With the city’s Nov. 6 stadium advisory vote falling nearly 2-1 in favor of retaining the Joe Albi site in northwest Spokane for a high school football facility, rather than build new on the North Bank near downtown, public sentiment would seem abundantly clear.

But the Spokane Public Schools board still has a lot to weigh before it makes its final decision on the future stadium site.

First, not everyone who voted on the successful school bond measure had a voice in the stadium question.

A portion of the Spokane Public Schools district, including parts of the upper South Hill, lies outside of the city limits, and therefore those voters didn’t get a vote. While the majority of those residents supported the school bond, they didn’t have a voice in the stadium question. It also appears the voters in the north and west parts of the city were strongest in favor of retaining the Albi, while much of the core and south part of the city showed more support for the downtown site.

The school district and the city can celebrate victories in their respective $495 million school bond and $77 million library measures, but the stadium advisory vote is a major hiccup in their otherwise laudable collaborative effort to construct and improve educational and public facilities.

The stadium question ended up on the ballot due to the school board and the City Council both punting the issue, largely due to questions regarding parking, with the initial concept including a potential $10 million parking garage. Late in the game, supporters of the downtown site pointed to an analysis that shows adequate parking would be available in the vicinity of the North Bank site, and no new parking garage would be needed.

The Journal supported the downtown option, but voters likely weren’t convinced parking there would be a nonissue.

Another message that might not have gotten across is that either option would cost roughly the same. The estimated $31 million cost for constructing a new, smaller stadium is included in the school bond. Even at the Albi site, the stadium will have to be downsized to make room for one of three new middle schools included in the bond.

Also, many voters might not have been aware that replacing Joe Albi with a smaller stadium downtown, adjacent to the planned indoor Sportsplex, would allow room for more playfields at the current Joe Albi site, which is adjacent to the Dwight Merkel Sports complex.

Perhaps the North Bank stadium idea was presented prematurely, with too many variables in play to provide voters a clear vision for the downtown option, and it would have been better for the city and the school district to put forth a clear preference and proceed in that direction.

While the nonbinding advisory vote has been cast, the final decision still is now up to the school board.

If supporters of the downtown site still believe strongly in their vision, perhaps there’s still time to launch an awareness campaign and then measure public sentiment, perhaps through polls, throughout the district before the school board has to commit to a stadium site. In that case, however, supporters would still have to be far more articulate and persuasive in their efforts.