Layouts Being Considered For Wenatchee Area Sports Complex

The layout of a proposed regional sports complex in the Wenatchee Valley is being drawn up. 

There's interest in building a sports complex in the area which would house an aquatic center and athletic fields. 

The steering committee overseeing a feasibility study of the sports complex was given a presentation by consulting company BerryDunn this week. 

The committee is chaired by East Wenatchee Mayor Jerrilea Crawford, who says it'll be a number of years before a complex could be built. 

"If everything fell into place, perfectly aligned in time, the earliest I could see anything happen is three years, but I think it's more likely longer than that," said Crawford. 

The idea for the sports complex started with a five-year (2022–2026) Action Plan from the nonprofit group Our Valley Our Future, which recommended building a Regional Water Park and Indoor/Outdoor Aquatics Facility.  

Subsequent meetings on the plan resulted in the inclusion of athletic fields.   

The feasibility study on the sports complex was launched last year under the management of the Chelan Douglas Regional Port Authority. 

The aquatic center will likely include a 50-meter Olympic size swimming pool while the athletic fields will include rectangular fields for sports such as soccer and football, and triangle fields for baseball and softball. 

Phase 1 of the feasibility study is complete. It included research into existing sports facilities, demographics and market analysis with public input. 

Phase 2 is now underway, which will determine what the regional sports center would look like, where it would be located and how it would be paid for.  

This week's presentation from BerryDunn offered four layout concepts, all situated in Douglas County. The steering committee chose two of them, Option 1 and Option 3, to explore further. 

Both of the layouts are adjacent to the Columbia River. 

Option 1 would be located in the Wenatchi Landing area south of the Odabashian Bridge. 

It calls for either an 86-acre or 128-acre center with room for up to 2,000 cars to park. 

Option 3 calls for a 50 acre site in the Baker Flats area, which is north of the Odabashian Bridge. That location would have 1,200 parking spaces. 

The two locations would have a differing number of rectangular and triangle fields. 

Chelan Douglas Port Director of Economic Development & Capital Projects Stacy de Mestre says BerryDunn will now further develop the two options. 

"It's my understanding they're going to refine those two options that the steering committee was favorable of," said de Mestre. "And then they'll come back with the rough capital cost to build them, and also the economic impacts of those facilities" 

Crawford said the sports complex project could be completed in phases over a period of years because of its heavy cost. 

There's currently no financing in place for the project. Funding would come through the creation of a Public Facilities District. The district would impose a .02 percent tax on communities and counties that would opt into the project through a public vote. 

The feasibility study is being paid for by Chelan and Douglas counties, the cities of Wenatchee and East Wenatchee, the Regional Port Authority and a group that oversees the Town Toyota Center.