THE DALLES — Following their regular meeting Aug. 2, the Wasco County Board of Commissioners held a work session focusing on the proposal of an athletic complex to replace Kramer Fields.
In November 2021, Mid-Columbia Medical Center — now known as Adventist Health Columbia Gorge — proposed building a new state-of-the-art hospital campus on the county property at 808 Walnut St. in The Dalles, which currently houses Kramer Fields. In their initial presentation, they also emphasized the importance of Kramer Fields to the community and introduced the idea of building a new athletic complex in Wasco County to replace it.
At the work session, Wasco County Administrative Officer Tyler Stone explained that the county had hired Hunden Strategic Partners to do a complex market analysis study on the supply and demand for sports and recreation in The Dalles and Wasco County, how the city and county compare to surrounding communities and what the opportunities for improvement are.
“We’ve been trying to do some due diligence around what new recreational development would look like, how it’s funded, cost, all those kinds of things,” Stone said.
Hunden Project Manager Ryan Sheridan presented the company’s findings, starting by breaking down the strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats related to the proposed facility in what’s known as a SWOT analysis.
For strengths, Sheridan listed regional traffic along I-84, travel habits for sports tourism within the region, weather patterns in The Dalles which would help to save on costs of grass fields over turf, and strong local demand coupled with weak local supply and local hotel performance. For weaknesses, Sheridan cited lack of quality indoor and outdoor facilities that have led to decreasing and lost business, the lack of high quality surfaces and a current lack of a high volume of hotels and group-friendly restaurants.
In regards to opportunities, Sheridan said Hunden believed there were several, highlighting the benefits of using indoor and outdoor components to serve a variety of sports. He also mentioned the possibility of private sector partnerships, sports tourism and the potential to spur additional commercial developments surrounding the project sites. Sheridan then listed three potential threats to the project: Constraints with the site, other proposed and competing facilities in the region and regional competition for hosting previously established tournaments.
Sheridan then moved to asset analysis, looking at the supply and demand for various sports, as well as the current assets that exist. The sports looked at were soccer, baseball and softball, and other field sports for outdoor sports, as well as basketball and volleyball for inside sports.
Sheridan explained that currently, the supply for all sports was limited/weak, with demand being strong for soccer, baseball and softball and basketball, good for volleyball and moderate for other field sports. For soccer and other field sports, the biggest assets were Chenowith Elementary School and Thompson Track, and for baseball and softball they were Kramer Fields, Sorosis Park and Hood River Little League. For both basketball and volleyball, the top assets were The Dalles High School and Chenowith Elementary School.
Moving onto the region, Sheridan pointed out the advantage of The Dalles’ location. Because it’s situated along I-84, it’s connected to Portland, the Tri-Cities and Boise. According to Sheridan, The Dalles serves as a central location between central Oregon, western Oregon and the Tri-Cities, creating the potential to be a regional hub for sports tournaments.
When mentioning the facilities that currently exist, Sheridan noted that no indoor facilities currently exist in the area, and that out of what does exist, Kramer Fields is currently the most visited.
“We understand that the field will need to be for a potential development site, which is ultimately a very important part of the project that really needs to be taken into consideration with the removal of a very popular facility,” he said. “This needs to be substituted and placed elsewhere within the city and the county.”
Sheridan said that after looking at what The Dalles had for sports facilities, they moved to looking at the larger region throughout Oregon and Washington. From their review of what other cities have done, Sheridan said Hunden concluded that with The Dalles’ lack of both quality and quantity of athletic facilities, sports tourism wouldn’t be an option until something changed.
Using their findings, Hunden was able to offer several recommendations to the county. Their findings were that, in order to meet the demand for baseball and softball, The Dalles would need at least eight diamonds. They recommended eight grass fields and four artificial turf fields, as well as six baseball diamonds with turf infields and grass outfields. Additionally, they recommended an indoor facility with six basketball courts, which is equal to 12 volleyball courts. According to Sheridan, this would give The Dalles one of the largest indoor facilities in the region. This would help both with sports tourism and local sports.
“Currently, organizations are using elementary and high school gyms, which has restricted the ability to play full seasons for basketball and volleyball,” one of the slides in Sheridan’s presentation said. “With six additional courts in the market, the local users would be able to book more practice and game time per week and season and the market would have the ability to host tournaments in the city/county.”
In terms of finances, Sheridan explained that these kinds of facilities often operate at a loss for the first several years. By the sixth year, he said they should be expected to be making a profit, depending on their ability to gain a reputation as a good tournament facility. He also noted that tournament play would be bringing people to local hotels, boosting the local economy.
At the end of the discussion, Stone emphasized that this is just the beginning of the process for such a large project. No final decisions have been made and the county is still very much seeking input from the public, he said.
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At the regular county meeting before the work session, the board approved an amendment to an intergovernmental grant agreement with the Oregon Health Authority, renewing it for two more years, until June 30, 2025. Under this agreement, Wasco County and YouthThink, a county-run non-profit organization, can receive up to $446,923 to implement programs that can help educate and reduce risk factors for youths and their families. The funds come from the Federal Substance Abuse Prevention, Treatment and Recovery Block Grant.
The county also appointed Marla McNary to the Fort Dalles Museum Commission and Dave Mason to the Library Service District Board of Directors.
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