SPOKANE, Wash. — The Spokane Park Board is set to vote Wednesday on whether to place the city’s Parks and Recreation Department’s $240 million levy on the November ballot.
The levy is part of the “Together Spokane” plan, which also includes a $200 million bond with Spokane Schools. The plan, if approved, would fund over 200 projects across the city.
One of the key projects under the plan is the expansion of the Dwight Merkel Sports Complex in Northwest Spokane, just south of Highway 291.
Currently, the Merkel Sports Complex only has two all-weather fields with lighting.
Spokane Parks and Recreation said it often has to turn away both children and adults eager to participate in sports, due to the lack of available fields.
The proposed levy would fund the construction of eight new multi-purpose fields, three of which would be all-weather.
Mike Tirabassi, a parent and coach with Spokane Indians Youth Baseball, said additional fields would help teams focus more on playing, and less on practice logistics.
“All the coaches, they all have jobs and are all volunteers. They have to figure out where are we going to practice? And that means they’re figuring it out, asking favors, fixing up fields on the weekends with the families that they coach. When they should be working on coaching” he said.
Tirabassi said it would also help instill a sense of pride in the community and allow teams to start practicing as early as March.
“If we expand the season by two months either way and people start coming to us because we have facilities now, we’re basically building pride in the community for our kids instead of going to someone else’s community to play,” he said.
Spokane Parks said the lighting on the newly proposed fields would also be make a huge difference, especially as the days get shorter in the fall and winter.
The Department also hopes that doubling the capacity at the Merkel facility could attract larger regional tournaments to the area.
Spokane Parks and Rec would manage and maintain the fields, while SPS would be able to use them for student activities.
Wednesday’s vote will take place during the Park Board’s 3:30 p.m. meeting.
For more information on Together Spokane, visit www.togetherspokane.org.
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