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Council reviews updated Hash Park master plan as Third Street soccer fields face possible loss
Summary
Councilors heard revisions to the Hash Park master plan — reduced cost estimate, revised field layout and parking changes — while staff warned that Third Street Soccer Field, operated under a 5‑year Army Corps license, may be lost when the license expires and could transfer under a tribal right of first refusal tied to an 1855 treaty.
City planners and consultants presented an updated Hash Park master plan that shortens the design, reduces estimated cost to about $18.4 million and alters fields, parking and amenities after staff and public input. The plan removes a proposed north‑end dog park, adds a youth (under‑12) soccer field, enlarges a central collegiate‑size field (also usable for football), and reduces paved parking by 25 stalls to accommodate larger fields; with an overflow gravel lot included the project would provide about 297 total stalls, staff said.
At a public comment period a nearby resident raised concerns about parking location and neighborhood traffic if the park is expanded, noting that planned new parking would be several blocks from the main facility and could push traffic into residential streets. Councilors and staff discussed the Walla Walla Street connector (included in the city’s Transportation System Plan) as an access and emergency‑response improvement tied to park circulation.
Councilors were also warned that Third Street Soccer Field, which the city operates under a five‑year license with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, faces a potential loss when the license expires next March. Staff said the Corps has indicated sports and recreational facilities are not an intended use of short‑term licenses and that the Corps may convert the land to a lease. Under the 1855 treaty language cited by staff, federally owned land proposed for lease triggers a tribal right of first refusal; staff recounted a 2017 example in which similar federal property passed into Bureau of Indian Affairs trust after the city missed a lease renewal.
Because the current license does not meet the long‑term requirement for many state grants, staff said Third Street’s license status also affects the city’s ability to fund improvements through state programs. Staff told council the city is exploring alternatives, including cooperation with the Corps to use adjacent parkland (smaller than the existing soccer complex) as a potential backup site; the Corps’ local representatives have been cooperative but the city remains unclear about timing and outcomes.
Councilors asked for the master plan to be finalized and returned for adoption. Staff noted that adopting the plan and budgeting design funds would make the project eligible for state and federal grant programs in the coming grant cycle.
