Othello to consider updated park master plan

OTHELLO — With any luck, Othello’s Lions Park will have a new playground and expanded basketball courts by the end of 2022.

Othello mayor Shawn Logan said the playground project is in the design phase.

The new playground and basketball courts are among the projects scheduled for Othello parks this year. The Othello City Council held a public hearing on the city’s updated parks and recreation master plan at its Jan. 24 meeting, and council members are scheduled to approve the plan Feb. 28.

“We’ve selected a consultant (for the playground project) and the consultant has come up with a preliminary design,” Logan said Friday.

Two options for the design have been on display at Othello City Hall, but the final design has not been selected, Logan said. The council’s Park & Recreation Committee is seeking public comment on design options.

“It’s going to have a design that’s Othello,” Logan said.

Othello started as a stop on the railroad, and the design will reflect that heritage, he said. Both options on display at city hall include railroad elements.

“It’s going to be educational, and it’ll also probably be one of the most inclusive playgrounds in the state of Washington,” Logan said.

It will accommodate children with limited mobility, sight and hearing disabilities and special needs, he said.

One section will be set aside for children 6 months to about 2 years old.

“The babies, the crawlers and those are going to have a section. And the 2 to 5-year-olds are going to have a section. And then the 5 to 12-year-olds are going to have the more challenging equipment,” Logan said.

There’s room for adults and teens, too, with a series of fitness stations that ring the playground. Parents can keep an eye on the kids while they’re going through the fitness loop.

“Circuit training, where you go to one station and go to another. That’s really going to make it family-friendly,” Logan said. “This will be a destination playground.”

The city received grants from multiple state agencies to pay for the project, with some of the money coming from the federal government.

“Apparently, the state is waiting on the notifications and money from the National Park Service,” he said. “That’s a little bit of a hold up, but that should be coming through here before long.”

The timeline is dependent on funding, Logan said, so there’s no start date for construction.

The basketball courts are funded through a separate grant. They will be added to the two existing courts.

The park master plan, reviewed by the Othello Planning Commission prior to its presentation to the council, establishes a priority list for projects through 2026.

The city’s 45.3 acres of developed parks include Triangle Park at 501 S. Fourth Ave. Triangle Park is about one-third of an acre and used to have picnic tables, but the tables were stolen. Triangle Park is a grassy field with no amenities and planning commission members recommended removing it from the city’s park inventory. Planning commission chair Chris Dorow said at the Jan. 24 council meeting commission members recommended declaring the land as surplus.

If council members don’t want to do that, the planning commission recommended adding a recreational facility, and used a pickleball court as an example.

Dorow also said development of more soccer fields was added to the plan this year. He said city officials surveyed residents about their preferences for future recreation development.

A nature park was among the top three requests from residents, Dorow said, something planning commission members didn’t expect. So it was added to the project list in 2023.

An events center was the most requested addition, Dorow said; a place that could host the summer farmers market and a food truck court. City officials are looking for funding opportunities, and hope to obtain money for construction in 2024.

Soccer isn’t only a summer sport; teams use the city’s tennis courts and street hockey rink almost every day for winter play, according to the city’s draft report. The recreation plan includes construction of a futsal court by 2024. Futsal is played with a smaller, harder, low-bounce ball between two teams of five players each, one of whom is the goalkeeper, on a hard court surface marked by lines; walls or boards are not used.