In light of the recent article in the Wenatchee World about the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex owing back rent to Chelan County and some of your comments to my last post, I would like further clarify the relationship between the City, Waste Management, and the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex when it comes to building an indoor-outdoor sports complex on Grant Road.
The relationship between the City and Waste Management.
Some of you have expressed concerns that the money the City will receive from Waste Management could put to other uses. This is not the case. Although state law allows the City to enter into a hosting fee agreement with Waste Management, the City cannot impose a hosting fee agreement on Waste Management. The decision to enter into a hosting fee agreement with the City is voluntary on Waste Management's part. In this case, Waste Management is willing to enter into a voluntary agreement based on the condition that the City use the money to build and operate sports fields. If the City does not agree to this condition, there will be no hosting fee agreement with Waste Management. Thus, there will be no money to spend on other needs.
The relationship between the City and the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex.
The Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex is in the process of obtaining the rights to buy the site for the indoor-outdoor sports complex. If everything comes together, the plan is for the City purchase, build and operate the outdoor sports fields. The money to accomplish these tasks will come solely from host fees. The City will not be backing the project with any money that it receives through tax revenue.
When it comes to maintenance, the City is exploring several possibilities. One possibility is to lease the fields to a management team in exchange for a percentage of the tournament revenue. I would like to involve the Eastmont Metropolitan Parks District in these discussions on the best avenue to pursue. But once again, the costs of maintenance will not come from tax revenue.
In short, if the anticipated revenue from the hosting fees are not enough to meet the purchase costs, construction costs, and maintenance costs, the project will not happen. The preliminary calculations are that the project can be accomplished. But as I have said before and will probably say many times again, a lot of due diligence still needs to be done.
The indoor sportsplex will be completely owned and operated by the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex. Thus, the City of East Wenatchee will never have to face the problem of having to collect back rent. The success of the indoor sportsplex will rest entirely on its own merits. Like the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex, I have high hopes for the indoor sports facility. If it proves successful, the Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex will profit. If it proves unsuccessful, however, the City will not be at any sort of financial risk.
I hope this answers some of your questions. The Wenatchee Valley Sportsplex is planning to put on a presentation to the City Council on May 13, 2008 at 6:30 p.m. I invite everyone to attend as it will be a great opportunity to have all the players under one roof and to have questions asked and answered.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
9 comments:
Thanks for clarifying the roles the 3 groups play. I am happy to hear that the indoor facility will be privately owned and operated and is seperate from the outdoor fields which will be City owned and funded entirely thru the host fee. I am also glad to hear that the outdoor space may be run by an outside group that specializes in tournaments and marketing. It would good if the parks dept. could still do some stuff too. It appears clear that tax revenues will not be a part of the funding. Go for it!
Still, out of curiousity, where on Grant Rd. that is in the City limits, is this planning to be built? Isn't east of Kentucky Ave. outside of the city limits and wouldn't that require county commissioners approval?
THANK YOU! Our kids love soccer, and your creative work to keep soccer and other sports available for our community is deeply appreciated! Lars Clausen
THANK YOU! As someone who lives across from a school, it might help in reducing the congestion that is experienced every season from little league baseball/soccer teams trying to practice at the same time with nowhere to park (except MY driveway).
As a parent of a child with depression & anxiety issues, I can honestly say that the development of areas that will allow my son to be involved in community sports is imperative to his mental health. As with all children, physical activity, especially well-coached team sports, profoundly contributes to good mental health.
On a more general note, in order to keep our valley an active, healthy, and family-oriented community, supporting such projects as this is essential. I encourage everybody (those involved in community youth sports, and even those that aren't) to get behind projects like this. The Wenatchee Valley has a great reputation as an outstanding place to live and visit (good for our economy) - our community support for worthy ventures such as this are part of the reason for this.
This Sportsplex project is awesome with a capital A. I haven't read about any City funding going towards the Sportsplex Project for feasibility on this Park? Has that group done this with their own money? If so, where is the public praise for the Sportsplex Group? To pull this project off without raising property taxes is unheard of. I googled it! Waste Management must really be committed to their new slogan, from every day collection to environmental protection, think green, thank Waste Management. Congrats to Steve, Council, and the Sportsplex Group for their efforts for the kids. Bronze statues for all. I would love to hear the story some day about how this concept came about, and how it was pulled together without using any City funds for preliminary feasibility!Sounds like the perfect public/private partnership. Now that would be a story. Go get it done. The Swede
I hate to raise a stink, but if someone does not do something about the smell comming from our sewer treatment plant no one will want to play on the new field. I know it is a seperate government department but maybe the City could bring some weight to bare on the Sewer District to correct the problem.
Thnks
Actually they wouldn't have to pass any new taxes to help fund any maintenance the new sports arena. There is already a taxing authority in place for parks and recreation that has uncontrolled access to raise taxes when it needs more money. Remember, that was voted in by a simple majority.
It is my understanding that the Cal Ripkin Foundation works with the Boys and Girls Club of America to provide training, "baseball", to inner city kids. Are they going to bus the inner city kids to East Wenatchee from Seattle & vicinity and/or Spokane, to this training facility? I thought this was to be for our kids, and I don't think we'll meet the criteria for inner city.
Post a Comment