LOOKING AT PARKLAND DEDICATION
TO HELP PAY FOR THE VICTORIA FIELD HOUSE/ICE ARENA
City Planner Mark Kaltsas compiled a report that projected future land dedication dollars based on the city's current fee structure.  The city can receive land dedication from developers in the form of cash or land.  As stipulated by state statute, these dollars can only be used for certain city expenditures, one of which is an ice arena.
Mark reported that over the last ten years, the City of Victoria has received 210 acres from developers through land dedication.  Stated Mayor Mary Meuwis-sen, "We have been concentrating more on land in the last seven years and now we need the money to develop that land."
Mark anticipated that, with the devel-opment of 150 homes or units per year in Victoria, the city could reap $167,600 in park dedication fees per year -- taking cash in lieu of land under the existing fee structure.
He also reported that the City of Victoria has about 372 acres available for residential development; these are acres with sewer and water and roads.  He said there are another 800 to 900 acres owned by developers that lie directly adjacent to city limits; these acres could be annexed to Victoria and developed as soon as the city's moratorium is lifted.
In summary, there are approximately 1,200 developable acres ... or about 12 years of land inventory for future collec-tion of land dedication fees.
Mark said that Victoria is about 8.5 square miles in size today, and would be-come approximately 26 square miles in size if all of the proposed Laketown Township property is annexed.   
Properties in Victoria (totaling 372 acres) that are prime for developing include those parcels currently owned by McMahon, Hartman, Kerber, Westar, Schmidt, Olson, and Burau.  Those prop-erties in Laketown (800 acres) prime for developing are currently owned by Bowen and Lundgren.
Mayor Mary emphasized that park-land dedication fees "can only be used for about seven items, one of which is an ice arena.  They can't be used for a senior high rise, for example."

STUDY CONFIRMS WHAT CITY NEW
VICTORIA FIELD HOUSE WILL NOT BE SELF SUFFICIENT
Councilmembers held a special meet-ing on Tuesday, March 12th, to receive and review a Springsted study conducted specifically on the ice arena and field house proposed for the City of Victoria.  Purpose of the report was to review the financial implications of the facility to the city.
Patty Kettles, project manager for Springsted, and Bruce Kimmel, assistant vice president for Sprinsted, presented the 64-page study and highlighted informa-tion included on each page.
Conclusion of the report:  "In order for the proposed arena to be financially self sufficient, the projected number of rental hours must be required in contracts and must state that payment is required re-gardless of use."
The study stated that reducing the bond size or acquiring additional contri-butions would help the situation, "but not enough to eliminate the city funding of a portion of the facility through taxes or park dedication fees.  The last option ap-pears to make the most sense."
The study concluded, "The best measure of the ability to achieve results is the willingness of the local hockey com-munity to continue to support growth in the program at this facility."
Projected total financing is anticipated to be approximately $5,575,000.  This includes $610,000 in equipment certificates which will finance the ice-making equipment and other capital equipment items.  Cost of site improvements, from $500,000 to $1,000,000, are not included in the analysis.
Springsted looked at population num-bers of Victoria and 12 surrounding cities to project demand for an ice arena.  The study showed a combined population of 101,262 for these cities in 1980 with 199,538 in 2000 and projections of 216,890 in 2010 and 249,760 in 2020.
A combined school district enroll-ment for Waconia, Chaska, and Minne-tonka has grown from 11,339 in 1990 to 16,937.  Says the study, "This may be an indicator of the number of children in the area who will enter a hockey program."
The study listed other demand factors.  "The ongoing expansion of athletic opportunities for school age girls has caused increasing demands for ice time to support girls hockey programs ... We can point out that many arenas, when asked if they were renting out all prime time hours, stated they were."  The study also said there are currently several facili-ties that represent potential competition for the proposed arena.
Springsted surveyed the ice arenas in the state to obtain comparable information on costs of building a rink.  It concluded, "The Pagel Center in Minnetonka is most similar to the proposed field house and shows that the estimated costs for the Victoria Field House appear to be in line for a facility with similar features."
The study confirmed that the majority of revenues for ice arenas comes from the rental of available ice time, primarily during prime time rental hours.  Prime time rates range from $120 to $175.  Victoria has ensured that the contracts with four major users will require pay-ment whether ice time is used or not.
Compared to other facilities, Victoria's advertising revenue figure of $80,000 per year is substantially higher than all of the other facilities.
Projected expenses include utilities ($60,000 to $80,000), salaries and benefits ($141,299), parts and supplies ($31,537), contractual services ($15,516), debt service ($419,629), repair and replace-ment ($25,000).
In projecting annual revenues, the study presented various scenarios ranging from best case to failure.  The facility could cost taxpayers up to $175,000 a year over ten years.  This number depends on annual advertising revenue, hourly rate charged for ice time, increase in subdivi-sion fees, and many other factors.  The facility could put up to $150 per year onto the property taxes of a $250,000 home.

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