POST FALLS - It's back to the drawing board for a regional sports complex in Post Falls - and time to develop an overall parks vision for the city to boot.

A contract to study the feasibility of a sports complex on the city's land application property on the Rathdrum Prairie is on hold while the city develops a parks and recreation master plan involving public input and alternative sites are explored.

"It will be on hold until the community, Parks and Recreation Commission and council are comfortable with moving forward," said Eric Keck, city administrator. "The sports complex being placed on hold was not caused by the parks and recreation master plan. However, it does offer the city and its residents the opportunity to revisit this important component of our overall plan."

The City Council will hold a workshop tonight at 5 to discuss the parks master plan, expected to cost about $130,000, along with a contract with JUB Engineers for $249,800 to replace two wells at Brett James Field along Spokane Street that were drilled in 1948.

Staff has selected the design team of GreenPlay and Verdis to complete the parks master plan. GreenPlay is a Colorado parks and recreation planning firm, while Verdis is a local planning and landscape architecture firm led by former Post Falls community development director Gary Young.

The scope of the work and exact contract amount is still under negotiation. The contract is expected to be considered by the council on Dec. 6.

The plan will be paid for with impact fees, annexation fees and the parks trust fund.

"Not all of the elements of the plan emanate or are caused by new growth, so this is why the plan cannot be fully paid out of impact fees," Keck said.

The city has a parks capital improvement plan, but not a document that indicates how the parks and recreation system will develop over time. Citizen surveys and a steering committee will be a part of the process.

On the well project, the new well will replace the two existing old wells at Brett James Field. As a result of eliminating one of the wells, more space will be created in the right field area of the baseball field.

The old wells are corroded and produce 400 and 1,100 gallons per minute. The new well will have the capacity to pump 2,500 to 3,000 gallons per minute and include a generator for backup power in case of a power outage. The total cost includes both design and construction of the new well.

The replacement is recommended in the city's water master plan.

The council's regular meeting, which starts at 6 p.m., includes a strategic plan overview by Hillary Anderson, planning manager.

The plan - for 2012 through 2017 - will involve public input and establish priorities that will shape upcoming budgets.

The planning process is expected to take about a year to complete. A workshop on the plan will be held before the council meeting at 5 p.m. on Dec. 20.

A steering committee of city employees, business owners, community leaders and education interests will be formed by the end of January.

The city had a strategic plan that expired in 2006.

Anderson said the new plan will be more of a "living document" that will be easily updated and continually used by city staff to track projects and budgets.