Sandpoint Centre
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Sandpoint Centre
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Comments? drrobert@idahovet.com Questions about the Recreation Center: Individuals who oppose the Recreation Facility have been citing incorrect information regarding the costs and value of the building. The questions below will help clarify details for community members so that they truly understand what they are voting on.
1) What activities will be available at the Recreation Center? See the page (link above) titled 'Activities'. Our efforts have been to include offerings for all ages of adults and every child. This facility will serve as a Community Center with family swimming ice skating, roller skating, concerts, ice shows, meeting rooms, and an indoor walking track. 2) Will residents have to pay to use the facility? The facility will be run as a non-profit business for the benefit of all members of our community. Non-residents will pay more than residents. We hope to make all the after-school activities (swimming, activity rooms, and skating) free for resident children. The walking track may also be free. Other activities will involve some fees from residents and greater fees from non-residents. Events such as ice shows, concerts, and hockey games may or may not have a discount for residents. 3) What will the facility look like? Please review the pictures and diagrams in the Appendix of the Plan to see some of the ideas we have explored. 4) How much will this facility cost? Our estimate is that this entire Recreation Center will cost 12 million dollars. We believe we can garner 2 million dollars in grants and in private donations. It is possible that, should the community show support for this facility through their vote on February 7th, private donors may step forward and donate more than our estimated 2 million. 5) How much will this increase our taxes? Our estimate is that the average family will pay the equivalent of $6.30 to $8.00 a month - or less than the price of a large pizza. The range of tax increase will be between $38.00 and $48.00 dollars per $100,000 dollars of accessed property value (after home owner’s deductions). The average home (after deductions) is valued at approximately 200 K, thus this would leave the average homeowner paying $76.00 to $96.00 dollars per year or $6.30 to $8.00 dollars per month. 6) How will children get from school to the Recreation Center? In 2005, Idaho’s Region 1 offered a transportation grant, for uses such as this, went unclaimed. The grant totaled more than $ 200,000 dollars. We are planning on utilizing grants such as this to move children both to the Center from schools, and back to specific drop-off points at various locations within the community. Our goal is to make it easy for children to utilize the facility especially in the after-school period. 7) When can the district build the basketball courts (or fill in the blank) that I really want? Obviously we need more court space, as well as fields for indoor soccer, baseball, and tennis. We believe this first facility serves the greatest number of resident needs. Other, more specific sport facilities should be under construction within a few years. This will depend greatly on the amount of grants and private donations we receive. 8) Shouldn’t we spend tax money on our schools rather than on a Recreation Center? After the February 7th election for formation of the Recreation District, our group will turn our attention to supporting our local schools. It is obvious that our society’s strength depends on providing youth with excellent educational opportunities. LPOSD desperately needs to improve local school facilities in the very near future. The rearing of academically prepared, socially integrated, and responsible children is not solely the job of a school system. A facility, such as our proposed Recreation Center, is also vital to this effort. By providing safe, structured, and supervised activities outside of school, children develop a sense of community, improved self esteem, and respect for other members of the society. The overwhelming difficulties in current culture – unlike the experiences of previous generations – necessitate a more active role by community members. Highly dangerous and readily available ‘new’ drugs, such as methamphetamine, are exacting a toll on a frightening percentage of our youth. Single parent homes, or homes where both parents are employed, have become the norm. The threat of sexually transmitted diseases such as AIDS, and un-planned pregnancies, are recurring disasters and exact a tremendous cost on our society. Funding excellent school facilities and community facilities, such as the Recreation Center, will help curb the costs associated with the welfare-type services needed to deal with the aforementioned problems. As the adage states, “pay now or pay later”. Funding this recreation district does not mean that school funding will suffer. It is the duty of responsible community members to fund both. It is socially irresponsible to under-fund schools and activities for youth and for local families. It is also difficult to understand why Sandpoint city property taxes are funding the parks within the city when only 40% of the use of these parks and programs are by city residents. Creation of the Pend Oreille Recreation District may be the first step in spreading the cost of maintaining these parks and programs more equitably to the actual users.
9) Have other similar-sized communities built facilities such as this and have they been successful? The answer to the above questions is ‘yes’. There is no need to re-invent the wheel. By reviewing and imitating other successful community projects, we are confident that we can build a series of facilities that will unite our community beyond most resident’s ability to imagine:
“Once we built our aquatic center and ice rink it was unbelievable, it completely united our community and gave us all a central place to gather. I couldn’t be happier.” Cody Wyoming resident as related to Jim Mark Thank you for taking the time to investigate this information. Please tell your friends and neighbors. Sandpoint Centre Corporation |
