Off-Road Park May Be Leased County Seeks Solution After State Money For Airway Heights Park Slashed

A public off-road vehicle park facing dire straits soon may be run by a group of its users.

Spokane County commissioners on Tuesday will consider giving a five-year lease to longtime users of the ORV park near Airway Heights.

Built by the county, the 216-acre park was funded primarily with $2.4 million from the state gasoline tax. The tax and ORV license fees, along with gate fees collected from users and spectators, keep the park operating, said county Parks Manager Wyn Birkenthal.

But the state panel that decides who gets how much for recreation projects receives more requests than it has money. So the Interagency Committee for Outdoor Recreation decided early last year to drastically reduce its funding of the three publicly owned ORV parks in the state.

State money for the Airway Heights park was cut in half last year, from about $100,000 to $50,000. There’s no guarantee the annual checks will continue, said Birkenthal. Commissioners last year raised the daily admission fee from $3 to $5, and warned that they wouldn’t tap into the county’s general fund to keep the park open.

Motorcyclists, go-kart operators and other users hope to run the park more efficiently by extending the season, marketing more aggressively and using volunteer labor, said Bob Thompson.

Thompson, a go-kart enthusiast, is one of five people whose names are on the lease commissioners may adopt. If the lease is approved, the users plan to form a nonprofit group called Spokane Motorsport Complex Inc., he said.

As long as the state grant money continues, the lease calls for the county to pay up to $20,000 a year for utilities at the park.

Spokane Motorsport Complex would pay the county 2 percent of all concession sales and 2 percent of the first $300,000 in each year’s ticket sales. The group would pay 1 percent of receipts after the first $300,000.

Birkenthal called the proposed lease “an experiment.”

“We don’t know for certain that it’s going to work, and neither do they,” he said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: ORV PLAN Spokane County commissioners are accepting written public comments about a proposal to lease the county’s off-road vehicle site near Airway Heights. The comments must be submitted before the commissioners’ 5 p.m. meeting Tuesday in the public works building, 1026 W. Broadway. Comments also can be submitted prior to the meeting at the commissioners’ office in the county courthouse, 1116 W. Broadway. Commissioners will consider the lease during Tuesday’s meeting, but will not hear spoken testimony.