Water park gets go-ahead
Finally, the fun can start. Public officials have cleared the way for construction of a new $5 million water park at 61st Avenue and Freya Street.
Spokane County commissioners awarded a contract Tuesday for construction of the 4,000-square-foot complex of splashy water attractions that include a beachlike pool, a water slide and a somewhat inappropriately named “lazy river.”
Commissioners had hoped to start construction early this year, but found themselves swimming upstream when they learned they had to negotiate with the Spokane City Council.
The council had extra leverage because the state Growth Management Act generally prohibits city officials from extending sewer and water service to the water park even though the city already has water and sewer lines in the streets next to the park site. That’s because the site, although adjacent, is outside the city’s “urban growth area” – unincorporated land designated for eventual annexation.
The Growth Management Act says it is inappropriate to extend urban services outside an urban growth area except to protect health, safety or the environment.
In exchange for acknowledging that city sewers would best protect groundwater at the pool site, Spokane council members wanted county commissioners to mitigate traffic and other problems caused by the water park and to cooperate with any future effort to annex the site.
Commissioners were willing to mitigate problems but objected to signing an annexation covenant.
Fine, council members said last week, skip the annexation covenant and agree to help impose fees on other developers in the area. Commissioners spluttered as though they’d gotten a lungful of water, but they worked out what Commissioner Bonnie Mager called an “amicable agreement” last Thursday.
The council voted unanimously Monday to provide sewer and water service to the pool without an annexation covenant or an agreement on developer fees.
“It was really more of a philosophical argument that we set aside to address at a later time,” said City Councilman Al French.
Commissioners did agree to require any future owner of the pool site to cooperate with annexation, and they agreed to enter a joint planning agreement for the Moran-Glenrose urban growth area with the city within three months. Also, commissioners agreed to accept a city application to expand the area.
Mayor Dennis Hession said the city had required an annexation covenant “for consistency’s sake” because it would be required of any other property owner who wanted sewer service.
“I respect their opinion,” Hession said. “But we also have a legitimate interest in preserving our infrastructure and protecting our future.”
“I think it’s a great day,” Commissioner Todd Mielke said Tuesday. “We worked our way through it.”
Starting in the summer of 2008, kids and adults will be able to swoop down a 140- to 160-foot water slide – on plastic tubes, bellies or backs – and plunge into a pool where they’ll have to make a choice: climb up and slide again or continue down the “lazy river.”
Two more slides may be added in the future.
Doug Chase, county director of parks, recreation and golf, likes to refer to the planned artificial river as “224 linear feet of excitement.” That’s because, just when you’re gliding along on your little plastic tube, you hit the rapids.
If the rapids don’t soak you, the “tumble buckets” will. These overhead water cans constantly fill and tip their contents onto whomever is underneath.
Those who want even more thrills can veer onto the “adventure lane” fork of the 8-foot-wide, 3-foot-deep river.
City and county officials might have resolved their differences sooner if they’d had some of the water cannons that will be installed around the water park’s 2,500-square-foot “activity pool.”
“I would think a good 30 to 50 feet wouldn’t be out of the question,” Chase said, estimating the range of these giant squirt guns. “Pull the trigger, spray your brother, spray your sister, whatever you like.”
The open-air pool also will be outfitted with geysers, a playground-style climbing structure with a “spray tube,” a “medium-size dumping bucket” and other equipment for soaking anyone who comes near.
Chase said the pool itself will slope down to a depth of 2 1/2 to 3 feet like the water at the edge of a beach.
The water park’s “beach” will feature “very comfortable” chaise lounges and chairs, 20-foot umbrellas and “a good selection” of concession food, Chase said.
He said the Moran Prairie water park will complement a similar facility that opened last summer at 18120 N. Hatch Road in northern Spokane County. That park has no “lazy river” but boasts a deeper pool with a diving board.
Both pools were designed with input from hundreds of kids who live in the two areas, Chase said.
He said the Hatch Road water park has proved highly popular.
Residents of Spokane County’s cities and unincorporated residents all pay the same rate: currently $6 for ages 6 and older and $2 for those younger than 6, although Chase said slight rate increases are expected soon.