Pasco board approves $39,500 to study new aquatic/recreation center

The Pasco Public Facilities District board voted unanimously Tuesday to spend $39,500 researching a proposed aquatic/recreation center.

Completion of the feasibility study is expected to take up to four months.

The goal is to be as thorough as possible so that the board will have data, cost projections and public input before deciding whether to ask Pasco voters to support a tax-subsidized public facility.

President Mark Morrissette said the board has been discussing a potential project for the past six months, but wanted to see what public facilities districts in the other two cities and the regional group were doing first.

The move comes 2 1/2 years after a one-tenth of 1 percent sales tax increase was rejected by voters in Kennewick and Richland. Pasco voters supported the 2013 ballot measure.

In that effort, the Tri-Cities Regional Public Facilities District was looking to build an aquatics facility and water park on 13 acres in west Pasco. The land, development, construction and equipment was expected to cost about $36 million.

On Tuesday, Deputy City Manager Stan Strebel told the five-member board that the current proposal will try to work off the previous artist rendering and plans, instead of starting from scratch.

The board has about $20 million to work with, so some features may need to be removed or other adjustments made in the plans.

The 2013 conceptual design included an indoor area — open year-round — with a 25-meter-by-25-meter competition pool, warm-up pool, surf simulator, slides, an activity pool, a leisure pool and a river channel.

Outdoor elements in that design include a wave and leisure pool, river channel and slides. Those elements were to be available seasonally.

This study will be done by Ballard*King & Associates with Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture and Water Technology Inc.

Strebel said these consultants worked on the 2013 project, so they are familiar with the demographics of the Tri-City region. However, this time they will be focusing on the Pasco market for the study, while trying to appeal to the Tri-Cities at large, he said.

A site has not been selected for this proposal, though the consultants may suggest a possible location.

Janelle Klashke, a partner in LifeQuest Fitness Center in Pasco and general manager of Tri-City Court Club, said the Kennewick club’s water park is open daily from Memorial Day weekend through Labor Day, but sees a drop in attendance starting the second week in August.

She told the board it will need to decide if the primary goal is to draw tourism or meet the needs of the community.

The PFD board can make a recommendation, but it cannot put a project on the ballot by itself. The Pasco City Council ultimately must approve putting a project on the ballot.

This story was originally published February 23, 2016 at 6:35 PM with the headline "Pasco board approves $39,500 to study new aquatic/recreation center."