Mirabeau Point Plans Unveiled Pools, Gym, Exercise Room, Drop-In Youth Center On Drawing Board

After nearly three years of trying to figure out what Spokane Valley residents want in a social and recreational center, trustees unveiled the first formal plans Wednesday for the 70-acre Mirabeau Point development.

Calling it a work in progress, they showed off trail systems, meeting places, new roads and a continued hope that the development - long marked by delays - will soon become a reality.

“We are well on our way,” trustee Judy Cole told a group of about 30 people at the East Valley School District administration building. “We want this to be a gathering place. We want this to be a destination site.”

Mirabeau Point is 70 acres just north of Interstate 90 between Euclid and Indiana that was pledged in 1996 by Inland Empire Paper Company for use as a public, not-for-profit recreation area.

The first tenant on the former site of Walk In The Wild zoo will be the new Valley YMCA. Funding and designs are in place for the center. Officials expect to break ground this spring on 12 acres at the northwest end of the site near Indiana Avenue.

Local folks should be able to enjoy two pools, a gym, an exercise room for weight lifting and aerobics, a drop-in youth center, climbing wall, babysitting room and saunas by November 1999.

Just across the development’s new road, Discovery Place, spots are now mapped out for a combined senior/community center as well as another building that trustees are calling the “sizzle project” which could include a planetarium, science museum or other educational project.

Hopes are to turn the area between the buildings into a pedestrian mall where community events such as Christmas tree lightings would be held, said Kathleen Schultheis, a landscape architect with David Evans & Associates who is designing the project.

Funding is not completely in place for this portion of the project so there is no time frame on when it will be built.

To the east, plans are in place to begin work on children’s parks with universal play equipment designed for kids with special needs. Area Lions and Rotary clubs are hoping to fund that feature.

That area also may include an amphitheater where special events including community theater and symphony concerts could be held, Shultheis said.

Inside the development, 50 acres will be kept natural, except for the addition of a trail system ranging from paved, wide trails dotted with stations depicting the geology and history of the area to unimproved trails leading to spectacular views and offering challenging workouts.

“We want people to go through the trail system and find something of interest everywhere,” Shultheis said.

A new Centennial Trail access point also is planned just south of the site with parking for 30 to 40 cars, a picnic area, restrooms and pedestrian crossings into Mirabeau Point.

There were a few disappointments at Wednesday’s meeting. Anticipated plans for a new ice rink on the site are no longer being considered because of parking concerns, said project director Sue Lani Madsen.

“We still want the ice house to be a neighbor,” Madsen said. “That discussion will continue.”

In the end, trustees hope Mirabeau Point will become the Valley’s gem.

“This can be compared to what Riverfront Park is to downtown,” Cole said.