BLAINE, Minn. – (Sept. 22, 2016) – In 1998 Blaine voters rejected a referendum to build a community center for the city. Now, almost 20 years later Blaine voters will again be asked to weigh in on the issue. A ballot question will ask voters if they want to approve a tax levy for the building of a community center. Voters will also be reminded in the ballot question that any operating expenses not covered by operating revenue will be paid for by the taxpayers. The estimated first year cost for building the community center is $60 on a $200,000 home.
It has been a long process to get to this point. A task force of community members has been meeting for more than two years.
“When I came in I was open minded. I wanted to see both sides of the picture. I didn’t know a lot about the cost and budget numbers that existed within the city, I didn’t know a lot about how much it cost to build a community center, so understanding that helped a lot. The biggest thing was I wanted to see other people’s opinions,” said Blaine community center task force member Richard Burke.
At the start of the process the task force commissioned a survey. A sampling of the population participated in the survey and the results indicated that the work of the task force should continue. “The survey came back with about 67% of the people in favor of wanting a community center,” said Burke.
The task force hired a consultant to help in the research and planning phases. Monthly meetings were held and many different groups were brought in to share their perspective on a community center. “Over the last two years we have met with many different parts of the community. We’ve met with the athletic programs, we’ve met with the school districts, we’ve met with business people in the community, we’ve met with seniors and I think that our biggest goal from the beginning was to look at what the whole community needs,” said Blaine community center task force member Molly Schmidt.
The group also visited several area community centers and learned about how they are run. “Just looking at the different community centers in the area and they all run differently. Some have partners, very few with just city management. The partnerships are different everywhere you go so if you have a partnership in the YMCA in Forest Lake it’s going to be different than the partnership with the YMCA in Andover. When we’re trying to figure out what kind of communities set up and what would best benefit our community, it’ll look very different than the community next door,” said Schmidt. It is not been decided if a partner would help run a community center in Blaine, but the task force has had discussions with potential partners and appear to be leaning towards recommending a partnership.
Another big discussion was were to build a community center. “We went and looked at 11 different plots in Blaine and when you look at the bottom line we ended up choosing a piece of property we think is appropriate. The city council can choose that differently but we chose property the city of Blaine already owned and that cuts a lot of the cost,” said Burke.
A vacant lot next to city hall is the suggested location. Discussions also centered on what to include in the building. From the start task force members thought the building needed to be multi-functional. A mix of meeting and gathering spaces and activity space. “Our gym space is really heavily occupied right now during the winter with many programs. Their just isn’t places where kids can just go and shoot baskets or hang out in the evening after school if they’re not part of one of those programs,” said Schmidt.
One big item was the discussion of what to do with the Mary Ann Young senior center. A new senior center could be included in a new community center or the existing space in Aquatore Park could be rebuilt. After much discussion the task force recommended the community center and senior center be separate entities. The next step in the long process is educating the community before Election Day. “I think that is our big piece right now. In the next six weeks we really need to get out there into the community and educate the community. We have on the city web page a resource where you can see everything we’ve been doing throughout the two years of meeting,” said Schmidt.
Blaine is a very different city than it was in 1998, 20,000 more people call Blaine home. The median age of the population has shifted younger. The task force found in its research that every city of more than 40,0000 people in Minnesota has a community center except Blaine. But, it is the voters who will decide if Blaine will join the community center trend. On October 10, their will be an educational meeting at city hall.
Text of ballot question:
