Posted: 8/14/02

Community Center plans unfold

Cliff Buchan
News Editor

Can the corn fields south of 202nd St. N. and west of US-61 one day be home to a Forest Lake Community Center?

A task force studying that proposal continues to take small but important steps in the planning process for a community center.

At its regular meeting on Aug. 6, the task force received an update on plans for an ice arena on the city-owned land adjacent to Forest Lake Airport and moved ahead with plans for the next session of the Forest Lake Area Family Community Center Task Force.

That meeting will come on Tuesday, Aug. 20 with a 7 p.m. session in the cafeteria at Century Junior High School. The public is welcome and past task force participants are being recruited to serve on five subcommittees with specific tasks related to the planning.

Planners learned last week that the cultivation of the land as a civic center or community center may not be accomplished in one growing season.

With an overall preliminary price estimate of $32 million, planners must decide how to proceed and what aspects of the proposed plan are doable and should be considered first. The site is directly south of Forest Lake Airport.

Arena plans

Task force members learned last week the backers of the arena plan are nearing the start of a fund-raising campaign that will carry through next February.

Arena backers hope to generate funds to back the construction of a one or two-sheet arena. Ground would be broken next April with the arena opened in October of 2003 under a schedule presented by the Forest Lake Hockey Association last week.

Lee Hansen, hockey association president, introduced Bob Ballintine of Compass, the firm which will conduct the capital campaign for the arena. The firm has worked on arena projects in a number of communities, including Stillwater and Lakeville.

The arena group has already commenced a working agreement with The Point Group for professional expertise in the construction of the facility.

Al Gagnon of The Point Group and Ballintine walked the task force through steps that will be taken in the arena planning process.

Ballintine said a review of Forest Lakeís dynamic growth and future potential may bode well for what he called the civic center project.

ìOur hunches tell us this is a good time for Forest Lake,î the consultant said.

He said the optimum time for a fund-raising campaign is the fall from Labor Day through Thanksgiving. A fall campaign by Compass is in the works, he said.

How successful that drive is will reflect the commitment of the community to this project, he said. ìWe are not magicians,î he said, adding a note of caution.

ìWe will listen very carefully to what your community says,î Ballintine said.

In presenting its capital campaign to the community, he said it will be essential to convey the message the project is not for a ìhockey palaceî but rather a multi-use, multi-sport facility.

A fund-raising goal of $3 million has been set for the two-sheet facility.

Gagnon said the fund-raising drive will be critical in launching the arena project. He outlined plans for a one-sheet, 40,000 square foot arena with seating for 1200.

Such a facility will cost in the range of $4 million. A second ice sheet would likely come close to doubling the total cost, he said.

As the arena plan moves forward, Gagnon said the group would be looking soon to the city for a formal commitment on land on infrastructure costs that the city may provide.

City Administrator Chip Robinson said such plans and recommendations should go to the city council in form of a development agreement.

The agreement would detail terms of land use and a potential lease of the city-owned land where the arena would be built. It would also address city contributions in form of utilities and roads once those costs are known.

One expense the city may have no control over is the sewer availability charge, the administrator said.

Before the city orders and pays for site soil borings, Robinson said the city will need assurance the project is a go. Such a move can take place, he said, once the arena fund-raising campaign has taken shape.

Long-term plan

The recreation task force received additional updates on the entire community center proposal last week.

The price tags given in preliminary form by Bill Sanders, city planner will pose some interesting decisions down the road.

The study now calls for a community center of 90,000 square feet that would include gymnasiums, an auditorium, fitness center, swimming pool and meeting rooms.

Sanders said a likely cost per square foot for the complex is $200. That would mean an $18 million project.

The $18 million would be in addition to other facilities planned on the site such as softball and baseball fields, tennis courts, soccer fields, parking lots, lights, equipment, site work and landscaping.

Under the preliminary estimate by Sanders, projects of the like would add another $6 million in expense.

Under one phasing scenario under review, the athletic field complex could be built first in conjunction with the arena.

With the five subcommittees expected to begin their look at finances and other related topics, the main task force will continue its study of other options.

The group will resume its study of a partnership with the U.S. Army for the possible relocation of a single unit armory that could be included within the community center facility.

After public opposition surfaced this winter, the task force has dropped plans for a helicopter base on the community center site.

Task force members agreed, however, it was worth the time to explore the armory concept as a partnership for the center that may generate needed funding dollars.

The group will also continue to explore other private-public partnerships that could involve outside groups coming in to do construction with a lease-back plan for operation to the city or some local organization.

ìThere are lots of possibilities out there,î Robinson said of the airport site.

There has been no recent discussion over the possible inclusion of a world class underground ski tunnel for training cross country skiers and providing a public avenue 12 months a year for skiers.

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