by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The Sartell City Council decided 5-0 at its last meeting to give the go-ahead to construct a parking lot on the large grassy field in Pinecone Regional Park east of the Bernick’s Arena just off of Pinecone Road.
The project required a lease agreement between the city and the Sartell Youth Hockey Association, which operates the arena.
The lot will cost $662,545, according to Sartell City Administrator Mary Degiovanni. About $100,000 of that amount will come from the city’s Park District 3 fund, $67,605 from the city’s storm-water fund; the rest (about $550,000) will come from the half-cent sales-tax fund. About another $31,000 will be added to the total as a possible contingency fund, Degiovanni noted.
In the meantime, the Sartell Youth Recreation Center Association has started a fundraiser to raise $3.2 million for an outdoor covered sheet of ice outside the Bernick’s Arena.
Chad Ritter, president of the Sartell Youth Recreation Center Association, gave an overview to the council about the history of the Bernick’s Arena. In 2001, the City of Sartell agreed to apply for a $250,000 Mighty Ducks matching grant that helped the Sartell Youth Hockey Association get seed money to build a $3.3-million arena on the south end of Pinecone Regional Park.
The city matched the $250,000 grant with money from the half-cent regional sales tax as part of the public-private partnership. The hockey association then raised the lion’s share of the arena’s costs, as well as providing thousands of hours of volunteer work to ensure the arena would become a reality.
In the 13 years of its existence, the arena has hosted more than 2,000 hockey games and served the needs of 250 young hockey players, including 50 girls. It is home to the Sartell-Sauk Rapids Stormin’ Sabres girls’ hockey team. Eight men’s hockey leagues play in the arena, and there are open-skating times for both hockey players and recreational skaters.
Throughout the years, the arena attracted an estimated 600,000 visitors to Sartell and has been used for many other uses: concerts, craft shows and even a wedding scheduled for this fall.
The arena now has a $545,000 debt left, Ritter noted. He also added three years ago, the city succeeded in getting a second $250,000 Mighty Ducks grant, which made it possible for the arena to add a much-needed elevator, a dehumidification system and a new environment-friendly coolant.
The annual operating budget is about $265,00 per year, Ritter told the council.
Two amenities are very much needed at the arena site, Ritter said – a parking lot and an outdoor covered ice sheet for practice.
The current grassy field where vehicles park is most often a muddy mess, something the Sartell City Council has long been aware of, and plans for a parking lot at that site have been favored for a long time by council members.
Money for the outdoor covered ice sheet will be raised by the Sartell Youth Recreation Center Association and the Sartell Youth Hockey Association. Its cost is estimated at $3.2 million, Ritter noted.
Council member Pat Lynch said he is not “wild” about spending nearly $700,000 to build a parking lot, but he added the youth association has proven itself to be a good thing. It is, he said, “a responsible operator that gives me confidence and faith.” A parking lot is a necessary part of the equation, Lynch noted, so private funds can be raised for the outdoor covered sheet of ice.
The parking lot is expected to be completed by late June of 2017.
Young hockey players skate out onto the ice of the Bernick’s Arena in Sartell. Since it opened 13 years ago, more than 2,000 games have been played in the facility.
The logo for the Sartell Sabres hockey team.
