Frequently Asked Questions
Glad you asked!
Where will the Aquatic Center be built?
This is the FIRST question everyone wants to know. The land site has not yet landed, but there are several options being explored. All land sites have ties to property the City owns or is State owned. Part of the work being done by the Bellevue Aquatics Feasibility Update team is to identify plausible land sites, associated costs to the City if not already owned, evaluate them against a set of criteria and make recommendations to City Council. There are four land sites being evaluated as part of the 2019 Aquatics Center Feasibility Update being conducted by the City of Bellevue (commenced Jan 2019). Lincoln Center (4 acres), Marymoor Park (20 acres), Airfield Park (27 acres) and Bellevue College Campus (TBD). Each location has cost premiums that are being evaluated. The Aquatics Center Feasibility Study is expected to be completed in Spring 2020 and a preferred land site identified.
When will it be complete?
We do not have the answer to this one. We can guess based on what we know, but the reality is that first it will take the commitment of the City of Bellevue, the School District, King County, the public and potential large partners to come together at the ‘right’ moment to agree on building a new public state of the art regional scale aquatic center IN Bellevue.
Based on what we know, Spring 2020 will be a big moment when the City of Bellevue Parks and Community Services staff will present to City Council the results of the Bellevue Aquatics Feasibility Update. The City will then be armed with the data to make a decision of whether or not to proceed and to better determine their role. In Oct (2019), an update to the feasibility study was presented to City Council and there was a strong showing of support. Key messages were ‘Go Big or Go Home’ and ‘Get Er Done’. Bellevue College was the preferred site by all Council members. (see article in the Bellevue Reporter).
In February 2020, the School District put a Bond Package to vote. Support for an aquatics center has been one of the items in a long list of projects the School District evaluated for possible bond inclusion. It was decided that capital funding for an aquatics center would be part of the current Capital and Tech Levy if a project with the City of Bellevue and SplashForward were to proceed. One thing is clear, the Bellevue School District supports an aquatics center that would support it’s aquatics teams needs.
Who is paying for the aquatic center?
For Bellevue, a state of the art regional aquatic center stands to be one of the most complex Public Private partnerships to date. Ideally, this would be an effort that the City of Bellevue, the Bellevue School District, a large institutional partner, a land site owner, local businesses and private donors would come together to fund.
So in the question of ‘where are THEY going to put it?’ THEY = all of the above combined contributors. And probably that probably includes YOU because you are reading this fine print and care deeply about having a new public state of the art aquatics facility that is accessible.
SPLASHForward aims to be the private funding vehicle seeking funds through grants, foundations, individuals and corporations. We will seek funding at the local, regional, state and national levels.
Who will operate the facility?
This question is a good one and we don’t have an answer yet. We have seen many permutations for who operates a successful facility in our national aquatics research. We have seen Counties, City Parks, School Districts, Metropolitan Park Districts and Private facility operators. We have dug deep into a few national aquatics facilities to learn how they operate, what they have learned since opening their doors and how they have adapted. Some great insights to inform the decision for who will operate. SPLASHForward along with our aquatics consultant, Isaac Sports Group, aims to provide thought leadership in this area. The City of Bellevue has made it clear that they do not presume that they would be the ones to operate the facility.
How can I get involved?
Check out our ‘Support’ page. We are looking for individuals with a passion to be communicators within their spheres and those who have professional skills we need.
We are a nonprofit with a 100% volunteer Board. We need funding to hire the necessary professionals so that we can advocate on your behalf. We have raised early seed funding to hire an aquatics consultant and look to build on this with hiring marketing and fundraising professionals by end of 2019. See our Support page to learn more and get in touch.
Who will get to use the aquatics center?
You! This will be a PUBLIC aquatics center. Discounted rates are envisioned if you live in the City of Bellevue and also for potential regional partners such as Kirkland and Redmond.
What is operational sustainability?
This is the secret sauce of aquatics facility operations. Operational sustainability means that programming partnerships are designed to keep a facility vibrant throughout the hours of operation and are healthy relationships that are either renewed or cultivated on an ongoing basis. There is no room for complacency. Great partnerships with ongoing assessment to evaluate what works and how best to respond to usage and demands.
Building the programming of a facility well in advance of building allows the facility to be designed with the user groups and usage models ahead of time. This is not a Build it And They will Come approach. It is a program it, design it, then build it approach. There will be unforseen partnerships post build. A well run facility will be able to adapt and respond as new needs arise.
Success is in the best practices that are developed to operate and maintain partnerships. SPLASHForward in partnership with Isaac Sports Group, a nationally recognized aquatics consultant, with 30+ years of facility operations experience and experience establishing the first national aquatics operator organization, is providing the operational sustainability thought leadership to our partners.
What is SPLASHForward?
A community advocacy group, a stakeholder and a private funding vehicle spearheading the advocacy efforts to bring a public world class sustainable regional aquatics center and satellite facilities to our Eastside communities. We aim to go beyond meeting the aquatics and wellness needs of the community. We envision an accessible, culturally inclusive, operationally efficient and vibrant hub built on a foundation of lasting local partnerships for many generations to come.
Our advocacy serves the broad aquatic needs for a full range of fitness, recreation, health, wellness, and competitive aquatics programs for all ages, abilities and backgrounds.