Friday, April 10, 2015

Cities of Redmond and Kirkland hold joint meeting to discuss aquatic-recreation center

The city councils and mayors of Redmond and Kirkland met for a joint meeting in Kirkland on March 31.  The topic that drew the most discussion was a joint aquatic recreation community center.
Mayor Marchione said "our timeline for a decision is 2-3 years and we need to identify the site before we ask the public for money."  Redmond had originally planned for a pool and recreation center on one site (near City Hall) but Councilmember Flynn said the space may be insufficient to hold both. 

As the discussion went on it appeared a consensus was forming that it might be better to scale down the site to just a pool -- on "Snyder's Corner" -- property owned by the City of Kirkland on 132nd Ave.  Councilmembers Doreen Marchione, the Kirkland mayor,  David Carson, Hank Myers, Kim Allen and Tom Flynn all agreed Snyder's Corner might be an attractive location  Toby Nixon said if you combined the city of Redmond with Kirkland it would be the 5th largest city in the State and it is important that both cities work together.  Councilmember Stilin felt an aquatic-recreational center must be downtown near mass transit.  Councilmember Margeson said "getting around Redmond" is the number one concern Redmond residents have and finding a suitable location is difficult.

The Redmond Council plans to discuss building a scaled down version of a pool and rec center and the Kirkland mayor said they would be willing to delay their financing plans to meet Redmond's needs for planning.  Both cities have considered $60-$70 million aquatic recreation centers but are having problems with finding locations and financing.

Reported By Bob Yoder
Source:  City of Kirkland Website

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