Kittitas County Looking For Opinions On Event Center

Kittitas County officials want your opinion on a plan for the county events center. Here's the press release.

A survey asking local residents for their opinions on the draft Strategic Plan for the Kittitas County Event Center, home of the Kittitas County Fair and the Ellensburg Rodeo.

The survey is designed to measure support for proposed facility expansions and updates, phasing and prioritizing of projects, management models for the facility, and funding sources to implement the plans.  The strategic plan is an update of the 1997 plan for the site and is designed to be implemented over a 20 to 30 year period.  Residents can also enter to win a $250 gift certificate just for completing the survey.

The County began the process of updating the Event Center Strategic Plan in July of 2014.  Beckwith Consulting Group of LaConner, Washington was hired to assist with the process.  A citizen advisory committee was also formed to provide feedback and direction for the update including representatives from the Rodeo Board, Fair Board, 4H, the agricultural community, CWU, the neighborhood around the Event Center Facility, the City of Ellensburg, the City of Cle Elum, the Ellensburg Chamber of Commerce, and residents at large from both Upper and Lower Kittitas County.  The process also included previous surveys, focus group discussions with various stakeholder groups and county-wide open house events.

“We are finally nearing the end of the update process and this is one of the final steps for completing the draft plan,” commented Kittitas County Commissioner Paul Jewell.  Commissioner Jewell is representing the Board of County Commissioners in overseeing the update of the Strategic Plan.  Data collected through the survey process will be incorporated into the draft Strategic Plan and included in the final report.  The draft plan is slated to go before the Board of County Commissioners for public hearing and possible adoption in early 2016.

The survey can be found on the County’s website at www.co.kittitas.wa.us under the heading “Hot Topics” on the home page.  It can also be found on Facebook at www.facebook.com/kittitasvalleyeventcenter.