Parks Aid Bond Issue Would Include Money For Improvements To Several South Side Recreation Areas

Spokane’s parks are tired. Playground equipment is old and teetering on the brink of being unsafe. Several growing neighborhoods have been waiting more than a decade for a community park.

So, come September, the Spokane Parks and Recreation Department will be asking the public to consider a citywide bond issue totaling $14,974,260.

The good news is that the department has specific plans for the money that will affect almost every neighborhood.

“We aren’t asking for everything. It’s based on critical needs,” said Ange Taylor, director of parks and recreation. “As the city’s population has increased, park use has also - and now they’re being loved to death.”

The last bond issue was 12 years ago, he added.

Plans for the 1999 bond issue are divided into three categories:

Acquisition of 5.7 acres on the north bank of the Spokane River for potential park development ($4,083,000).

Consolidation of parks maintenance and summer recreation offices into a single building ($3,100,000).

Various park improvements and renovation ($7,643,000).

The bond issue also includes 1 percent of the projects’ total for bond costs.

Proposed park improvements include several upgrades for Riverfront Park, including repair to damaged asphalt.

Manito Park is also slated for road repair.

“Riverfront Park is the jewel of the city and should be cared for as an urban refuge,” Taylor said. “We’ve got to take care of what we’ve got and look forward to the next 10 to 15 years to accommodate growth.”

After events like Pig Out in the Park, the grass takes a full week or two to recuperate, Taylor said. As such events become larger and more frequent, the park will begin to show more wear and tear. Acquisition of the north bank area would provide another grassy area for events and the opportunity to rotate events and spread out the use.

The area would also be used for an Imax science center and for an expanded entertainment zone, with rides for all ages, Taylor said.

The bond issue would also provide for essential pool maintenance. Six neighborhood pools, including two on the South Side, would share $420,000 for patch and repair work on their concrete tanks, and painting of an epoxy surface for tank longevity.

Twenty-seven parks would receive $60,000 each for new playground equipment. South Side recipients would be: Cannon Hill, High Bridge, Thornton Murphy, Underhill, Upper Manito and Your Place.

“If lots of this play equipment is not replaced, it will have to be removed,” Taylor said. “It’s that old.”

Two new South Side neighborhood parks - Ben Burr and Albion Heights - would share $600,000. The soon-to-be-developed Five Mile Prairie Community Park would receive $1.8 million.

The Rochester Heights, Indian Trail and Shadle community parks would divide $240,000 for new restrooms and drinking fountains. Shadle would also get an additional $80,000 for a new picnic shelter.

Tennis courts at Comstock and Grant parks would get $380,000 for renovation.

After asking the public to help determine a location, the Parks Department would use $200,000 to create a new North Side skate park.

And $1,170,000 would be used to implement the initial phase of the Manito Park master plan, including a redesign of the main parking and entry area, closing Tekoa to through traffic and extending landscaping and creating a parking lot at the pond.

“We’re at the point now where we have major expenses,” Taylor said. “So we’re coming to the voters to say, `We need some help.”’