Valley sports complex proposed

Not to be outdone by Spokane’s plans for a downtown field house, Spokane Valley may partner with other cities, schools and Spokane County to provide its own outdoor sports facilities.

Officials are debating asking voters countywide as early as next year for a tax to pay for new fields and upgrades to existing fields as well as a new sports complex just north of Riverfront Park.

The Spokane County Parks Department plans to hire a firm to conduct an economic impact study for softball field renovations at Plantes Ferry Park and construction of new fields near the Hub Sports Complex. Spokane Valley City Councilman Ed Pace hopes his fellow council members will support the project, which could turn the two locations into a regional sports venue.

“This isn’t just a Spokane Valley thing,” Pace said. “This is Liberty Lake, Millwood. This is a greater Spokane Valley thing.”

The county parks department provided a concept for construction, which would include eight new softball fields adjacent to the Hub, a nonprofit indoor sports center in Liberty Lake. The county also is considering updating existing softball fields at Plantes Ferry Park, adding synthetic turf to five fields and lighting for two.

The results of a recent parks department survey showed area recreation groups overwhelmingly support the Plantes Ferry Park renovations. But with several potential projects, including the $27 million field house in downtown Spokane that would be owned by the Spokane Public Facilities District, what would be included when elected officials go to voters for funding has yet to be finalized. The combined potential cost for the Plantes Ferry upgrades and construction at the Hub reaches somewhere around $23 million, according to the parks department. But none of these concepts have been approved by any governing body, including the Spokane County Commission, which has the final authority on whether a park levy would appear on the ballot for all county voters.

Spokane County Parks Director Doug Chase is preparing a proposal that would ask stakeholders who could benefit from the softball field projects – including the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, the cities of Liberty Lake and Spokane Valley, as well as Valley school districts – to share in the cost of an economic impact study, the results of which could help sell voters on a potential ballot measure.

“I look at this as a next step,” Chase said.

The firm that would complete the economic impact study of the new ball fields – Florida-based Sports Facilities Advisory – will be in town this fall to conduct a similar study for the proposed indoor sports complex near the Spokane Arena. Chase hopes the agency could also complete an analysis for the outdoor ball fields this fall, saving the county and other stakeholders money on travel costs.

Spokane County Commissioner Shelly O’Quinn has been meeting with representatives of Spokane Valley, Liberty Lake and Central Valley, following the announced plans for the downtown facility. She said a partnership would benefit all parties and reduce costs.

“At our last meeting, we discussed the fact that we don’t want to just create a venue to create a venue, because downtown has one, so we want one,” O’Quinn said.

Pace opposes inclusion of a downtown field house in a county parks tax proposal and said a facility for regional sports competitions makes more sense in Spokane Valley than downtown and that plans for construction there were more modest than the field house.

“If you look at a couple recent ballot issues – the STA sales tax failed, and more recently the library bond issue failed,” Pace said, referring to voters’ narrow rejection in April of a 0.3 percent tax increase to fund transportation projects, and the rejection earlier this month of a $22 million bond to pay for improvements at Spokane Valley libraries. “I’m not sure about the chances of a huge county bond issue.”

Proponents of the field house downtown say it could draw up to 23,000 out-of-town visitors to Spokane each year, producing up to $1.7 million in additional, annual tax revenue.

O’Quinn said she hoped a vote on funding for a downtown field house would be held separately from one asking for more money for county parks.

“I feel like that should stand on its own merit,” O’Quinn said. “It’s not a Spokane County parks project.”

Spokane Valley approved a lodging tax increase of 1.3 percent that went into effect in July. The tax creates a trust fund that Spokane Valley may use for projects that include construction of the new fields. Pace said that tax makes sense, because it’s visitors – not Spokane Valley residents – who are filling coffers. Construction of the ball fields would give those paying the lodging tax a clear sense of what they’re paying for, Pace said.

But the land the county would buy adjacent to the Hub, which is employing its own capital campaign to support continued activities, is within Liberty Lake city limits. Plantes Ferry Park lies just outside the Spokane Valley city limits on Wellesley Avenue.

Ben Small, superintendent of Central Valley schools, said a partnership would help the district acquire land for a future middle school nearby and supplement their sports facilities through field-sharing.

“Our role in this is to maximize limited resources,” Small said, adding that some of the proposed softball fields could be converted for high school baseball games.

Katherine Morgan, president and chief executive officer for the Spokane Valley Chamber of Commerce, said the discussions were “very high level” at this point.

“The chamber is really excited to make sure the right people are at the table,” she said.

An economic impact study could provide more information to county commissioners and help them decide which new sports facilities could be pitched to the public as part of a larger, park ballot issue.

“It could really help us – and the community – understand whether we’re on the right track,” Chase said.