Cliff Buchan
News EditorIs a proposed community center plan in Forest Lake too ambitious, or is the plan too small in scale?
Forest Lake City Council and members of the community center task force heard both views Monday at a special council meeting to collect the task force report and recommendation.
Monday, the council will discuss a $15 million bond referendum for the Nov. 2 election ballot as a key financing tool for the proposed $22.5 million, 90,000 square foot facility. The task force recommendation culminates more than two years of planning.
City and task force officials learned Monday there is a broad spectrum of opinion on what the city should build, if anything.
Public comments
During public comments Monday, some citizens spoke in opposition to the property taxes the community center would require. Others questioned the burden that would fall to Forest Lake residents in terms of property taxes and fees to use the facility while residents living beyond Forest Lake would not be taxed.
The latter point was raised by Dick Tschida, who served on the town board in the former township. ìThe penalty is in the city of Forest Lake,î Tschida said, adding that residents outside of Forest Lake would not face tax implications, only user fees that would be higher than fees for city residents.
But some of the most strong questions of the proposed plan hit at amenities that have been taken away from this phase of the community center plan.
When originally crafted, the full blown plan called for a facility of about 148,000 square feet costing $30 million. In order to reduce costs and add facilities that would help generate revenue and reduce the anticipated operational deficit, a theater auditorium and banquet hall with kitchen facilities fell from the plan.
Complaints Monday hit at the plan which some said was too heavily tipped in terms of an athletic complex and did not outline how, when and at what cost the additional phases of the center would be built.
ìWhatís your schedule to get those in?î asked Masquers Theatre activist Roger Wiersma.
Ann Gabriel, a one-year Forest Lake resident, said she was disappointed the theater auditorium piece of the center had been removed. She urged planners to make the facility more ìthan an athletic complexî and ensure that all residents of the community stand to benefit.
Gabriel took the hard line, however, and hinted that if the plans did not expand she would work against passage of a referendum. She handed out printed sheets that called for a master plan with affordable phases. The literature carried the title, ìNo Arts - No Deal.î
Two members of council, Tom Lynch and Susan Youth, questioned the option of dropping the banquet hall and kitchen facilities
What happens next?
Mayor Ray Daninger, who is co-chair of the task force, recommended Monday delaying any decision until the next regular council session, 6:30 p.m. next Monday.
At this weekís meeting, four of the five council members were present. Councilman Bruce Carlson was absent.
During the week between meetings, council members said they will gather more public comments to help in the deliberation next Monday.
City Administrator Chip Robinson, who has provided tactical assistance to the task force, will finalize details as to when a potential ballot question must be finalized. He said Monday that must likely happen by late August.
Robinson also presented financial impacts on property taxes for a 20-year general obligation bond.
For example, a home with $150,000 market would see the city share of property taxes go from $342 in 2004 to an estimated $486 in 2005, increase of $144.
For a home with $250,000 market value, the current property tax of $655 would increase $239 to $894 in 2005.
Members of the task force collected the public comments this week and said they would be helpful in defining the project.
Councilman Rick Ashbach, who is chair of the task force finance committee, said the concern for pinpointing community center phases might be incentive to form a ìdifferent kind of proposal.î
Ashbach said the key is to finalize a plan that works. ìWe need to have the right mix,î Ashbach said.
Task force member Laurie Kumerow said the process involved creating a thoughtful vision for the entire 160-acre community center site south of Forest Lake Airport. She said planners dreamed big but brought back a recommendation based on financial reality.
ìItís an ambitious plan,î she said of the full scope $30 million dream plan. ìWe were thinking big. Then we had to look at reality.î
Ashbach said the task force was forced to make the difficult decision to remove the banquet hall and theater auditorium until a later date because of the costs and the fact they did not generate the revenue to support the capital investment.
ìIt just wasnít supporting itself well enough,î Ashbach said.
Other recreational components, such as gymnasiums, one ice sheet and fields have also been trimmed for this phase of the project, officials said.
County moving
The good news for task force planners is the announcement by the Washington County Board that it will conduct a workshop next Monday to review a revised site plan that would localize all proposed county government facilities on the community center site.
Dennis Hegberg, District One county commissioner, said a final decision by the county board has yet to be made but county staff strongly favors using the community center site for its north location. A decision could be made by early June, Hegberg said.
As part of its financial proposal, a partnership with the county is billed as a source of revenue from land sales and shared services in form of parking lots. The county is considering use of the community center site for a new library, transit center (park-and-ride) and north government services center.
Correction
A story in the May 13 Forest Lake Times carried incorrect information on the possible tax impact of a proposed $15 million bond referendum for a new Forest Lake Community Center. The correct tax increase is $144 on a $150,000 home, $239 on a $250,000 home and $480 on a $500,000 home.
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