responding to lunker above: didn't look. just know. have some knowledge about these types of projects. there was a bunch of misinformation floated around on this project. a bit on both sides. the against side was led mainly by a to remain unnamed fitness center owner. and i guess i can't blame him.
anyway: i live outside city limits. so, i couldn't vote. if i could have, i probably would have voted for it. but, a few concerns:
1. cost. 19-23 million seems like a lot of coin for a building like this. things have gotten outrageously expensive lately. but, that's what happens when you get companies involved that each get to take home 6% of the final cost they convince you "you need this and you need that" and "that's just what things cost these days". I think a lot of folk had the feeling you could build it bigger and better for that price or build the same thing for less. there was no convincing them otherwise. and i am no expert on these things. so, i don't really know what it costs myself. but, i can tell you a lot of people felt that way.
2. cost of upkeep and operation. very few thought this thing would bankroll its operations on user fees and memberships alone. the numbers they were tossing around for expected expenses vs income from memberships, price of fees, number of users year round, etc... seemed a bit optimistic to most. this town isn't growing. in fact, i think the true numbers show it shrinking. also, i have heard that our economic activity... money in and money out... has been pretty stagnant since the dike construction ended. so, i tend to believe it would need support to stay open.
3. location. convenient for the schools and certain activities. not so convenient for the community as a whole. no room for expansion or for business to grow around it. although, there weren't a lot of other options. one i heard was where knutson's is. but, that wasn't exactly ideal either.
4. need to update a lot of existing structures. a lot of people recognize that we have a lot of old buildings in this town that will need updating or will have to be replaced in the next 20 years. schools, burdick, bill jerome, etc... the only one this building would actually replace would be the bill jerome arena. it supplements the others. so, we are going to have to come up with money for those projects too in addition to this.
5. it would have competed with the already 4 private fitness centers we have in this town. the kids already have the sportscenter upstairs to work out at before, during and immediately after school. if they need to work out later or on weekends, the other fitness centers are dirt cheap. and those places serve the adult population well already. its never a good idea to have government competing with private entities. especially in a town that likes to view itself as ultra conservative. combine that topic with any phrase like "increased taxes" and you are asking for trouble in ND. i think they would have been better served keeping that part out of the equation. it caused a fight that they lost.
some pros:
1. obviously, it looks like a great building. nice as hell. and would be a draw and a plus for our community.
2. those in the know will tell you ice time is hard to come by in this town. we have trouble getting ice time for everyone. kids are on the ice way too late every night and way too early in the morning (figure skaters need to hit the ice sometimes as early as 5 i've heard). and that is going to become harder when the bill eventually gets bulldozed in the not so distant future. its just a matter of time.
3. gym space/time is also hard to come by here too. the frustrating thing about gym space is that it seems like we didn't plan very well for that. the sweetwater addition is nice. but, it has absolutely no functional seating when both gyms are in use. very poor planning there. the same goes for the sportcenter really. we can run two courts. but, you also have very little space for people to sit and watch when we have both of those gyms going at the same time. and none of our existing gyms are actually open for "open gym" time for the general public to use very often if ever. you need to be one of the local special people who have key to get extra gym time. which is a load of bullshit in the minds of a lot of community members. having said that, we could do a better job of making those places available to the public without having to build new. and the plans for the proposed gym didn't look like they had much seating either. unless i am not remembering correctly.
4. an indoor pool. we need one. and this one looked nice. but, it also didn't look real big. and also didn't have a water slide. seems to me if you are going to spend 20 mil, you should have both of those bases covered. also, unknown to a lot of people, we already have the deaf school that is open to the public on saturdays in the winter and other classes, etc... held there. it seems under utilized to some. but, this pool was supposedly going to be more accessible to the public with more open hours, etc.. because the building would be staffed better. i don't think the deaf school pool had the opportunity provide that.
5. sales tax. this is clearly the best way to pay for a project like this. most people would have never noticed the increase in sales tax they paid. but, they may have noticed the other tax we eventually would have had to levy to support the place and/or make improvements to other structures going forward.
6. running track. indoors. enough said. running circles in the square hallway surrounding the sportcenter gym... not cool
7. it would have been a draw and served a purpose for youth. admit it or not, this building would have improved the draw to our community. or at least helped in the motivation to stay here. and we need a more accessible place for our youth to hang out and stay active.
i've got a few other things to say. but, i am running late for a meeting....
