More baseball and softball fields. A second ice rink. New businesses that cater to those traveling for sports tournaments and special events. Improved and expanded parking and bus drop-off and pickup locations.

The consultants hired to draft a master plan for the Franklin County-owned HAPO Center recently laid out several recommendations for the roughly 100-acre area in west Pasco, which includes neighboring sports fields owned by the city of Pasco as well as Gesa Stadium.

But there’s no clear path forward to make the plan a reality.

Charlie Johnson of C.H. Johnson Consulting and Brian Cole of engineering firm MacKay Sposito shared their recommendations with city and county leaders as well as at a community meeting at the HAPO Center. They also provided projections on the impact an improved and cohesive events complex could have on the community.

“The biggest thing I think is the role this facility can play and should play,” Johnson said during a recent presentation to the Franklin County Board of Commissioners.

Regional destination

Commissioners said they were pleased with what the consultants came up with and how it could make the HAPO Center and surrounding community a regional destination.

“Now this really has the opportunity to be a crown jewel in our community,” said Commissioner Stephen Bauman.

But there are still a lot of questions about how the county and city could move forward with the proposal.

Johnson and Cole did not propose any specific funding streams to pay for the requisite millions of dollars’ worth of improvements, a timeline to implement their recommendations nor a governance structure for the resulting complex. And that could be a deal breaker for at least some members of the Pasco City Council.

“We absolutely in the plan need to see a legitimate budget, costs and estimates,” Mayor Pete Serrano said in December when the council considered and ultimately approved an extension of the interlocal agreement for the HAPO Center.

“We’ve extended this a lot, and I struggle to continuously extend it and not get what we need,” he later added.

The county owns and operates HAPO Center. The city provides some funding but does not have any authority in the facility’s operations.

Johnson and Cole, who also have worked with the White-Leasure Development Co. on the plan, told commissioners that there is ample opportunity for increased synergy between the HAPO Center and city sports fields. Further, vacant county-owned parcels of land surrounding the facility could provide significant economic development by serving those coming to either attend events or participate in sports tournaments.

“We’re not just focused on the HAPO Center, but the surrounding community and how the commercial areas relate to this,” Cole told commissioners.

Plan highlights

Their recommendations include:

• Adding a second ice rink and space for other sports events such as wrestling and pickleball.
• Improving walkability via pedestrian paths and signage.
• Redesigning the city’s sports fields, including reducing the number of soccer fields to add three small and one large baseball/softball field while converting some fields to turf.
• Selling or leasing county-owned land nearby for commercial development.
• Coordinating with Ben Franklin Transit (BFT) to add routes and drop-off areas during events.
• Improving parking lots including adding roughly double the current spaces.

“You’re sitting here with 100 acres of prime real estate,” Johnson said.

Cost sharing

Stressing that their proposal was still preliminary, Johnson and Cole acknowledged that there will be costs to move the master plan forward. A new ice rink facility would potentially cost up to $5 million and the new baseball/softball fields would also run into the millions of dollars.

But there also could be ways to spread out the expenses, such as asking BFT to take on the cost of improving park and ride and bus drop-off/pickup areas at the HAPO Center.

“We’re not proposing great sums of money,” Johnson said.

Bauman said he was pleased to see that the proposal’s recommendations mirror efforts already being considered or underway at the facility.

“I feel like there’s a real energy and momentum that’s started to move and I’m real excited to see this,” he said.

City council members, though, appeared frustrated in December with the partnership with the county regarding the HAPO Center, even while acknowledging the importance of the facility.

“I just think the county needs to 100% take care of it or sell it,” Mayor Pro Tem David Milne said in December. “It just seems that we keep putting into this and the three commissioners can’t seem to decide what they want.”

Serrano questioned city staff during the city council’s regular meeting in December, noting “say we get fluff in January, rather than continuing it out, do we have to ride it to May?” City staff confirmed that the extension would be in force until May.

City staff have indicated several potential outcomes for the partnership with the county, including withdrawal from it or acquiring the HAPO Center outright.

“As we approach the expiration of the interlocal agreement … it is imperative that we engage in a thoughtful and collaborative discussion with Franklin County to determine the best course of action for the city of Pasco regarding the HAPO Center,” city staff wrote in a memo to council.