Waterfront Park: Can’t just do it?

County officials have recently struck a road block in their quest to have a new Nike Grind surface installed at the Silverdale Waterfront Park playground.

Plans for the resurfacing are on hold because local officials have recently learned the Nike Grind company is not bonded to work in the state of Washington.

“It’s all very confusing and very troubling that we’ve gotten this far in the process to find out they’re not bonded to work in Washington,” said Karen Ross, project manager for Kitsap County Parks and Recreation.

The project was well on its way until officials heard the recent news. Not only is the company not bonded to work in this state, but according to Ross, the machine that Nike Grind uses to make the surface has recently broke down.

“We started saying ‘What are we going to do?’” Ross said. “It’s getting a little out of control. There’s been discussion of what were going to do, meanwhile the playground is closed and it’s very upsetting to the community.”

She added that Terri Washburn of Kitsap County Public Works has been in discussions with another company in Arizona, but does not know the results of that conversation because Washburn has been out of the office and will not return until Monday.

“We’ll make a decision about this in a couple of days,” Ross said. “Things aren’t looking optimistic. If it turns out we can’t get it done, we’ll have to go back to the (wood) chips.”

County officials confirmed the potential installment of a new Nike Grind surface soon after they learned in April that they were awarded a $20,000 grant from Nike which they had applied for.

About 24,000 used athletic shoes were collected earlier this year in Kitsap County for the Reuse-A-Shoe project that was spearheaded by Leadership Kitsap and Kitsap County Public Works.

Officials had hoped to have the new Nike Grind surface installed in time for Whaling Days which is 20 days away.

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