The city of Spokane Parks and Recreation Department Board is mulling whether to keep certain Riverfront Park attractions open next year and face a $1.2 million budget shortfall entering 2017, or shut them down next year and face a $600,000 shortfall.

Whatever the park board decides, next year’s Riverfront Park summer schedule is going to be reduced significantly to accommodate the redevelopment construction that started last month, says parks and recreation department director Leroy Eadie.

Eadie says the board could make a decision anytime over the next month or two.

A slimmer park schedule also might reduce the number of seasonal positions needed for the summer.

Fianna Dickson, communications manager for the parks department, says the department has dedicated about 45 full-time-equivalent, temporary seasonal positions to Riverfront Park, on average in recent years.

It’s possible that only 10 FTE positions would be needed next summer to staff operations at Riverfront Park. Dickson says park’s department managers have had ongoing meetings with staff members and city officials about potential changes.

“Leaders are working with human resources and the civil service department to determine open positions within parks and recreation and the city,” Dickson says.

She says all efforts will be made to help affected employees find another role during the impacted time frame.

Eadie says one or two permanent positions could be affected as a result of park redevelopment.

Current plans for the central plaza, as laid out by the park’s master plan, call for removal of the iconic IMAX theater and of rides in the park’s pavilion. Last month, about a dozen citizens attended park board meetings to show support for saving the IMAX and rides. Ultimately, however, the park board decided to tear down the theater, citing years of declining revenue.

Other attractions slated for closure for 2017 include the Loof Carrousel, Skyride, Tour Train, mini golf, restaurants, and a collection of rides in the Riverfront Park pavilion, Eadie says.

“If the attractions remain open, the projected shortfall is $1.2 million, due to high expenses to keep the attractions running with limited access and strained operational capacity,” he says.

In November 2014, Spokane voters approved a $64.3-million bond measure calling for an overhaul of the aging park. Riverfront Park, which hasn’t seen major improvements since it was constructed for Expo ’74, attracts between 2 million and 2.5 million visitors per year, Eadie says.

He says neither he nor members of the park board are surprised by the financial shortfall.

“We’ve always known that this would be the case. In the end, we want to have as minimal budget impact as possible,” he says.

Contractors finally began breaking ground at the end of the summer on the first projects, the Howard Street Bridge replacement and the recreational ice rink on the park’s south side.

The estimated construction cost of the Howard Street Bridge is $6.6 million.

The Spokane office of the engineering firm CH2M drafted a design calling for the complete demolition and rebuild of the bridge.

The planned Howard Street South Channel Bridge, which is part of the overall Howard Street Bridge rebuild project, will enable pedestrians to walk just above the surface of the Spokane River. The new bridge will be located in the same spot.

Site preparation is finished at the recreational ice ribbon and Skyride, including required geoengineering and archaeology work. However, construction there has been pushed back two months. The original timeline would’ve had the recreation rink available for summer 2017 but that now has now been delayed to fall 2017, Dickson says.

When the designers reviewed near-final detailed drawings, they estimated construction costs for the project may be higher than budgeted, she says.

“To prevent this and stay within budget, project managers are conducting value engineering—studying ways and making decisions to reduce cost without compromising the project program,” Dickson says.

The parks department has reopened the Skyride while city officials continue to review ways to stay within budget, she says.

The recreational ice rink—called an ice ribbon—and accompanying skating pond will be located in the current grassy area south of the Skyride facility. The ribbon is slated to be 650 feet long and 16 feet wide with slight increases and decreases in elevation, according to the master plan.

Edmonton, Alberta-based Stantec Inc., a design and consulting company with offices in Spokane, designed the ice ribbon as well as upgrades to the Skyride facility and ticket office.

Dickson says the project will most likely go out to bid in November.

Construction of the new $23 million centerpiece U.S. Pavilion event center, a central plaza conservation area, playground improvements, gardens, and surface parking improvements will begin in 2018.

The pavilion will be open for ice skating this winter and is scheduled to open Oct. 26. 

After the Howard Street Bridge and ice ribbon, the next projects going out for construction bids early next year will involve demolition of the current Loof Carrousel building and the construction of a new one to house the carousel, Eadie says.

NAC Architecture is completing design work of the new carousel building. Construction is expected to start in February.