City to spend $75,000 to Find Financing Options for New Bears Stadium
For the first time in ten years, the Yakima Bears made the playoffs. Now, the team hopes future playoff games could be played in a new ballpark.
The Yakima City Council voted Wednesday morning to research ways to make that possible.
The Bears General Manager K.L. Wombacher said, "I think what we saw today is some leadership from the city council and the willingness to make an investment to shape Yakima's future."
The new stadium is far from being built.
The $75,000 the council approved to spend on the study will come from funds set aside for opportunities like this one.
Yakima Mayor Micah Cawley said, "now we're taking that investigation one step further and saying what are the funding options, and the Bears have been here 21 years so they deserve a look at the future."
Wombacher says if the ball park is built on the old Boise Cascade mill site, it could spark business development by adding curb appeal to Yakima.
Yakima resident David Hawkins agreed, "if other businesses would build around it and it would be an asset to Yakima I'm all for it."
But two councilmen voting against the study say construction costs would likely raise taxes.
The thought worried Ken Wilms, "that would be real tough. I'm not sure now's the time for something like that."
Before that any taxes are raised or the stadium is built, the study has to be completed.
As for potential new business to Yakima, the mayor hopes if they build it, they will come.
"There's no new taxes right now that are slated for this project but there could be, and if we need to have those taxes for a steady revenue stream then the voters are going to have to decide if they want that or not," Cawley said.
The study will take several months to complete. The proposed stadium would cost close to $23 million.