by Dennis Dalman
editor@thenewsleaders.com
The final plat for a Sartell Community Center was approved by the Sartell City Council at its May 8 meeting on a vote of 3-2.
Voting against the resolution were council members Amy Braig-Lindstrom and David Peterson, who have long opposed the site because they think a community center should have been planned in a more central location within the city.
The other members – Steve Hennes, Pat Lynch and Mayor Sarah Jane Nicoll – have often said they believe the southern site, located at the edge of Lake Francis, is an ideal site, partly because it will complement other developments on the south edge of Sartell.
The southern site is the result of a land swap between the city of Sartell and Ferche Development, which owns the site. In exchange for it, the city gave a parcel of property along Heritage Drive to Ferche. Because of the land swap, the city saved costs of developments for the center, including utility placements and the extension of 19th Street, which will be paid for by Ferche.
Groundbreaking for the community center is expected to take place this summer, with a completion date sometime in 2017. It will include three gyms, locker rooms, a walking track, a senior center, a community meeting area with kitchen, a kids’ play room, and flexible spaces for all kinds of meetings and presentations.
The south site has long been controversial because many in Sartell favored a Great River Regional Library branch library within a community center, but that option is not possible at the southern site because, according to GRRL rules, it’s too close to the St. Cloud and the Waite Park libraries.
Others oppose the site because they wanted a center to be more centrally located in Sartell. Still others, however, think the southern site is an ideal choice because that area of Sartell was long meant to be the city’s “downtown” area, with lots of developments happening – commercial and residential.