Pools with the best Tri-Cities views. A first look at Pasco’s aquatic center site

Rivers, ridges and sunsets.

That’s the view Tri-Citians can expect from the outdoor pools planned for Pasco’s future $40 million aquatic center. And while an aquatic center isn’t a water park, it’s shaping up to share some of the most popular features.

Pasco’s Public Facilities District had been sold on the Broadmoor Development area for the tax-payer-funded aquatic facility for a while now, but PFD Director Matt Watkins said seeing the views in person made them realize just how great of a spot they’re going to have.

“I like standing out here realizing that the view is special, you’ve got rivers and ridges and sunsets,” he said.

“I came out here as a kid on a motorcycle in the ‘70s on the sand dunes, and the idea that we could have an aquatic facility and families be able to watch their kids and come watch a sunset is just amazing to me.”

The view from the site overlooks the Columbia River, just across from Richland’s Columbia Point Marina with sweeping views of the ridgelines spanning the region.

While they hope Tri-Citians will enjoy the views when the weather is nice, the goal is to create a park that can stay open year-round.

“This is going to be a 365-day indoor facility, and outdoor as well. This isn’t just an outdoor seasonal facility in the summer,” Watkins said.

“I would imagine the weekend is going to be more popular with tourists and families and in the middle of the week I can imagine seniors doing water aerobics and those (types of) programs. We’ll be running as much programming as we can to utilize the space.”

Watkins already has started the public input portion of the design process, recently representing the facilities district with a booth at the annual Family Expo at the HAPO Center in Pasco to solicit feedback.

He said the wishlist for features and amenities were long, but a lazy river seems to be at the top of the list for many.

Watkins also is visiting aquatic facilities in Lynnwood and Snohomish for inspiration. He said that if they can come up with a design that meets the level of success those cities have seen, they’ll be on the right track.

Nothing is guaranteed at this point in the design phase, but those of those centers have a lazy river.

Some of the other features at Snohomish’s center include a wave surfing pool, waterslides, a hot tub, a dive area and recreation pool, according to their website.

The Pasco facility is planning a competition pool, which Watkins hopes can eventually host school swim meets.

The bulk of the complex is planned to be done in the first phase, and, tentatively, the second phase would later add the competition pool. They’re hoping to see full designs taking shape this year.

That means they could break ground later this summer.

They’ll be buying about 6 acres with plans to start with just under 47,000-square-feet of indoor and outdoor features, including an indoor leisure pool, outside activity pool, a party room, classroom, outdoor concessions and locker rooms.

The outdoor competition pool will add another 13,000 square feet to the project.

“It’s long overdue because the people of Pasco and the Tri-Cities have long wanted (an aquatic facility),” Watkins said. “... This is something we’ve wanted for a longtime, we just didn’t know how to pay for it. There’s a lot of pent up demand, when you’ve got people beating you up saying, ‘Hey, Moses Lake can do it, why cant you?’”

With those plans starting to come together later this year, the facilities district also will have a better idea of potential opening dates for the facility.

Building Pasco’s frontier

As blocks of apartment buildings begin to rise on the north end of Pasco’s Broadmoor Development, the city’s future aquatic center is positioned to be one of the 1,200-acre site’s first nonresidential tenants.

With 750 of those acres slated for development over the next decade, the project will bring in an estimated 14,000 new rooftops and 750,000-square-feet of retail and commercial space.

With Interstate 82 running along the development, the aquatic center will essentially be nestled about as close as you can get to an intersection of Pasco, Richland and Kennewick.

“It’s going to be a nice regional amenity for everyone in the Tri-Cities,” Watkins said. “This is a ‘regional’ facility, much like the convention center that Kennewick built or the Reach museum that Richland built. This is kind of the geographical center of the Tri-Cities.”

The aquatic center will be the centerpiece of a community campus, with Ben Franklin Transit planning a transfer center and the city of Pasco hoping to add a new community center next to the water park. Watkins said Mid-Columbia Libraries is also considering whether to locate a branch on the civic campus.

There are no roads bordering the plot of land the facilities district is planning to buy. Not yet, anyway.

Road 108 will be a new north to south road near where Harris Road curves just east of the quarry, running up to Burns Road. They’ll be buying a parcel that will situate the civic campus on the southeast corner of the future Road 108 and Sandifur intersection.

Another road will come in further east running north to south where Harris takes an almost right turn toward Road 100.

Watkins said the city also is looking into putting in an east-west road across I-82 from Harris to Chapel Hill Boulevard. That would help alleviate some of the cross-town traffic creating a choke-point as motorists exit the highway near Road 100 and Sandifur Parkway.

It’s part of the estimated $100 million in roadwork planned for Broadmoor and the Road 100/Interstate 82 corridor. The interchange is to be completely reworked.

Your tax dollars at work

Pasco voters approved a sales tax increase in 2022 to pay for the aquatic center project. Tax collections started last year and are bringing in about $350,000 to $400,0000 a month.

The facilities district plans to take out a bond for about $40 million to pay for the project now and use the monthly sales tax income to pay it down over 25 years.

The PFD board signed a letter of intent with the Broadmoor site’s owners last April, but have yet to officially buy the land. The cost is expected to be $2 million to $3 million.

Watkins thinks they’ll be able to finalize the purchase in the next couple months and have the bond funding for the building in place by mid-summer 2024.

So far nearby, only a set of apartments along Burns Road have start coming into place, but the signs of work on the new roads is everywhere.

Huge stacks of pipes are ready to be installed and grading for roads has begun to weave across the property.

The apartments are two separate projects by the same company, including one for residents 55 and older. Around them, lots are being designed for single-family subdivisions.

The lots around the civic campus and along the Sandifur extension, will be zoned for commercial and retail uses, such as big box stores, offices, medical clinics and hotels.

Being the first to break ground could mean that the facilities district will need to get started on some of the roadwork itself.

With the Broadmoor district a designated Tax Increment Financing area, that means they could fund some necessary roadwork that would eventually be paid back by the retail and commercial development once they begin applying property taxes to the TIF’s roadwork.

Watkins said that money would go back into the facility and operating it.