Commissioners Ok Money For Pools, Fields

Spokane County commissioners approved spending more than $900,000 Tuesday on pools, soccer fields and a playground.

The money comes from a tax on the sale of real estate.

The biggest chunk, $700,000, is to plug cracks and make other repairs in the county’s four outdoor swimming pools. One of them, at Mission Park in the Spokane Valley, leaks up to 50,000 gallons a day, county officials said.

In 1994, commissioners nearly closed three of the four pools rather than pay $500,000 in repairs. They relented amid public outrage, when engineers found ways to keep the pools open for $150,000.

Those repairs were expected to last three years.

In addition to the money for pool repairs, commissioners agreed to spend:

$200,000 on five soccer fields and two softball diamonds at Plantes Ferry Park in the Valley.

State taxpayers are contributing $300,000 toward the project and the Spokane Valley Junior Soccer Association is trying to raise another $200,000.

$20,000 for playground equipment at Pavilion Park. Liberty Lake residents are raising another $20,000 for the equipment, which is wheelchair accessible.

$7,550 for the county’s share of a study to decide the best spot for a Centennial Trail bridge west of downtown. The city of Spokane, the state parks commission and the nonprofit Friends of the Centennial Trail group also are contributing to the study. , DataTimes