This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Sports

Mendota Heights Could Face Biggest Impact of West St. Paul Ice Arena Woes

Mendota Heights residents are being encouraged to step up to help find solutions.

The fate of West St. Paul’s 40-year old ice arena may rest in the hands of Mendota Heights residents. 

At an informational meeting held Wednesday night at West St. Paul City Hall, an overflow crowd of hockey community faithful listened to somber news about the current state of the West St. Paul Ice Arena. The arena, west of Robert Street off Emerson, is the current home to Henry Sibley High School hockey and the main rink for West St. Paul Youth Athletic Association (WSPYAA) hockey programming.

The city has said it will close the arena after the 2012-2013 season. West St. Paul is currently carrying approximately $691,000 in debt on a previous emergency renovation done in 2007 and is unwilling to add more debt to the tax rolls.

Find out what's happening in Mendota Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

The numbers are daunting and the condition of the building is suspect, but those in attendance also left energized by a slate of possibilities to solve the arena problem and the .

Association Makeup/Ice Usage

Find out what's happening in Mendota Heightswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

Once the new association is created the most pressing task will be to find a solution for its “home ice.”

There are currently about 400 kids involved in WSPYAA hockey. Of those, approximately 80 percent hail from Mendota Heights. WSP city officials have cited this discrepancy as part of their rationale for not investing more in the current facility. 

When the four teams are factored in, the need for hockey ice time calculates out to about 1,200 hours annually. Currently, 700 hours are scheduled at the West St. Paul arena, 300 hours are contracted at Wakota Arena in South St. Paul and 200 hours are contracted at in Mendota Heights.

The numbers needed for ice time hours wouldn’t change with the West St. Paul arena closure, and both Wakota and St. Thomas Academy are courting the new association to secure more ice time in their facilities.

Wakota Arena has offered their newer second sheet of ice to become Sibley’s “home ice,” and St. Thomas Academy administration, who have been contemplating adding an additional sheet of ice to their facility, have indicated that gaining a commitment from Sibley hockey would help make their expansion more financially feasible.

But those solutions would mean the association would lose potential revenue on hosting tournaments and face higher user fees than they currently pay for the West St. Paul arena. Moving hockey activities out of West St. Paul would also mean a potential negative hit to Robert Street businesses. 

Englin said the city understands the value of keeping the arena within its boundaries, but it can’t justify any additional expense to its own residents. He did say the city has approached Mendota Heights officials about the dilemma, but said “it would be unrealistic to expect them to write a check for our arena.”

Arena in Disrepair

In order for the current facility to remain open past the 2012-2013 season, a problematic leaking roof and rotted, moldy support beams would have to be repaired at an estimated cost of between $350,000 to $500,000. But that could quickly mushroom into more than $1.5 million if the floor and/or compressors are damaged during what is seen as a risky jacking operation to support the structure during the repairs.

The floor and compressors are both original, and even if they both survive the roof repair there is no guarantee as to how long it would be before they need to be replaced. Englin has been working toward a solution for more than two years.

“It’s been a long, hard slug,” he told the audience. “We attempted to get it done and it fell short.”

Plans were developed last year to develop an arena in conjunction with a new indoor sports bubble in West St. Paul, but Englin said “the numbers became too big and unwieldy” to get that project passed locally.

Englin said the city currently nets about $7,000 on just the operation of the facility, so keeping it open one more year is viable. But beyond that, absent the repairs, the facility will be shuttered.

Possible Partnership Solutions

The formation of possible partnerships include the new association, the city of West St. Paul and the school district. While many agreed the ideal solution would be to build a new facility on the campus in Mendota Heights, keeping it in West St. Paul would help win that city’s support to help make a new arena possible.

One possible solution could be a new arena built at Charles Matson Field in West St. Paul, next to where Sibley Warriors football is played. Brian Irhke, Sibley’s athletic director, said that location would serve the district well.

“It’s a facility we could use for concessions, bathrooms and meeting rooms as a district during the day,” said Irhke. “We are committed, we just can’t come up with the money. What can we do? We have land.”

Irhke said any moves would have to be approved by the school board, but if the land were donated for a new arena that was still within West St. Paul city limits, West St. Paul might be more agreeable to help with a project through the sale of the existing ice arena's 10-acre site for redevelopment purposes. Building a new facility in West St. Paul on donated land would help protect the city’s economic interests in area businesses.

A newly-forming group unofficially dubbed "Friends of the West St. Paul Ice Arena," comprised primarily of current hockey boosters, has said they could raise as much as $100,000 within the next seven months through charitable gambling operations that could be used for either repairs to the existing facility or to put toward a new arena. Combining with additional fundraising efforts stemming from the newly-formed hockey association could presumably help secure funding for the anticipated $5 million to $7 million price tag for a new arena.

But ultimately, Englin reiterated, it would be up to those involved to make anything happen in whatever direction the project follows.

“The city is a willing partner,” he said. “We’re open to ideas. But we’re not going to drive the bus.”

That, he said, has to come from the hockey community, which is overwhelmingly comprised of Mendota Heights families.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?

More from Mendota Heights