City of Othello buys PJ Taggares Park

OTHELLO — Othello city officials bought a park for $10 and closing costs last week, part of the city’s effort to expand recreation facilities.

“It’s a great deal for the city. It comes at a time when we really need more park property,” Othello Mayor Shawn Logan said. “We know we’re going to have to put some money into that park, but this is worth it.”

The unanimous vote of the Othello City Council to approve a purchase and sale agreement for T.J. Taggares Park followed a lively debate about park availability at the regular council meeting April 11.

Councilmember John Lallas agreed with the mayor’s assessment during the meeting.

The 19-acre park on West June Street west of the Othello city limits was donated in 1997 by Othello farmer Pete “P.J.” Taggares and his family. Development was paid for in part through a Washington Interagency Athletic Program grant from the Paul Allen Foundation.

The park was owned by Adams County Parks and Recreation District 1 and was maintained with the help of volunteer labor. But the volunteers got older and help became harder to find, and the park fell into disrepair.

Parks and rec district officials submitted a maintenance and operations levy request to district voters twice in 2021, but it was rejected both times.

Taggares Park has a playground, a basketball court and a picnic shelter in addition to baseball and football-soccer fields.

“What did we decide to do (with the baseball diamonds)? Are those going to be four soccer fields, because they’re not going to be baseball fields, right?” asked councilmember Angel Garza.

“We’re going to (redevelop) it into flag football and soccer,” Logan said. “We’re also going to improve the playground (and) picnicking areas. We want families to be in there, and we found it seems to work much better for our parks when families feel welcome.”

A family-friendly park also was the goal of the parks and rec board, Logan said.

The city has a separate baseball facility in Lions Park, but Othello resident Saul Olascon expressed concern during the council meeting that the baseball fields weren’t as accessible as they should be. They were not, he said, open during spring vacation.

Olascon said he wanted to practice with his kids, but the baseball fields weren’t available. In addition, other fields were in use by teams practicing other sports.

“I wanted to go out there during spring break, but we couldn’t,” Olascon said. “There’s nowhere to go. I wish (the baseball field) was open to the community instead of being controlled too much.”

Logan said other factors with planning needed to be addressed in response to Olascon’s concerns.

“It’s bigger than just not having the fields ready. There’s a lot of factors going into this. The first one being, it was probably poor planning on the city’s part,” Logan said.

City crews were working on other projects before and during spring vacation, including the annual spring cleanup, Logan said in a later interview. In addition, city crews were working on Taggares Park.

“That took our focus away from (Lions Park),” Logan said.

The fields and buildings in the baseball complex require preparation before they can be used, he said.

Councilmember John Lallas, who is on the council’s parks committee, said city officials are considering having more flexibility when opening the parks, allowing use earlier in the spring if weather permits.

Logan said the city also lacks enough park space. Prior to the purchase of Taggares Park it had been 50 years since the city bought land for parks, he said, and in that time Othello has grown from about 2,000 people to around 8,000.

Council members also approved an interlocal agreement with the Columbia Basin Health Association, allowing use of a field behind the CBHA building for the spring youth soccer season.

Logan said 661 children signed up for the city’s youth soccer program, more than double any previous season.

“There’s a ton of new kids in the community that want to play soccer,” Logan said. ‘We just don’t have the facilities.”

Lallas said the opportunity presented by Taggares Park may alleviate some of the overcrowding in other parks and Othello School District playfields.

“It may be a potential solution to some of the things that we heard about tonight,” Lallas said after the meeting.

Cheryl Schweizer may be reached at cschweizer@columbiabasinherald.com. She is interested in news tips related to news in Othello, Quincy, Royal City and Ritzville.