Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study for Youth Community Center

 
 
 

Project Scope

The Northshore Parks & Recreation Service Area (NPRSA) is undertaking a year-long, engagement-driven needs assessment and feasibility study for a youth community center within the district. The study is being conducted by ARC Architects and is expected to be completed in January 2025.

The study will:

  • Identify gaps in community services within the NPRSA, with an emphasis on the needs of youth;

  • Describe a desired program or type of facility to meet those needs;

  • Identify a site that would best serve the needs of the communities in the NPRSA; 

  • Generate design options for a proposed building and its amenities;

  • Perform a cost analysis and propose a funding strategy; and

  • Inform future NPRSA levies and bond planning 

project timeline

Phase 1: March 2024 - July 2024 

  • Community outreach plan 

  • Market analysis  

  • Survey 1: Program development and needs  

  • Site priorities  

  • Preliminary site analysis 

  • Survey 2: Site preferences  

  • Report findings to NPRSA Board; site selection  

  • Survey 3: Voter support  

Phase 2: Aug 2024 - January 2025 

  • Site analysis  

  • Concept refinement  

  • Costs and funding  

  • Final report to NPRSA Board 

project funding

The study is funded entirely by a $350,000 grant from King County’s Office of Performance, Strategy, and Budget.

Frequently Asked Questions

What is the difference between a pool, an aquatics center, and a community center? 

  • A pool is a basic facility, generally with a shallower end for recreational swimming and a deeper end for diving, which can be separated into lanes for competitions.   

  • An aquatics center is more elaborate and includes multiple amenities, such as several pools for different kinds of swimming, a lazy river, waterslides, and splash pads.  But it still has a specific purpose: namely, aquatics.   

  • The NRPSA intends to conduct a broader study that acknowledges the potential need for multipurpose spaces that can support a wider variety of programming and activities, of which aquatics or other athletics may be only one component.  A “community center” is a convenient, recognizable term for this sort of multifunction facility. 

 

Will the engagement effort go beyond just youth?  

While this project focuses primarily on the needs of youth, this focus is not to the exclusion of other stakeholder groups.  The NPRSA and ARC Architects have prepared a robust engagement plan that will assess the needs of not only local youth, but also the communities of which they are a part. 

 

What if the communities say they don’t need a youth center, but theat they do need something else?  

The NPRSA has intentionally approached this study with the broadest scope possible, having no preconceptions about the type of services or facilities that may be required to serve youth in the district.  This is why the study is for a “community center,” rather than for something more specific like an aquatics or athletics facility.  The NPRSA might consider solutions to any or all of these situations, as recommended by the findings of this study. It’s possible that the study could find that facilities and programming for youth are needed, but that they are not the top priority for district residents.  In this event, the NPRSA might consider those other needs in a subsequent or concurrent assessment; however, it’s likely that they would be outside the scope of this particular project. 

 

Can/will we be asking the service area voters their thoughts on a future levy/bond ballot? Will we be hiring a levy consultant to advise us on that?  

A preliminary funding strategy is one of ARC Architects’ deliverables as part of this Needs Assessment and Feasibility Study.  Based on that strategy, the NPRSA may ask a levy consultant to assess the levy/bonding capacity of the district to determine if a levy or bond measure to finance the construction of a facility is likely to pass and to help craft ballot measure language, educate voters about the measure, and organize support. 

If other cities have not passed pool or community levies, why are we exploring this?   

  • While other cities have not successfully passed pool or community center levies recently, the studies prepared in support of those levies have consistently shown both a growing need and community interest in the construction of such a facility.   

  • As a multi-municipality taxing district, the NPRSA is uniquely positioned to build a facility by spreading the tax burden across a larger area, lessening the impact to individual taxpayers (and potentially allowing the construction of a larger facility than any of the member agencies would be able to afford on their own).