Voters could decide on a Pasco aquatics park this fall. Inslee to sign the bill Thursday

Pasco has dreamed of a family-friendly aquatics center stuffed with slides, splash zones and a lap pool since 2004.

On Thursday, Gov. Jay Inslee will sign a bill that tweaks state law just enough to let the city move forward with its ambitious vision.

The governor will sign House Bill 1499, sponsored by Rep. Bill Jenkin, R-Prosser, at 2 p.m. Thursday in Olympia.

Pasco Mayor Matt Watkins and Mayor Pro Tem Craig Maloney will lead a delegation to represent the city,

The bill adds aquatics centers to the amenities that can be built by local public facilities districts if their voters are willing to raise local sales taxes.

The Pasco Public Facilities District will meet at 4 p.m., Monday at city hall, 525 N. Third Ave., to discuss the next steps.

Voters have the final say

Stan Strebel, deputy city manager, said there’s plenty to talk about.

The district will have to identify a location. The city has indicated it wants the center built in the Broadmoor/Road 100 area.

Pasco voters will have the final say on the project. It is unclear when they will be asked to raise the local sales tax by either one-tenth or two-tenths of a percent, which is 1-2 cents on a $10 purchase.

To qualify for the Aug. 6 primary, it would have to be submitted to the Franklin County Auditor’s Office by next week.

To qualify for the Nov. 5 general election, it would have to be submitted by early August.

Strebel said a 2016 feasibility study by Ballard*King & Associates., a Colorado-based recreation consultant, will need to be updated.

The 63-page study identified three scenarios — a basic indoor and outdoors aquatics center, the basic plan plus a community center, fitness and exercise areas and child care, and the basic plan with a gymnasium and other amenities.

Each would have cost about $20 million, the district’s bonding capacity at the time.

Pasco had a population of 68,600 in 2016. It grew by 2,000 in 2017, according to the most recent Census Bureau figures.

The Ballard*King report concluded Pasco was large enough to support the facility.

Pasco voters approved a one-tenth of a percent sales tax increase for an aquatics center in 2013, when the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District made the request.

Unlike local facilities districts, regional ones could develop water parks.

The effort failed because of opposition from voters in Kennewick and Richland. Kennewick voters went on to reject three ballot requests from their local facilities district to expand the Three Rivers Convention Center campus.

While the 2013 request failed regionally, Pasco was sufficiently encouraged by local support to ask the Legislature to change the law to let it move ahead on its own.

It was the city’s top legislative priority for several years.

Jenkin first introduced legislation in his freshman session in 2017.

The bill signing ceremony will be broadcast online at tvw.org. HB 1499 is one of more than 40 bills being signed.

This story was originally published May 8, 2019 at 5:45 PM.