I’ve seen a lot of conversations around the proposed Community Center, and while the project website provides great information, I wanted to share some additional thoughts of my own. In this post I want to address the question, why not just expand or update the current Rec Center?
This option was explored in multiple ways with the Council and the Parks and Rec Task Force. Even with updates, the current Rec Center would only offer a single basketball court, a fitness room, and a couple of meeting rooms for the community. Additionally, the Parks and Rec Task Force heard directly from sports groups who emphasized that the existing Rec Center does not meet their needs for indoor/winter training space, specifically their need for turf to train for sports like lacrosse, soccer, baseball, softball, football, and more.
The next question was whether turf could be added to the existing Rec Center. Two options were considered: a permanent building for year-round use or a seasonal sports dome similar to Chaska’s. The seasonal dome was the more preferable option since it would not impact outdoor space during the summer (soccer fields and baseball/softball fields). However, adding a seasonal dome would still require additional land, reducing space for outdoor activities, and necessitate expanded parking, which would mean losing additional existing amenities like the warming house, tennis/pickleball courts, and/or an outdoor hockey rink.
Updating and/or expanding the current Rec Center for longer term use would mean the city would also have to find a funding source for upcoming maintenance issues. When the Facilities Study was done in 2022 the Rec Center received a Poor grade with an estimated $1.9M identified in upcoming maintenance within the next 5 years. You can find the link to that study here with the Rec Center starting on page 18.
Conclusion
The Task Force concluded that updating the current Rec Center wouldn’t significantly expand its capacity for additional sports use and would reduce outdoor sports options. After considering resident feedback and the needs of various sports groups, they determined that neither updating the Rec Center nor adding a dome was the right fit for supporting our growing community.
