With robust support from the city of Dundas, Northfield Public Schools and the Northfield Hockey Association, the most detailed plan in years to replace Northfield’s dilapidated ice arena appears to have gained strong momentum, even with an eye-watering price tag. Meanwhile, potential buyers of the current arena have plans to convert the space into a private recreation facility.
As construction costs have continued to rise, even the more frugal of two proposed ice arena designs developed by JLG Architects comes with an estimated price tag of nearly $21 million, significantly pricier than the proposal for a larger arena which failed to pass a 2018 referendum. The more expensive design for a larger arena comes in at about $28 million.
Still, Northfield’s hockey community has rallied around the project, warning that failing to replace an arena that has long been regarded as outdated and dilapidated would lead to an exodus of hockey families, costing local businesses millions in lost revenue.
At a meeting next week, Northfield Public Schools is expected to formally endorse the proposal and commit to funding the construction of the new arena to the tune of $250,000 annually, covering about a quarter of the project cost.
Supporting a project that would hike property taxes on the average $350,000 homestead by $169 per year is a particular risk for Northfield Public Schools, which regularly relies on the good grace of taxpayers for funding and will go to the voters with a proposed levy this fall.
However, Superintendent Matt Hillman has said the district views the current ice arena as an albatross, with locker rooms that are too small, a variety of mechanical issues, a leaky roof and lack of handicapped accessible entrances among its increasingly troublesome flaws.
Furthermore, a survey of 165 respondents conducted by the Northfield Hockey Association found that 107 families would look at leaving Northfield if the hockey program folds due to lack of available public ice, potentially costing Northfield Public Schools more than $1 million annually.
Later this month, Dundas is also expected to formally endorse the plan and pledge to split the proposed project cost with Northfield, after accounting for proceeds from the sale of the current arena, the Northfield Public Schools contribution and private fundraising efforts.
Any new ice arena would not be expected to open until at least fall 2026.
Options for current, new arena
Both designs for a potential new area are proposed to be located as a currently vacant site off Honeylocust Drive, northwest of Highway 3.
A preliminary agreement has been reached to sell the current arena to private developers Tyler Westman and Brett Anderson for $1.225 million, with a tentative closing date of July 31. Westman and Anderson plan to convert the old arena into a private recreation facility.
As part of the deal, Westman and Anderson would be expected to lease the old arena back to the city while the new arena is under construction. In addition, the city will retain the rights to the riverfront portion of the property for future park development.
The Northfield Hockey Association has also committed to raising $2 million to help support the project. Any fundraising over that figure would potentially go toward paying for project “add-ons,” like replacing aluminum bleachers with precast stadium seating.
Dundas Mayor Glenn Switzer attended the Northfield City Council meeting to express his strong support for the project. Switzer noted that public ice has been a Dundas fixture almost since the city’s founding and that many Dundas residents strongly support building a new arena.
City Administrator Ben Martig estimated that the economic impacts of a new arena could add up to more than $1.5 million annually. As Councilor Brad Ness was quick to point out, that would seem to indicate that the estimated impact of the arena could outstrip the cost.
Proposals to renovate and expand the current ice arena have also been discussed by the council. However, the building is in need of so many repairs that such a full renovation and expansion option didn’t come out much cheaper than the rebuild.
Public support for smaller fixes or even a full renovation has also been meager, specifically from the hockey and skating community, with a general consensus expressed by the Northfield Hockey Association’s Chris Kennelly that to invest in the current arena would be “putting good money after bad.”
Council discussion
Although the proposed arena may be backed by a broad coalition, members of the public and several councilors have continued to express familiar reservations over the project’s substantial cost, at a time when property taxes are expected to rise significantly to begin with.
Councilor Davin Sokup, who has been particularly vocal in expressing concern about the rising property tax burden, pushed for more detailed information on the project’s costs and urged the city and its partners to look for ways to lower the taxpayer burden, including through more private fundraising.
“It’s going to be a really tough decision to make, so I appreciate having as much information in front of us as possible,” Sokup said. “This becoming ‘Do you support hockey or not?’ is really tough, because it's not that black and white.”
Councilor Jessica Peterson White expressed similar concerns, praising staff for its hard work in crafting a well thought out proposal while acknowledging that the “sticker shock” provided by dramatic increases in construction costs would be painful for many of her constituents.
“We would be staring down some very significant and not affordable tax increases, possibly sacrificing other things we think are very important to the community,” Peterson White said.
She expressed particular concern for downtown building owners in her ward, warning that many are operating on tight margins and pushing property taxes too high could potentially tax valuable businesses out of the city.
“If you own a building in downtown Northfield, you mostly have a lot of deferred maintenance and a number of renters who are just barely covering what you need them to,” Peterson White said. “When we’re looking at a tax increase on a building like that might house four affordable apartments and three retailers, the math gets really difficult.”
While acknowledging that the price tag is hard to swallow, Mayor Rhonda Pownell encouraged her colleagues to focus on the dramatic economic impacts an ice arena can provide, along with the importance of providing quality activities for Northfield youth.
“As a mother of five kids who played sports, when you travel to other communities even if it’s just for the game, you are buying food, you are buying gas, you are killing time in their community,” Pownell said. “And quite frankly, Northfield is a beautiful community that a lot of people would love to spend more time in.”
Most Popular
Comments / 0