Airway Heights Recreation Center can be benefit to many

The dream of Airway Heights having its own recreation center is one step closer to becoming a reality.

Airway Heights’ Proposition 1 bond initiative, which would help fund a proposed $13 million recreation center, is expected to pass with 61.12 percent (503-320 votes) of the vote total.

The bond will be levied against all taxable property within the city. Homeowners with a $100,000 house will pay an extra $11.56 per month in property taxes. A resident with a $200,000 home will pay an extra $23.21 per month.

If all goes according to plan, the recreation center will be built on 70 acres of land located north of the city, south of Deno Road.

As someone who lived in Airway Heights many years ago, it’s good to see the city moving forward on a big project like the recreation center, which, to be honest, sounded like a bit of a pipe dream to me when I first heard about it. However, that was before voters approved the bond and the city was able to secure some funding for the project through a state capital grant.

One of the items included in the center’s concept is something that residents have asked for as long as I can remember — a pool, or rather an aquatic center.

As a kid, I remember some of the hot and dry summers in Airway Heights and my friends and I would spend most of the day biking around town with the sun beating down on our backs. You’d be lucky to find someone in the neighborhood with a swimming pool in their backyard.

In May 2015, the city installed its first water feature — a splash pad at Sunset Park. While the splash pad has been a nice addition to the park, it is only open from Tuesday through Sunday from 1-7 p.m.

The pools in the center will give both children and adults a chance to relax, cool off or get in some exercise.

The recreation center’s concept also includes multi-purpose sports fields, which gives the youth sports programs a place to play throughout the year, while freeing up space at Sunset and other parks in the city.

The recreation center could also be a way to bring West Plains residents together. Folks from Cheney, Davenport, Medical Lake and Spokane have a chance to get out of their homes and visit Airway Heights other than to stop off at Walmart or Northern Quest Resort and Casino.

The center could also be a way for the city and Cheney School District to work together. One idea would be to allow the high school swimming teams to practice and host meets at the aquatic center when they can’t use Eastern Washington University’s pool because it is closed for cleaning, or the meets are held on days when the university’s football and basketball teams have home games.

The Cheney and Westwood middle school SeaPerch teams could also use the aquatic center to practice their remote operated vehicles before their competition in February.

Now that the bond has passed, the city plans to undertake a public participation process and ask residents on the details they would like to see for the recreation center. While the aquatic center and sports fields are already in the concept plan — as are a fitness center, daycare areas and meeting spaces — the plan is not set in stone.

I’m encouraging — or rather challenging — Airway Heights residents to contact city officials and share their ideas on what features and details they would like to see in the recreation center.

Residents are paying for the center, they might as well share their ideas and take some ownership in the project.

Al Stover can be reached at al@cheneyfreepress.com.