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For the better part of a year, the city of Liberty Lake hosted a series of community meetings to discuss the details of a community center that would include a state-of-the-art library and amenities like an amphitheater, walkways and a founder’s park paying homage to the history of the area.
A celebrated groundbreaking for the first phase of the project took place on June 8 – but since then, there has been very little activity on the 6.4-acre site on Appleway Avenue and Signal Road. Bids for the first part of the development came in around double the anticipated amount, slowing bulldozers to a halt.
Last Tuesday, the Liberty Lake City Council took another step toward actual construction of the community campus by agreeing to have Bernardo-Wills architects submit detailed designs for the project in time for its meeting on Jan. 15. The plans, council members said, should include expenditures for parking and infrastructure and total no more than $9.8 million.
If all goes well and the council approves the design, voters in Liberty Lake will be asked to approve a bond in April that would fund the community center. It would be the first time since Liberty Lake incorporated in 2001 that the city has put a bond issue on the ballot.
Doug Smith, Liberty Lake’s planning and community development director, said the development of the project is the city’s “number-one priority for the first part of the year.”
Turnout for the informational gatherings may have been less than expected, though Gary Bernardo, the architect overseeing the project, said in September that residents provided “a lot of good ideas.”
Topping the wish list for the civic center was a modern library. Earlier this year, Liberty Lake Mayor Steve Peterson said the venue should strengthen the city’s sense of community.
“I don’t think it will be a recreation center from the standpoint of racquetball courts,” Peterson said. “I envision more arts and crafts and community buildings.”
Smith said the facility could develop into a smaller rendition of CenterPlace at Mirabeau Point, Spokane Valley’s 54,000-square-foot civic center that opened in September 2005. The building hosts numerous local and regional conferences and serves as the full-time home of the Spokane Valley Senior Center.
In November, Liberty Lake formed a city center committee comprised of Bernardo; Smith; council members Brian Sayrs, Wendy Van Orman and Odin Langford; head librarian Pamela Mogen; Phil Hamm from the library board and Matt Jacoby of Bernardo-Wills.
Jacoby said the committee has added to the efficiency of the overall discussions and improved the direction of the project.
“This committee can report to the City Council,” Jacoby said. “It really provides an avenue.”
While Bernardo-Wills has some plans for the center in place, Jacoby described them more as “a pre-design.” The venue itself should cover between 30,000 to 35,000 square feet with building costs estimated in the range of $7 million to $7.5 million.
If the bond does pass next spring, Jacoby said work could begin on the center in spring 2009 with construction taking about a year.
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By
Craig Howard
