Expanded center comes with expanded fees

Gilbert Anderson voted yes to expanding the Eden Prairie Community Center. He finds the center vastly improved.

But he hadn't counted on the higher fees.

Anderson, 84, paid $110 a year to exercise at the old community center. But at the expanded center -- which is twice as big, with a new gym, skating rink and fitness center -- fees have more than doubled for seniors and other individuals and more than tripled for families to help cover increased operating costs.

Using his old membership for a few months more, Anderson is deciding if he can justify paying $288 a year to use a treadmill for 15 minutes several times a week. He agrees users should help pay the center's higher costs. "But then again, I may not pay them."

Higher community center rates were approved by City Council members in December after they learned the center expansion -- funded mostly through $6.65 million in bonds approved by voters in 2005 -- would add $1 million a year to the center's operating expenses. The center is located next to Eden Prairie High School at 16700 Valley View Road.

As the remodeled center approaches its May grand opening, the city's goal is to have ice time and membership fees cover operating costs by 2010 or 2011.

For some, the higher fees have come as a shock.

"The community center was built specifically for a large population of Eden Prairie residents who aren't being served by the private sector," said Mike Bolland, who was vice chairman of the community center improvement committee.

It's for senior citizens, young families on a tight budget who want to skate and swim -- the part of the community with "tennis shoes that don't match their workout clothes," Bolland said.

"I go back to the three committees that helped design and build it, and we were all taken aback by the city saying we are no longer going to subsidize it -- it has to stand on its own," Bolland said.

Concerned that the change in fees would "prompt a haves and have-nots stratification regarding this public amenity," the city's Human Rights Commission in November sent a "memo of concern" to the Parks and Recreation Department. In response, the city extended special low-income rates for community recreation programs to include the cost of community center memberships.

For now, the commission is letting the matter simmer while the final stages of the center expansion are finished and new patterns of use unfold, said Jeff Strate, a commission member.

Is it worth the cost?

Tonja Arpin and Cheryl Gaebel, Eden Prairie mothers who visited the center recently, said they have opened individual memberships after deciding they could no longer afford the fees for a household.

"We had a family [membership] and I dropped the family," Gaebel said. If her children, ages 10 and 14, want to go, she will pay the daily fee, which is $7.50, she said.

Arpin and Gaebel said they find the individual price reasonable because their favorite classes are included and their health insurance helps pay the cost.

Jan Engel, another individual member, agreed that "the rates are very reasonable for what they have to offer. I think they now have a lot to offer."

But one young mother at the center on a day pass said her family was disappointed to find the household membership beyond their reach. "We voted for this because we think it's important for the community, but now they've priced it so high families can't afford to be here."

Still, she agrees with the idea that the facility should be self-supporting. "In general it makes sense that you pay for what you use."

The center's new fitness center opened in January. On March 1 the new main entrance, racquetball courts, gymnasium, lobby area and meeting rooms are scheduled to be ready for use. Sometime in the spring, a family lounge area, child care center and children's indoor play area will be finished.

The new facilities are attracting new members. Community Center manager Wendy Sevenich, who was hired in December, said "we have seen a large increase of new patrons to the facility -- new to memberships and new to lessons."

During January, the center signed up about 300 new members and 220 renewals under the new price schedule. Prices at the Eden Prairie center are competitive with centers with similar offerings in Inver Grove Heights, Eagan and Chaska, Sevenich said.

Every city hopes its community center will be self-supporting, said City Manager Scott Neal. Starting in 2010, the goal will be to have property taxes pay for costs associated with the building and have fees fund the center's operations, Neal said.

When it's finished, the community center will be more than doubled in size, Neal said. So, although fees have doubled, "we think the quality and array of services has more than doubled," he said. "We still believe, and I think the numbers will bear out, that what we are offering is, for a competitive price, a better deal compared to what that citizens could get at Life Time Fitness."

Council Member Brad Aho said: "It would be nice if we could keep the fees at the original level, but that seems not realistic given the cost structure of running the community center."

The council would like the community center to be self sustaining, and city employees think it's a possibility beginning in 2010, Aho said. But before the council can decide if that is a realistic expectation, operations will have to be refined, costs made clear and staffing levels set, he said.

Laurie Blake • 612-673-1711