City Council approves Albi Stadium deal

Spokane City Council members unanimously approved on Monday an agreement with Spokane Public Schools and the Mead School District that could give Albi Stadium another 10 years of life.

The agreement calls on the two districts to pay the nearly $1 million cost of replacing the stadium’s deteriorated artificial turf, plus pay rent of $2,950 a day when the facility is used, which will be mostly for Greater Spokane League football games in the fall.

Under terms of the agreement, Spokane schools will pay 71.5 percent of the cost of the new turf while Mead will pick up 28.5 percent. The percentages are based on the relative sizes of the two districts.

The Spokane and Mead school boards are expected to approve the agreement this week. If they do, the turf will be installed by September.

Last August, the council killed a plan by former Mayor Jim West to demolish Albi and sell 90 acres of adjoining land for nearly 700 home sites.

The 10-year agreement with the Spokane and Mead schools calls for using the stadium for at least five more years. Both the city and the schools can terminate the agreement at the five-year mark, but they must give a year’s advance notice.

The schools would be allowed to remove the carpet if they were to open another stadium. Some officials have suggested that Albi is too large for high school football and that a smaller stadium would be more usable. However, there are no plans for developing a new high school stadium.

If the city seeks to terminate the contract, it would have to pay the schools a depreciated amount for the artificial turf, which has an expected life of about 10 years, or the city could pay to have the carpet moved to another location.

Council members said they are pleased that the schools were willing to take responsibility for replacing the turf.

“I personally want to thank both school districts for working with the city,” said Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin. “I think it’s great for the kids and it’s great for the city.”

Mayor Dennis Hession has said he wants to get citizens involved in a closer look at what should be done with Albi.

An engineering study last winter found that minimal repairs could be made for $90,000 over the next two years. After that, a continuing program of upgrades would cost $3 million to make the stadium usable for the next 30 years.