DASSEL-COKATO, MN – With absolutely zero opposition voiced Monday night at the Dassel-Cokato School Board meeting, members unanimously agreed to the conditions of the ground, and operating and usages leases that will allow the Dassel-Cokato Regional Ice and Sports Center to be built and operated on the north side of the school lot, across from the Performing Arts Center.
DC board member Tracy McConkey said he thought this was a “great situation for our school. They are going to build it, and we will get to use it,” he said, referring to the DCRISC board.
DC board member Kevin Bjork was also pleased with the agreements, saying they met the three major requirements the board had laid out before: the arena must operate debt free, it must be independent of the school district, and it must be occupiable within a reasonable time line.
Regarding liability at the proposed ice arena, Powers later commented, that per the agreement, the DCRISC will carry its own liability insurance and will not increase the school district’s liability. School events, however, are always covered by the district no matter where the student is, he added.
According to the agreement, the DCRISC carries all expenses of building the arena, and after the second phase of construction the building will have playable ice using outdoor cooling. It will also be available for other activities such as indoor practices for other sports at this phase.
Now that the board has approved the lease agreements, the next step forward will be for the DCRISC to obtain approval from the Board of Adjustments and Planning Commission through Wright County Planning and Zoning.
According to Keith Raisanen, the DCRISC board chair, preliminary meetings with Wright County to discuss building permit details have already begun, and the approvals are expected to occur no later than April.
I still think you are all nuts for approving this white elephant!! For the sake of the school district I hope that all of the “promises” come to pass. By the way, what are the Litchfield players feeling about coming all the way to the Dassel Cokato school for the practices? I wonder if they will like getting up at 4 A.M. and practicing for a couple of hours and then rushing home to be at school on time. Sounds like this might be a point of contention for the Litchfield kids. Also, who is buying and paying for the Zamboni?
I have to agree with DC Grandma’s assessment of this situation.
I’m surprised by the story author’s opening line exclaiming “absolutely zero opposition.” Maybe the author can clarify for me whether the school board solicited public feedback and encouraged open dialog at the school board meeting, or if the zero opposition was limited to the school board voting members and the DCRISC board. I suspect that this is not a unanimous decision within the community (DC Grandma and I are out).
I hope we all remember the requirements of this ice arena. There will be a test on this material later (in a couple of years, probably the second Monday of November).
“DC board member Kevin Bjork was also pleased with the agreements, saying they met the three major requirements the board had laid out before: the arena must operate debt free, it must be independent of the school district, and it must be occupiable within a reasonable time line.
If the DCRISC is not successful in generating sufficient funding to move the project into Phase 2, what happens to the building? It is independent of the school district, but it is on their land. If the DCRISC dissolves, who’s building is it? Is the school going to sell it? Lease it to a business? Or will they ask the taxpayers for additional funding to finish the project or convert it for another school use? Remember that there will be a test on this later. I question whether this is the best location for this building to be built if it is truly meant to be independent of the school. I doubt the school will be able to sell this off to a 3rd party should the lease be broken.
If the school plans to use this for “other activities such as indoor practices for other sports,” will the next request the school requests of the taxpayers be for artificial turf? If the cooling system doesn’t go in until Phase 2, then the building will likely have a dirt floor. Coils need to be installed in concrete as part of the cooling system. Maybe they will install 2 floors. Concrete doesn’t give (against falls during football practice), and there are already a number of gymnasiums for basketball. What sports will practice on dirt (gravel, sand, clay, …)?
If this is built, I hope it works for the community’s sake.
If this is built, and it doesn’t work, I wonder what the school will do with a large building with an unknown floor in the backyard.
I’m guessing there was zero opposition to this because the “Hockey Mafia” had the place surrounded!!
Stop complaining just to hear yourself talk. This arena will be beneficial to the community with no cost. If it works it may even create a job or 2. The absolute worst thing that could happen is that the school would inherit a huge storage facility with a dirt floor. I’m sure the maintenance people could find a use for it. Heck it might even work as a bus garage and the school could dump the old one in Dassel.
People should be thrilled that in these tough economic times there is a group of people willing to come together to improve the community through volunteering and old fashioned hard work.
One thing I have witnessed since moving to this area is that many folks refuse to see the total picture but rather just concentrate on the face value of levies, building projects, etc. It seems that they (DCRISC and DC School District) are in such a hurry to get this project going that they have forgotten what the ramifications may be should this project fail. Is the DCRISC prepared to put forth the total 2 million dollars to get this building up and going and therefore debt-free. This is alot of money and right now it sounds like you have less than half available to build this ice center. This is a scary situation to be in - if I were building a home, and had less than half of the money available to build it, and wanted to build it debt-free, I wouldn’t even make the mistake of starting it especially in these bad economic times. It sounds like DCRISC is banking on getting more donations once the building is started. How many churches have gone in this direction starting a building project with the hopes that the donations will just roll in once the parishners see the building going up. Most fail, and then are left with a large debt to pay off. I don’t see the residents in this area being in a position to pay for this building even with it being built in phases. I could be wrong, but I fail to see millionaires living in the area. I see residents struggling just to keep their monthly payments current and not wanting to be straddled with more taxes that the school district may end up increasing because of this building. Maybe I don’t frequent the same coffee shops that these board members do, and may be they know the residents better than I, but in just my visits with neighbors, etc. most are not in agreement with this project.
School board meetings are open to the public to encourage public participation. I know there was at least one person present that wished to oppose the lease agreements, but that person didn’t speak up.
Dirt floors are unusable for any event. The cooling system is too fragile. A concrete or temporary floor are necessary for traffic when no ice is present. Concrete floors probably add $250,000 minimum to the project and a temporary floor is probably $80-$100.
An ice arena is a good bonus to the area for sure. When you look at the “total picture” it does not hurt anyone. It will have its hiccups but will serve as a strong asset to draw quality people to the DC area. I do not live in the DC area and when searching for a place to live, the local ice arena was on my positive side of the list, not negative.
The ice arena where I live is only 4 years old. There are adult user groups as well as kids. Mens hockey, womens hockey, broomball, figure skating. This was never possible before the arena was built. There are 150 regular adult users in addition to the kids. It brings tournaments to town to spur the economy in the slow winter months and keeps people active in the community.
I am confident the benefit outweighs the risk. Maybe you will even tie on some skates grandma…
Yes, I do skate, but I doubt that I will skate at the DC Ice Arena. It sounds like the schedule will be packed solid with hockey practices, games, phy. ed. classes, etc. so I doubt there will be any time for open skating for the general public. I didn’t know that the DC area was so lacking in facilities for their sports activities, but obviously there is a need for this building. Also, I re-read the article again, and it seems that the building does not have to be built debt-free but simply operate debt-free - was this the point that the school board favored so vehemently? Obviously there will be no monthly bills to pay with the building such as electricity, insurance, employees, withholding, Zamboni maintenance, etc. Like I said in my previous posts, we must have a lot of millionaires living amongst us.
The arena in the city I live in has almost the same agreement as this situation. Our arena was built by our local hockey association with funds obtained by loan from a local bank. The hockey association is non-profit and operates debt free, yet there are monthly mortgage payment and lease payments. The land is owned by the Native Association. It took many groups to work together to make this a valuable resource in our community and all groups strive to ensure its financial stability. Ice costs $225/hour. We have grant writers that assist with obtaining additional funds/upgrades. The city has stepped in by giving money to local non-profits as well.
If the arena sounds like it will be as busy as people think…there should be little financial problems.
What if the world would have been flat? What if the first space shuttle would have just kept going and going? What if the car coming at you swerves into your lane?
Every action has a reaction. Sometimes good sometimes not so good. If people sat at home afraid to try new things for fear of what might happen we would miss out on many, many opportunities.
What if there are people willing to donate labor to this project? What if this project can get done at a fraction of projected cost because the community is willing to volunteer some time, labor, and knowledge? Believe it or not Grandma good things do happen once in a while.
I hope so, but it has been my experience that interest quickly wanes when the work gets to be too hard. But I am not a native to this area, and obviously you all know your neighbors better that I do so good luck, just keep your fingers out of my wallet should this whole project fall flat on its face!!