The Lewis County Public Facilities District Board is pushing to find a project to partially fund, with $8 million in sales tax revenue, as their January 2011 deadline quickly approaches.
“We’ve got a short timeline,” said board member Judy DeVaul. “We need to get a lot of things done, and we’re running out of time. The board is working so hard to pick the perfect project for Lewis County and bring economic development to Lewis County.”
The board has two choices:
• A $15 million Newaukum Center, a multipurpose event center with an equestrian focus on just under 120-acres of property near Exit 71, or
• A $12 million multi-event center and sports complex in the Fort Borst Park area being promoted by Thorbecke’s FitLife Centers owner Dale Pullin.
Construction must begin before Jan. 1, 2011, or the PFD will lose $8 million in state funding.
DeVaul said the board has yet to reach a decision on either project and does not have a specific timetable to do so.
“We’ll select a viable project as soon as one comes to the forefront and we can move forward,” she said. “We’re keeping all the projects. We aren’t going to close the door on any project until one is ready to go on.”
DeVaul declined to identify a frontrunner in the race for state funds; however, she and board member Bill Jones showed concerns about the status of the Newaukum Center at the board’s meeting on Tuesday.
“The fact you haven’t gone forward in good faith is a concern to me,” Jones said, adding that the board had not received information about the site and the group behind the project had yet to do specific soil testing to see if the project was even viable at the site.
DeVaul shared those concerns.
“We’re being told things, but we haven’t gotten anything that tells us we can go forward,” DeVaul said.
Brent Rakestraw, project director for the Newaukum Center, said he was moving forward with the project as planned and still working with the city of Napavine to ready the site.
“They’re a little gun-shy from previous projects, and they want to make sure they’re in the right,” Rakestraw said about the board’s concerns.
The proposed Southwest Washington Regional Equestrian Center at Exit 63 was eliminated from the Public Facilities District’s list of projects about two months ago; however, promoters of the REQ Center are looking to become a tenant in the Newaukum Center, if it is selected.
Napavine Public Works Director Steve Ashley said he’s waiting on designs of the project, and the project will remain in limbo until he does.
“If they were to get all the information into the city, a typical development of that stature is six months,” he said about the permitting process. “It has all the ability to move forward, but it’s a matter of getting all the documents.”
One advantage the Fort Borst Park sports complex has over the Newaukum Center is the site already has the infrastructure, said Centralia Community Development Director Emil Pierson.
The site of the multi-purpose event center in Napavine would need to bring sewer, water and electricity out to the area.
Pullin said he’s still in the process of working out a partnership with the local school districts and other entities, while waiting on the decision of the PFD.
Pullin’s proposed 87,000- square-foot sports complex could host conventions, concerts, workshops, seminars and sporting events, creating a “year-round economic stream of revenue.” Its initial designs are already complete, but Pierson said they are likely to change as the project moves forward if it’s selected.
Marqise Allen: (360) 807-8237
