing the tennis courts last year. “I wanted to be able to support our long-standing partnership and really be able to put forth a project to the parks board that would best meet the needs of the community,” Perkosky said. Although the tennis courts need a new surface, the gym is used by more people, and she recommended they consider refinishing the floor as a project instead.

“I was looking for a synergy with the project and meeting the mission of the department,” Perkosky said. “The gym is used in such a fantastic way for indoor recreation that the Parks Department can’t provide right now.”

The board submitted a proposal last summer for consideration in the 2025 budget. The park commissioners enthusiastically supported the project, with an estimated cost of $35,000. The sanding and finish application and curing required closure of the building for about two weeks, and the work was completed in early July.

The new lines painted in black and white reflect changing activity preferences. The basketball lines are still present, along with a high school three-point line. But shuffle-board is gone, replaced by volleyball and pickleball court boundaries.

The gymnasium floor dates back to 1937 when the gym was built onto what is now the Whitmore Room. Macdonald remembers applying a coat of finish with a small crew of volunteers after Labor Day each year. That labor of love required $1,500 worth of sandpaper, said Tim Kezele, the board’s first vice president in charge of buildings and grounds. “It had never been sanded down to wood,” Kezele said.

A close working relationship with all three of the Key Peninsula state legislators led to success in the form of a $103,000 grant in the latest state capital budget to replace shingles and do the necessary repairs on the west wall of the main building. “Years of western exposure took their toll,” Kezele said.

Plans to repair the wall had been ongoing for several years, and the original bids were higher than anticipated. “A board member recommended a contractor from Silverdale who fell in love with the building and gave us a sweet deal,” Macdonald said.

The civic center also received $8,000 from the Pierce County Historic Preservation Grant Program to help cover the cost of painting the building. The color will not change, Macdonald said. But Kezele said they plan to give a nod to history and paint a part of the roof near the air vent on the annex building orange and black, the colors of the old Vaughn Union High School Eagles.

The wall repair, shingle replacement, and painting should be completed by fall.

Maintaining a building that is between 90 and 120 years old, depending on which room or wing is considered, as well as providing programs and space for many organizations is no small undertaking.

“There is a lot to do just to stay open,” Macdonald said. There are routine inspections that all have fees, ongoing improvements, and repairs. Income comes from rentals, events, donations, and grants. “We try to make rental fees affordable,” Macdonald said. And when the gym is not reserved it is open for use.

A staff of five full- and part-time employees keeps things running, and a volunteer board oversees everything, including event planning. Everyone who owns property on the Key Peninsula is considered a member, and there are no fees.

People interested in joining the board are welcome to attend meetings and apply.