Panels to oversee Albi future

A newly appointed mayoral committee on Thursday began sorting through the tough issues involved in turning Joe Albi Stadium and its grounds into a regional athletic center.

Mayor Dennis Hession on Wednesday announced the formation of the six-member committee to oversee the planning. The mayor also named a larger advisory group of at least 10 representatives of sports, real estate, youth group and neighborhood interests.

Councilman Rob Crow, chairman of the planning committee, said he is committed to adding new sports facilities to Albi’s grounds and figuring out what to do with the aging 1950 stadium, which over the past decade has seen dwindling use, but still provides a citywide venue for high school football.

A $1 million artificial turf was installed this summer under an agreement among the city and the Spokane and Mead school districts. The stadium also needs ongoing maintenance estimated at $4 million over the next 30 years.

Formation of the committee and advisory group comes a little more than a year after the City Council killed a proposal by former Mayor Jim West to demolish Albi and sell its property for home sites.

Crow said he and other members of the committee want to see the Albi land put to greater use. “This is not a little park on the northwest side of town,” he said of the envisioned improvements. “This is a center for the entire community.”

In fact, a statement from Hession’s office on Wednesday for the first time identified it as the Northwest Regional Athletic Center.

What it would include is yet to be decided.

The city’s parks department has $3.75 million set aside from a 1999 ballot issue approving the use of the money for a softball and sports complex at Albi Stadium.

That plan ran into trouble in 2004 when it was learned that a tournament-caliber softball facility would draw enough traffic to require intersection improvements to the four-way stop at Wellesley Avenue and Assembly Street adjacent to Albi. The softball facility also was opposed by neighbors because it would draw more traffic and noise, and because the plan included beer sales to offset operating costs.

Even so, the money is still available for use at Albi, and could be used to satisfy an increasing demand for youth baseball, which can be played on softball fields, committee members said.

Karen Bell, a northwest neighborhood representative on the committee, cautioned committee members that the neighborhood’s concerns have not gone away.

“Adult softball fields are not a priority with the neighborhood,” she said.

An Aquatics Citizens Advisory Committee for the city parks department recommended last December the construction of an indoor aquatics center adjacent to Albi Stadium.

Steve McNutt, who serves as the park board’s representative on the mayoral committee, said the parks department is seeking a consultant to help come up with a citywide capital program for replacing and refurbishing the city’s aging pools.

The city needs both a competitive pool and a recreational facility with features such as wave and therapy pools. Some cities are building large facilities for both, committee members said.

Cross-country trails, a skate park, an indoor field house and sports training facilities are among other ideas under discussion.

In May, the City Council approved a $330,000 buyout of the former Spokane Shadow soccer club after the club was unable to play its 2006 season at Albi because of worn turf .

Dave Pier, vice president of Brett Sports, which managed the Shadow, has agreed to join the advisory group for planning the future of Albi.

Along with Crow, Bell and McNutt, other members of the planning committee are Councilwoman Nancy McLaughlin, John Mannix of Spokane Public Schools and Eric Sawyer, executive director of the Spokane Regional Sports Commission.