Quincy aquatic center, indoor sports arena design coming in 2025
CHERYL SCHWEIZER | Hagadone News Network | UPDATED 1 year, 4 months AGO
A swimmer climbs out of the Quincy pool. A new pool is in the process of design, with the start of construction scheduled for 2026.
FILE PHOTO
Senior Reporter Cheryl Schweizer is a journalist with more than 30 years of experience serving small communities in the Pacific Northwest. She began her post-high-school education at Treasure Valley Community College and enerned her journalism degree at Oregon State University. After working for multiple publications, she has settled down at the Columbia Basin Herald and has been a staple of the newsroom for more than a decade. Schweizer’s dedication to her communities and profession has earned her the nickname “The Baroness of Bylines.” She covers a variety of beats including health, business and various municipalities. | December 9, 2024 3:00 AM
QUINCY — Quincy Parks and Recreation District residents will get a chance to see the designs for the new Quincy Aquatic Center and the indoor sports facility, called the Q-Plex, in 2025.
Quincy City Administrator Pat Haley said the two projects are at different stages of design.
“The Q-Plex visual was conceptual design, only to give us an idea of the appearance and rough budget,” Haley wrote in answer to an email from the Columbia Basin Herald. “The swimming pool (design) is further along.”
Quincy City Council members approved a temporary loan, called a bridge loan, of up to $2.1 million to the parks and rec district at their Dec. 3 meeting.
“(The loan) will cover the cost of park district operations, including services provided by the city of Quincy, expenses that we’ve incurred on their behalf,” Haley told council members. “And the cost of engineering and design of the Q-Plex.”
The district was approved by voters in Quincy, George and the surrounding unincorporated areas in 2023, but the approval came too late in the year to allow the district to collect taxes in 2024.
Money raised through the district must be used for specific projects, and as of now the only ones authorized are the Q-Plex and the aquatic center.
Tax collection will start in 2025. Until then, Haley said, the district doesn’t have any money.
The aquatic center is being designed by NAC Architects & Trinity NAC, Spokane. That project will go ahead, Haley said.
“The city plans to build the facility and then consider a proposal by the parks district to lease the pool from the city. This will put all the operation and maintenance of these two facilities in the hands of the park district,” Haley wrote.
The existing pool is actually two pools, the original community pool that’s now called the lap pool and a separate waterslide. The lap pool was open in summer 2024 but had to be closed for part of the 2023 season while drain covers were replaced that were no longer in compliance with state regulations. Haley said in an earlier interview that the lap pool also appears to be leaking.
Construction on both projects is scheduled to begin in 2026, although it could start in late 2025, he said.
“Since the park district will not have collected any taxes until the second quarter of 2025, the city will start the design on the (Q-Plex) project and get it ready for construction bidding,” Haley said.
The 143,000-square-foot building will have enough room for a football field or multiple soccer fields, two or four soccer pitches depending on the number of players. The fieldhouse also will have indoor courts that can be configured for basketball, volleyball or pickleball, among other sports.
“The city’s bridge loan will cover the cost of the architectural design services for the Q-Plex, then the park district will reimburse the city for those costs,” Haley said.
The conceptual design envisioned a building with a steel frame covered by a membrane. Parks commissioners hired ALSC Architects, Spokane, to oversee the project at the November Parks and Recreation Commission meeting. The Q-Plex will be located in Lauzier Park on 13th Avenue Southwest in Quincy.
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