Yakima -- Nearly five years in the making and the city is still in the planning stages. Building an aquatic center seems to have hit roadblock after roadblock from money to location. It's starting to look like a pipe dream. Action News investigates, what's the big hold up? And will we ever get an aquatic center?

Wouldn't it be nice? An indoor-outdoor water wonderland with a $35 million price tag. But four years after the city started talking about the project a $75,000 feasibility study is all the city has to show.

It all started in 2005 when Yakima closed the Miller and Washington park pools. The pools have been torn down but the aquatic center plans are still just that, plans.
Action News asks, "What's changed in the past four years that the city's been working on the aquatic center?"
"It's gone through quite a process of discussions, looking at locations where it could be how it could funded, how much to charge," says Ken Wilkinson, Yakima Parks & Recreation.

You could say the specifics are the three biggest roadblocks.
First roadblock, money: that spendy study found raising your taxes is the best way to pay for an aquatic center. Yakima Mayor Dave Edler say it would be an increase of 1/10 of 1% of sales tax for Selah, Yakima and Union Gap.
"I know nobody wants to raise taxes especially in this time of the year with the economy but if they could some how work in a small percentage and get government grants I think that'd be a good idea," says Steve Harris, Yakima local.

The second roadblock, city support: the mayor told me the original council who was in unanimously in favor of the project has left.
The third roadblock, location: the old Boise Cascade site could have serious environmental issues.

Action News asks, "How much money, how much time does the city invest before you say this isn't going to happen?"
"The money has not been an issue it's personal time, my personal time and the other members of the council," says Yakima Mayor Dave Edler.

As for a time line on the construction Dave never gave me a final answer. So where does the project go from here? Right now the city tells me they don't plan on spending any more of your money to work on it. "You can study something to death or engineer it to death you either got to do it or get off the pot," says Don Armstrong, Yakima local.

And it seems after four years we're still on the pot. The mayor hopes to make it happen in five years, but three years ago we heard this.
"We're going to turn over every stone that's out there," he tells Action News.

It seems the Yakima Aquatic Center is still just a plan on paper.