In today’s StarTribune: Edina looks at two homes for its domes

Plans to build two adjacent sports domes in Edina’s Braemar Park are fading in the face of financial and logistical obstacles. Instead, on Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to proceed with replacement of the Braemar Golf Dome that burned in . . . → Read More: Consultants, staff recommend against adjacent sports domes in Braemar Park]]>  

In today’s StarTribune: Edina looks at two homes for its domes

Plans to build two adjacent sports domes in Edina’s Braemar Park are fading in the face of financial and logistical obstacles. Instead, on Tuesday, the City Council will be asked to proceed with replacement of the Braemar Golf Dome that burned in February while other locations are studied for a proposed sports dome that has strong support from youth sports groups.

Ann Kattreh, the city’s assistant parks and recreation director, said an evaluation of the Braemar location as a site for both domes showed it just wouldn’t work. Officials had hoped that a dome complex with one clubhouse and entry would save energy and management costs.

John Keprios, Director, Park and Recreation Department, has this summary and recommendation in the packet for Tuesday’s meeting:

The consulting team of Cunningham and Anderson/Johnson & Associates has determined that it is not physically possible to co-locate a sports dome and a golf dome at the South Metro Training Facility site. It has also been determined that it is not financially feasible to co-locate a sports dome and golf dome.

If the City locates a replacement golf dome to a site other than its current location, then the City is responsible to pay for all of the needed site improvement costs including new concrete foundations for the dome and the admissions building. Those significant additional site costs are not covered by insurance.

Staff recommends that it is in our customers’ and the City of Edina’s best interest to move forward with replacement of the golf dome membrane and building at its current location as soon as possible to capture revenues for the 2012-2013 winter season.

Both the Braemar Golf Dome and the Sports Dome Feasibility Study (Phase Two Site Location), are on the Agenda for the June 5 Edina Council meeting.

See this short video clip of that segment of the meeting:

   Left: Edina Sports Dome Feasibility Study 02.01.12 (PDF)

Right: Edina Dome Budget pro forma . . . → Read More: Consultants to present sports dome feasibility study to Park Board on Feb. 14]]> The Edina Park Board will be meeting on Tuesday, February 14th @ 7:00 PM in the City Council Chambers to officially receive this Phase One feasibility report from our consulting team.  The public is welcome and encouraged to attend.

  
Left: Edina Sports Dome Feasibility Study 02.01.12 (PDF)

Right: Edina Dome Budget pro forma (PDF)

Park and Recreation Consultants, LLC (Harvey Feldman, Ken Vraa and Erick Blank) will be making a presentation and will be available to answer questions. See Harvey Feldman’s letter below.

For residents most interested in the possible location of a dome, Phase One of the study only addresses financial feasibility and does not at all discuss potential locations for a domed facility.

Dear Ms. Kattreh:

We are pleased to submit the Edina Sports Dome financial feasibility study for your review. The study was conducted under a set of our guiding principles as set forth in the report. We based our findings on your city’s vision, mission, comprehensive plan and interviews with key city staff, youth sports organizations and citizen advocates using a best practices approach to financial feasibility.

Since the Sports Dome would be primarily for Edina residents, we focused on the needs of the Soccer Club, Baseball Association, Lacrosse Association and the High School. It is our opinion these Edina organizations will rent approximately 820 hours during the 24-26 week season. Therefore, it will require non-resident groups to rent between 220-250 full dome hours in order for the City to achieve 100% cost recovery of the operating budget and replacement costs of the dome and turf.

In developing the projected revenues, we specifically chose to be extremely conservative by not projecting any revenue for non-resident groups. We are, however, recommending the staff first meet with the Edina groups and draw up an actual 6-month schedule. A second meeting would then be set up with the non-resident groups expressing interest in renting the dome. The non-resident groups would be able to know, with some certainty, the times and dates available to them. Edina groups would also be able to revise their own schedules in order to encourage non-residents to help produce a 100% cost recovery facility.

In closing we want to express our deepest appreciation to you, the city staff, park board study group and the individuals and organizations we interviewed. We look forward to meeting with the Park Board on February 14 to discuss this study in more depth.

Sincerely,

Harvey Feldman
President, Park and Recreation Consultants LLC

Update: photos from the meeting:

Dan offered great insight into their process and talked about several aspects of the dome, including the . . . → Read More: Learning about the Tonka Dome]]> At our Sports Dome Study Work Group meeting on Thursday, 11/10, Dan Sigurdson, Citizens Finance Audit and Advisory Committee Member for the Minnetonka Public Schools, discussed their process of building the Tonka Dome at the High School.

Dan offered great insight into their process and talked about several aspects of the dome, including the financial commitments that are required annually from their athletic associations, the parking problems and how they remedied them, the cost to put up and take down the dome annually and their need to construct an additional building for restrooms and off-season dome storage.

According to Dan, their dome project was driven by the school, primarily for their football program. It is very well utilized by many user groups and mostly by Minnetonka residents. The original goal was to pay off the debt for the dome in 10 years and they refinanced the debt to be paid over a 20 year term.

It was very kind of Dan Sigurdson to come to Edina to answer questions of our Work Group. I know that the Study Group members and community members were very appreciative.