Board halves park, pool bond

The Spokane Park Board on Thursday sliced its request for a $78.4 million park and pool bond nearly in half.

Members said they were responding to public complaints they’ve heard since they unanimously approved the higher figure last month.

“What I would like is a bond issue that passes,” said Park Board member Steve Silkworth.

Cut from the proposed bond was a proposed indoor aquatics center and an enlarged walkway, or promenade, through Riverfront Park. Still in the proposal is money to rebuild the city’s five outdoor pools and construct a new one near Joe Albi Stadium. The bond also would pay to add 10 splash play features in parks that lost wading pools, build a new park near Joe Albi Stadium and improve baseball fields,

The action was praised by at least some Spokane City Council members who will make the final decision on Monday about what goes on the November ballot. Councilman Brad Stark even predicted that the new park bond figure, $40.3 million, will win unanimous support to forward it on to voters.

The change reduces the cost of the bond to an owner of a $100,000 home from $43 to $22 a year for 20 years, said Spokane parks director Mike Stone.

But some lamented that the reduction means the city will be without year-round swimming even longer. Spokane’s only indoor pool closed for good earlier this year.

The Park Board voted 6-2 to cut the proposed $26.7 million indoor aquatics center that would have had a 25-meter- by-25-yard pool as well as a water play area, a gymnasium, a fitness center and other amenities.

Some Park Board members said there were too many questions surrounding the center to move ahead. The city doesn’t have a location picked, and at a City Council meeting earlier this week many swimmers testified that the indoor pool was not big enough.

City Councilman Rob Crow said it could have been “catastrophic” if the measure had been approved without a location picked or without a clear consensus on the pool’s size.

The delay also will give the city a chance to explore partnerships with other governments, he said.

“I believe that it is a venue that needs to be done regionally,” Crow said.

But Park Board member Elizabeth Schoedel said it is time for action. She noted that since her arrival on the board in 2002, the issue has been studied by a citizens committee, a consultant and the park board.

“We need an indoor facility, and we need it now,” she said.

She added that while outdoor pools need substantial annual subsidies, a recent study shows the aquatics center would be close to breaking even.

Another idea trimmed from the park bond was an $11.4 million proposal to re-create Howard Street through Riverfront Park as a pedestrian-friendly walkway that would better accommodate events like Pig Out in the Park. The Park Board removed the promenade in a unanimous decision.

Although the concept is in the park department’s draft long-term plan for the park, officials haven’t completed sketches of what the promenade would look like.

“It hasn’t been vetted,” said City Councilman Bob Apple, who serves on the Park Board.

Louis Franchino, a member of Citizens for Sensible Aquatics, said he believes the new list will have wide support in the community but added that he’s disappointed the indoor pool was pulled.

Although the idea is dead for this year, Park Board members said they hope the aquatics center will make its way back to voters as early as next year.

“I’m certainly going to push for it to be on the ballot in the spring,” Schoedel said.