New Bond Financing Park Projects, Repairs Consultant Hired To Design Changes To South Side Parks

Sandblasting of Spokane’s six outdoor swimming pools will be among the first construction projects under a $15 million park bond issue approved last year.

The repairs - which include the sealing, stripping and repainting of each pool - should be finished by the start of the summer swim season in June.

The pool job heads a long list of park improvements taking shape from last September’s bond approval.

“It’s all rolling along,” said James W. Gibson, a retired Air Force civil engineer hired to manage the projects.

Here is an update on progress so far:

* One private consultant was hired last week to design changes primarily at three South Side parks. Another consultant will be chosen next week for work at Riverfront Park, the north bank property adjacent to Riverfront Park, a new community park at Five Mile and picnic shelter improvements elsewhere.

* Twenty-seven neighborhood parks are receiving new playground equipment over the next two years. The work will be done alphabetically with Audubon through Heath parks getting the equipment this year. The others will be completed in 2001.

Nine neighborhood councils have been asked what types of new playground equipment they want in their parks.

* Residents in the Ben Burr and Grandview areas have been consulted about plans for developing new parks for those neighborhoods.

* The Spokane City Council last week approved a $424,000 contract with Interstate Coatings Inc. of Seattle for work on the six outdoor pools.

* A new park maintenance facility in east Spokane has been completed and is being wired for citywide communication services. The cost is $3.1 million.

* A public meeting is being scheduled for early spring on the South Side to go over plans for Manito Park.

David Evans and Associates of Spokane was hired on a $133,400 contract to design improvements at Manito Park, as well as work at three other parks.

Gibson said the Evans group was chosen on the strength of the firm’s experience working on parks.

Changes at Manito Park will be consistent with a master plan written in 1985, he said. They include closing at least one road through the park, improving parking and renovating the Gaiser Conservatory.

* Work on the Shadle, Comstock, Witter, Hillyard, Cannon and Liberty Park pools should begin in March. The contractor is planning to hire local laborers.

The work includes resealing joints in the concrete, stripping loose paint and applying a new epoxy paint coating.

The last time the pools were renovated, the city used a chlorinated rubber paint, which is now failing because of age.

“Epoxy technology has come a tremendous way in the past 10 to 15 years,” Gibson said.