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however there are two votteybatt ctubs based in the community. With this added capacity <br />the locaI clubs have the necessary infrastructure to run tournaments throughout the winter <br />and spring. <br />2. Tourism Benefit <br />Exptain how this infrastructure proiect witt support tourism in Kittitas County. lnclude <br />specific detaits on how it witt attract tourists, improve visitor experiences, and <br />enhance the county's appeat as a destination. <br />As previousty mentioned, the tourism impact from this project is twofotd. A fietdhouse of <br />this size, providing muttipte courts for volteybatt and basketbatt, wit[ draw tournaments to <br />Ettensburg and Kittitas County. An added benefit is that many of these tournaments witl, <br />take ptace during the winter and earty spring months, when tourism rates and impact are <br />substantiatty down. According to the Kittitas County Chamber of Commerce, over the tast <br />three years, the average number of overnight hoteI visits between Aprit to October is 32,100 <br />visits per month, as a comparison, the average number of overnight visits between the <br />months of November to March is 18,200 visits per month. There is capacity within our tocal <br />hotets to accommodate additionat events in our community. <br />Additional,ty, the fietdhouse project wittinclude the buitdout of additional. parking at Rotary <br />Park. Atthough there are over 380 parking statts currentty at Rotary Park, one targe event <br />witt fitt the parking lots beyond capacity. The additionat fietdhouse parking wil.l. provide the <br />necessary infrastructure for muttipte targe-sca[e activities to take ptace concurrentty at the <br />park because there witt be adequate parking to support these events. The city turns away <br />tournaments and events because there isn't sufficient parking to support two events taking <br />ptace at the same time. <br />The Kittitas County Tourism Study, compteted by Arnett Muldrow, identifies the need for <br />sports tourism infrastructure as a tourism opportunity for Kittitas County and recommends <br />prioritizing the devetopment of an indoor sports/recreation center that can support <br />tournaments, events, and visitors in Ettensburg. The proximity and ease to drive to <br />Etl,ensburg attracts teams from Eastern Washington as wetl as Western Washington, <br />especiatty those in the Puget Sound area. ln the spring/summer of 2025, the city hosted 12 <br />youth basebatt tournaments at Rotary Park. According to tournament organizers, over 500/o <br />of those teams traveted greater than two hours to ptay in Ettensburg. AdditionaLty, <br />tournaments had targe waittists of teams wanting to pl.ay in Ettensburg. Teams love <br />traveting to Ettensburg because it's easy and accessibte, a perfect centrat location for <br />tournaments.