Five years after the park district broke ground at the VES Fields, the agency is poised to meet a major milestone there this week, when a county official conducts a final review of the project.

The fields have drawn controversy in recent years, providing much-needed field space, but costing considerably more than the district had planned for and taking far longer to complete than expected.

The fields have been open for play since 2013, but much of the necessary work was finished only in recent weeks. On Thursday, Mike Meins, with the King County Department of Permitting and Environmental Review, will evaluate the recent work at the completed fields, which a county-issued clearing and grading permit required to be finished this month. Vashon Park District Executive Director Elaine Ott said Meins has been to the fields during this latest period of construction, and she believes any final requests will be minor. Although some work remains for the near future, including removing a large pile of dirt and planting thousands of plants in the rain garden, the work — for now — is complete, and Ott, who joined the district mid-way through the project, said she is pleased.

“I think it has turned out to be just beautiful. I am proud of that facility,” she said. “There was a need, and this goes a long way toward meeting that need.”

The park district broke ground on the fields project in 2010 and planned for a grand opening in the summer of 2011. The renovated complex was slated to include new sand-based fields, as well as lights for at least one of the fields, permanent restrooms and a concession stand, all for $1.3 million. As costs rose and revenue to the park district declined because of the recession, the district pared the plans down, but the price tag is now at over $2.7 million, and Ott said that within the next year or so, park commissioners will need to address building a permanent bathroom to replace the restroom trailer there now.

Under Sunday’s clear blue skies, young athletes and their families packed the fields for several hours as multiple soccer games went on throughout the afternoon. This is a typical scene, according to Vashon Park District’s Robin Miller, who schedules field use for both the park and school districts, and says that there are times there still is not enough space to meet everyone’s needs and requests.

“I wish we had another field so we could rest that field more often, and then the school district  would not be upset about overuse of their fields,” she added.

Hans Van Dusen, president of the Vashon Island Soccer Club, recently spoke about the finished fields.

“We love them. The soccer club is ecstatic. The facility serves the club well,” he said. “It has been challenging for everyone involved, but the outcome is fantastic.”

The soccer club, with 450 kids enrolled this fall, is the largest single user of the fields, and while the members appreciate the fields, soccer is played in the darkest months of the year, and lights are critical. Van Dusen previously called the fields “an incomplete resource” without them. The club currently pays to rent lights, which last year cost it $2,700.  The club’s board is now considering how it can support putting lights on the fields, he added, by looking at further grants and fundraising as a club, along with possible support from the park district. Even one light would help, he said, adding, “We’ll try and be creative.”

Vashon Youth Baseball & Softball (VYBS), the second largest user of the fields, is pleased with the final product, as well.

“We play on a lot of fields around the area, and these are some of the best we play on,” Scott Hitchcock, VYBS president, said last week. “How they are laid out and the condition of them — they are fabulous.”

Hitchcock noted that members of VYBS have contributed a great deal of time and money and plan to put in more, including covering the dugouts with canopies and building an additional fence. The club’s annual budget for 270 kids is $40,000, and contributing in a substantial way beyond what they already have would be difficult, as they try to keep the sport affordable to families.

“If you want baseball to put in $10,000, we’d have to raise fees by another $40,” he said.

Targeted fundraising for a special project — such as a permanent bathroom — is an option, he said, but if $100,000 was requested, for example, the user groups could not come up with the funds.

“Soccer, lacrosse and  baseball combined, there is no way they could write that check,” he added.

Though more than $1 million of the cost of the project has come through grants, donations and in-kind services, work at the fields has taken a great deal of park district funds, and critics point to high maintenance costs there as an ongoing concern.

The district keeps close track of maintenance costs, Ott said, noting it spent $44,000 on maintenance at the VES Fields in 2014 and has spent about $55,000 to date there this year, in comparison to $21,000 at the smaller, native soil-based field at Agren Park.

“A sand-based field does require more maintenance,” she said.

Despite the challenges, Ott said the district’s financial picture is improving.

The district had to borrow money again this year to manage cash flow through 2016, she said, and has $250,000 available through a line of credit. The district will have it tapped out through March of next year and pay it back with the tax money it receives in April. The district will likely have to have borrow $100,000 in September of next year, but will pay that off in October with levy proceeds, but then the picture gets better.

“I forecast we will end 2016 with a $100,000 reserve in tact,” she said.

Beyond that, she added she believes the district will have $75,000 in discretionary money to spend on various activities over and above the budget in 2016.

With the majority of the work at the VES Fields behind the district and elections looming, Ott is looking ahead to the next four years. Next year, she said, she hopes to conduct a community-wide survey that is developed and managed by professionals and gives accurate insight into the community’s  view of what the park district should be.

“Any park district should respond to the desires of the community,” she said. “It not should be for us to decide what is next, but to prioritize the things the community wants and make them happen.”

Such a survey would be a starting point of a strategic plan at the district and the updating of master plans through the next four years, taking the district through the next levy cycle.

“In my opinion that should be a top priority,” she said. “We need to strategically manage our long-range goals.”

Additionally, she said, she would like to obtain accreditation for the park district through The Commission for Accreditation of Park and Recreation Agencies (CAPRA).According to the association’s website, the accreditation is and external recognition of an organization’s commitment to quality and improvement.

It is a difficult process to become certified, Ott  said, and in Washington, only Bellevue, Renton and Tacoma have that accreditation. The process involves a thorough self-assessment of the agency and requires adherence to more than 100 standards that CAPRA sets forth.

“I would love to look at all those pieces that would make us a top notch district,” Ott said.