From tonight’s Delridge District Council meeting: Several notes of interest, including the first official presentation on the West Seattle Stadium private-operation proposal search, with some answers to questions that have come up since our first reports (here and here) – read on for tonight’s full report:

As we first reported last month, the Parks Department plans to put out a “request for proposals” for West Seattle Stadium, which needs repairs and renovations that the city estimates would cost at least $4 million. In exchange for making those repairs and renovations, the successful “proposer” will get a multi-year contract to run the stadium.

At tonight’s meeting, Charles Ng from the Parks Department explained that the city had hoped to get the repair/renovation money from the real-estate excise tax, but that’s evaporated because of economic conditions. So now — the fallback plan.

He stressed that the stadium would remain Parks Department property, with city oversight. Right now, according to Ng, the stadium only generates $26,000/year revenue — though he admits it’s not really marketed with an eye toward revenue generation. As for the “historic uses” that would be grandfathered into an agreement with a private operator, he said fees would remain the same, and that those uses would include walking and running access that some have worried about losing.

Ng says some prospective stadium operators have indeed come forward, and the Parks Department has had some informal talks, so now the formal process begins, once the city Board of Park Commissioners approves the proposed “request for proposals” — a public hearing on the draft document (see it here) is expected at the next Park Board meeting (October 23, Parks Department HQ; if you can’t attend the meeting, we wrote here about how to comment on it via e-mail, postal mail, or other means).

In Q/A tonight, Delridge District Council chair Pete Spalding voiced concern that the concept might not make economic sense for anyone – if the stadium is only generating $26,000 a year, it would be difficult to ever get the $4 million back.

What about naming rights, it was asked? Ng acknowledged that’s a popular revenue-generating tool and would be considered.

What if no one officially comes forward to take this on? Ng said the stadium is close to the end of its lifespan and without the money for those repairs and renovations, it eventually would have to be closed.

Wasn’t work done on the stadium about 10 years ago? Not enough to comply with current codes, Ng said.

Again, the next big step is the Park Board’s public hearing, one week from tomorrow (7 pm, agenda here).

Other items discussed tonight included:

DESIGN REVIEW REMINDER: A Delridge-area project is one of two proposals coming before the Southwest Design Review Board on Thursday, 10/23 — 4106 Delridge (map), described as five stories with 30 residential units and 4,000 square feet of ground-floor retail. Parking (39 spaces proposed) is a potential concern, according to what both DDC chair Spalding and North Delridge Neighborhood Council‘s Mike Dady said at tonight’s meeting. (The 10/23 meeting is at 6:30 pm, Madison Middle School.)

SOUTH SEATTLE COMMUNITY COLLEGE GRANT: SSCC’s Mike Munson says the school has received a $2.4 million grant to help reach out to and retain Pacific Islander and Asian students — one of only six colleges in the U.S. to get this type of grant. Munson also reported that the search is on for a permanent replacement for SSCC president Jill Wakefield, who (as reported here a month ago) is moving up to lead the entire Seattle community-college system at the start of next calendar year.

The Delridge District Council meets the third Wednesday of the month, usually at the Southwest Precinct meeting room.