Pasco Land Sale Kills Chance of Aquatic Center Re-Vote

  The land originally set aside for the Regional Aquatic Center continues to be parceled and sold off.

Just over a year after voters rejected a proposed regional aquatic center that was to be built in the general vicinity of Road 68 and Sandifur in Pasco,  the council has now sold half of it's 14 remaining  'aquatic land' acres to the McCurley Dealership family.

Bill McCurley, who owns McCurley Subaru in the Pasco Autoplex, has outgrown their facility, and a new Subaru dealership will be constructed on part of the land once set aside for the Aquatic Center.   Originally a 28-acre parcel, 14 acres were  purchased by Basin Disposal earlier this year.  McCurley will be purchasing half of the 14 acres still owned by the City of Pasco.

It will be Northeast of the I-182-Broadmoor Boulevard interchange, and will add considerable jobs, and revenue to the city. McCurley said it will generate about 30 new jobs, and over $240,000 in property tax revenue to the City.

McCurley has long been a staple of the Tri-Cities economy, and the jobs and tax revenue are welcome to the fast-growing City of Pasco.

Supporters of the aquatic proposal that was put up by the Tri-City Regional Public Facilities District are upset the city has, in their words, given up on the idea of such a facility.

The ballot measure, calling for a tax that would pay for it, was passed in Pasco and Franklin County, but solidly defeated in Kennewick, Richland and Benton.  The further away from Franklin County, the less approval it received.

But despite this rejection, supporters of the project fully anticipated some sort of reworking of the proposal, and expected it to be put forth to voters in the not-too-distant future - perhaps in a smaller, less expensive idea.  The sale of 14 acres earlier this year, and now 7 more,  all but means any further aquatic center idea will have to be located elsewhere.

City officials expect interest in the remaining 7 acres to increase considerably with the sale of half the property.