The Spokane City Council has chosen to ask voters in November where a new high school sports stadium should be located.
At a special Monday night meeting, the council voted 5-1 to put the issue to a non-binding advisory vote.
The Spokane School District has included money for a new stadium in the bond issue it will place on the November ballot. That measure does not specify where the stadium should be located.
The vote authorized by the city council asks voters to choose between two sites: the current Albi Stadium site in northwest Spokane or downtown on the north bank of the Spokane River.
The lone vote was cast by Councilmember Kate Burke.
“I do not agree with us putting an advisory vote on the ballot when it’s not our issue and when it’s very confusing for the voters," Burke said. "Every single person I’ve seen, any comment on Facebook or any email I’ve gotten, there’s mass confusion around this issue. It has not been well articulated to myself or the public and I can’t consciously put something on the ballot that I don’t have enough information that is going to go out to the voters.”
Council President Ben Stuckart voted for the advisory vote, but he wasn’t necessarily happy about it.
“I’m done with this conversation about where the stadium is after I put this on. And I hope we can all just talk about investments in our libraries and investments in our schools moving forward, because those are higher priorities than the stadium or where it’s located,” Stuckart said.
The council faced a deadline of Tuesday to get the measure on the November ballot.