Pasco reverses course and announces new plan for MLK center. Black leaders are skeptical
Pasco has a new plan for improving an aging recreation center in a low-income part of town after some community members cried foul earlier this year.
Pasco recently announced a three-phase project plan to modernize the Martin Luther King Jr. Community Center, where youth and adults meet, play and learn.
But some critics remain skeptical about whether it will all come together.
A new approach — with a catch
Today, the 22,200-square-foot MLK center is home to the Benton Franklin Head Start learning center and the YMCA of Greater Tri-Cities’ teen room, computer area, weight room and gym where people of all ages play indoor soccer and basketball.
The center currently serves an estimated 4,400 K-12 students and children each year.
This summer, the city proposed moving forward with a budget of $6.5 million for building improvements — nearly half the cost of one of the initial proposals.
At the time, there wasn’t a clear path for how the money would be spent or a definitive timeline.
Current available funds include a $3 million federal grant, $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) money from the city and a $980,000 Washington state grant.
The tentative plan for the facility was to make ADA accessibility upgrades, add new heating and cooling systems, and complete improvements to floors and walls.
But many community members in the east Pasco neighborhood balked at the proposed investment, telling the Tri-City Herald at the time that the scaled-back plan didn’t do justice to the historic center.
City officials said as a result they went back to the project’s architects to look for a way to do more, despite not having the money in hand immediately, and in order to meet certain funding requirements before the end of this year.
The city’s new plan is to try to raise another $6 million to nearly double the investment in the center, but with a catch.
The project would need to be done in phases.
Ryan Mahaffey is the Pasco Public Works department’s capital improvements project manager working on the MLK center.
“We needed to take a different approach, something that was more manageable and more controllable,” he said.
Mahaffey told the Tri-City Herald that the three phases were planned out so that the $2.5 million of ARPA money would be obligated to the project by the end of the year. He said that the phases would minimize impact on people using the building, and maintain services and programs as construction happens.
East Pasco leaders respond
Some remain unconvinced by the city’s new approach for making improvements to the center.
“I’m really in a perplexed state about the phases,” said former Councilman Irving Brown. “I understand why the phases are there, but I’m not exactly happy.”
“I want to know why we can’t break ground right now.”
There was also some push-back from Pasco City Council members when the idea of phases was first proposed at the Sept. 16 council meeting.
“I don’t remember us talking about doing a phased approach when we talked about this in July,” Councilman Leo Perales said at the meeting.
Brown and others contend the city didn’t properly explain in June to the public why it gave some of the money that could have gone toward the center’s remodel to a different project, the Boys & Girls Clubs of Benton and Franklin Counties, and why it didn’t move forward with more extensive renovation plan later this summer.
Brown is the current president of NAACP Tri-Cities.
The conflict with the city prompted Brown to form an online petition aimed at forcing the city and city council to give the public a better explanation of its decisions, to develop a more robust renovation plan and to make a continued effort at engaging with the community.
Since tensions began to rise over the MLK center this summer, Brown scheduled monthly meetings with city staff to receive progress updates and financial information that he plans to report back to the public.
His first meeting is this week on Oct. 24.
“I’m totally proud of City Manager Adam Lincoln, Deputy City Manager Richa Sigdel and Assistant City Manager Angela Pashon,” Brown said.
“Those three are very much on board with communicating and trying to find a way to make this not only right, but have longevity and gain trust with the community.”
First phase of improvements
Phase 1 will cost $3.2 million, almost half of the money available for the project. It focuses on the part of the center that houses Benton Franklin Head Start.
The city has already spent a total of just over $320,000 on community information gathering and other planning work completed so far by the team at Architects West, a Spokane-based firm.
Design for phase 1 of the center is currently underway. Exploratory work on the building also is being completed to assess for potential problems like mold.
Phase 1 is considered the foundational phase for the new center. A new fire line for the building’s sprinkler system, electrical systems, IT and new HVAC will be purchased.
Work done in phase 1 also will help bring the building to ADA accessibility standards.
City officials said that the decision was made not to spend all of the available funds in phase 1 in order to keep the scope feasible within the deadline for the ARPA money.
Councilwoman Blanche Barajas asked city staff at the Sept. 16 council meeting if it is possible to reduce the cost of phase 1.
Pasco public works director Maria Serra noted the request and said that a value engineering process would be completed.
The city plans to award a bid to a contractor and have a contract signed for phase 1 by December.
A notice to proceed date will then be set, marking when construction can begin. Mahaffey said that it could be a few months after December before work starts on the center.
Phase 1 will take several months to complete.
Mahaffey said that as soon as phase 1 goes out to bid, the city will work with Architects West to start the design for phase 2.
The city hopes that the center will be open to the public during all three phases of construction. During phase 1, the gym, teen and computer areas will remain open, but the center outdoor courtyard will likely close.
More plans for historic center
Phase 2 will include a majority of the work needed to make the building ADA accessible, including installation of new bathrooms.
But its completion is contingent on what money is available.
“We do not know how long it is going to take to get the funds to complete phases 2 and 3,” Mahaffey said.
He told the Herald that more community spaces were the biggest request that came from the public information gathering sessions.
The center courtyard will become an enclosed indoor community area in phase 2. New steps and a ramp will be installed.
On the south side of the building, a library will be constructed, replacing the current teen and computer areas. The library will also include open community space.
The main hallway in the building that passes the gym will be extended. A ramp will be added to provide ADA access to the gym after phase 2 ends.
In phase 3, the gym will be expanded to add a new regulation-sized basketball court.
Mahaffey said that preliminary designs for phase 3 also show an indoor-outdoor stage as part of the gym. It would allow live performances facing outside at the same time that sports games are being played inside the gym.
After the improvement project is complete, the center will expand by 3,000 square feet.
Honoring the center’s history
Since 2021, the city has been considering various improvements to the center. The building has been a cornerstone of the historically disadvantaged area for nearly 50 years and has needed major upgrades for years.
Architects West and the city have proposed different ways to commemorate the building’s history and significance to the Black community in east Pasco as the phases move forward.
Ideas include moving the existing mural in the teen room to a more prominent area, adding historic photographs, installing a plaque to memorialize the work that has been done on the center by east Pasco community members, and naming rooms and spaces after historic figures of east Pasco.
The city also is collaborating with the Historic Preservation Commission and the Arts and Culture Commission.
More information about the MLK center can be found on the city’s website, available in English and Spanish.
This story was originally published October 21, 2024 at 5:00 AM.
