Public Helps With Pool Wish List

Thu., March 23, 2000

By Marny Lombard marnyl@spokesman.com (509) 927-2166

A bout 30 people gathered Monday to share ideas for the new swimming pool planned for Valley Mission Park.

Ideas ranged from the simple - having showers and locker rooms in the support building - to the expensive - a pedestrian overpass or tunnel to ensure that children can safely cross Mission Avenue.

“We’re developing a wish list that the community wants,” said Randy Johnson, recreation program manager for Spokane County Parks and Recreation Department.

The majority view was that the pool should be devoted to swim lessons and family swim time, although a “vocal minority” opted for an Olympic-size pool for competitive swimming, said Tom Sherry, a landscape architect who helped run the workshop.

At issue is just how to develop property south of Mission, across the street from the heavily used Valley Mission Park. The county purchased five acres there recently from Modern Electric Water Co. and plans to build the new pool on that site.

Plans are for a new pool to be ready for a June 2001 opening. The pool will replace the current Valley Mission pool, which has perpetual leaking problems. Much of that park has problems with settling, as it was built over an old landfill.

In addition to the new pool, the county Parks and Recreation Department is also creating a master plan for the redesign of Valley Mission Park. A second workshop on Monday will address how ideas for the new pool will mesh with that redesign. The workshop will begin at 7 p.m. at the Valley Senior Center, 11423 E. Mission.

A third workshop may be held later this spring on the Valley Mission Park master plan.

Although county commissioners have acknowledged safety concerns about children crossing Mission to get from the park to the pool or back, it’s likely that they would seek less expensive ways to ensure children’s safety than an overpass.

One way might be to locate enough amenities on the south side of Mission that families stay there. Those amenities will likely include playground equipment, picnic areas, shade trees and other landscaping, Sherry said.

Commissioners earmarked $1.3 million for the pool in 1999.

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