THE FIELD HOUSE LOOMS LARGE
AGAINST THE VICTORIA SKYLINE
It looms large against the Victoria skyline, but the spaces inside seem even larger.  According to Tom Gray, Building Official for the City of Victoria, the Field House at Diethelm Park consists of 57,000 square feet -- including the ice arena, gymnasium, workout rooms, lockers, large foyer, everything!
From the arched entry, which is spacious in both size and panorama, a visitor can veer left toward the ice arena or right into the gym.   There are elevators to the walking track, exercise room, and meeting spaces.  The place is handicapped accessible.
The gymnasium is 128 feet by 104 feet, and the ice arena is 228 feet by 114 feet.  The sheet of ice itself is 200 feet by 85 feet.  Over 12 miles of heating and cooling coil were laid below the cement floor to keep the floor the right temperature.
According to Tom, the cooling tubing makes and maintains the ice.  The heating tubing will be used to quickly melt the ice when a dry surface event will be occurring.  It is supposed to take less than one day to melt the ice and remove the dasher boards and glass.
The building houses 16 toilets for women, and six toilets and five urinals for men.  State law dictates a ratio of 2:3.  For every two men's facilities, three must be provided for women.  Said Tom Gray, "For those of us who use the state code, this ratio is called the Potty Parity Law."
A running track surrounds the arena about 12 feet off the floor, and there are heating elements hanging from the ceiling to project a little warmth for people using the track on very cold days.
The arena will have bleacher seating for 600 people, plus there's a lot of standing room if the bleachers get full.
According to Tom, the ice sheet will be ready for practice skating by the four associations -- Chaska, Waconia, Minnetonka, and Holy Family -- on December 1st, 2002.  Only the ice sheet will be open for use.  The rest of the building will be blocked off for safety reasons to separate the skaters and construction.  Reports Inspector Tom, "All of the required safety systems -- fire alarms, detectors, sprinkler system, exiting -- will be finished and in working order within the arena and exit corridors."
Other date projections from Victoria's Building Official:
*The gym, walking track, kitchen, and exercise room should be ready sometime mid January, 2003.
*The parking lots -- north and south sides -- are supposed to be paved and ready to use prior to the December 1st date.  Weather plays the biggest role.  If the ground freezes, then paving would be delayed.
Thank you, Tom Gray, for all the information and for giving the "the grand tour" to me and Mary Moore, who is a past president and longtime member of the Victoria Athletic Association and the Victoria Park and Recreation Committee and coach for girls softball teams and all kinds of other good things.

IS CARVER PARK FRIEND OR FOE?
IT COULD COST TAXPAYERS $300,000
Downtown streets need to be recon-structed to accommodate businesses that are seeking to locate in the downtown area of Victoria, especially the large Hartman retail/office center being pro-posed.  The bridge project nearing completion is part of the plan for downtown redevelopment.

In response to directives from the council, TKDA, the city's engineering firm, is preparing a feasibility study and preliminary design for the downtown street and utility improvements.  One of the requirements will be the construction of a nurp pond to catch runoff water and help keep Stieger Lake clean. 
The obvious location for such a pond is between the lake and downtown Vic-toria, on property owned today by Carver Park Reserve or the Three Rivers Park District, formerly called Hennepin Parks.
On October 10th, City Engineer Jack Griffin reported, "The Park is basically saying it's your responsibility to put your ponds on your own property."  He said that it would cost less than $60,000 in infrastructure to locate the pond on the Park property versus approximately $350,000 to locate the pond on city prop-erty on the only other site available south of Highway 5.  Stated Jack, about the pos-sibility of a huge boring project under the highway, "It's a solution, but it's very expensive."

Stated Mayor Mary Meuwissen, "And it's very expensive to not let the

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