Qualified voters of the city of Soldotna will take a vote later this year on the issuance of GO bonds in a principal amount of not to exceed $15 million to finance the construction of a field house at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex. The ordinance was enacted by the Soldotna City Council at their Wednesday night meeting which sends the issue to the October 4th municipal election.
Council Member Jordan Chilson said:
“Our vote tonight is a vote to advance this to allow the voters in the City of Soldotna to decide. We’re not going to make that decision for them tonight. We’re putting the decision to the people…I think it has a lot of potential benefits for everyone in our community, but at the end of the day, I do support this, but my vote to support this tonight is not to make that decision for our city, it’s to allow our citizens to decide and advance it to the ballot.”
Soldotna Public Works Director Kyle Kornelis told KSRM about the building design:
“It’s a 42,000 square foot pre-engineered metal building. It’s got various turf and sport court flooring so that it can accommodate a variety of different functions. It’s a fully ADA accessible building. It’s got an upper-level track for walking and jogging, a general purpose room for party rentals and small events and things of that nature. It’s a very, kind of a big open multipurpose facility. It would be adjacent to the Sports Complex. There would be a connection facility that would connect the existing sports complex to this proposed new building. It would accommodate the entry to the sports center and the conference rooms as well as an entry into the new building.”
The Field House project is estimated to cost $19.5 million, including site work, construction, inspections, and acquisition of the furniture, fixtures and equipment.
The ballot measure will look like this:
PROPOSITION NO. 2022-A GENERAL OBLIGATION BONDS FOR CONSTRUCTION OF A FIELD HOUSE AT THE SOLDOTNA REGIONAL SPORTS COMPLEX
Shall the City of Soldotna incur debt and issue general obligation bonds in an amount not to exceed Fifteen Million Dollars ($15,000,000) for the purpose of paying costs of construction of a Field House containing an indoor turf field and elevated track, together with related capital improvements, at the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex?
The bonds shall be secured by a pledge of full faith and credit of the City of Soldotna (Ordinance 2022-020)
A similar ballot measure went before the voters of Soldotna in 2019, which proposed $10 million in bonds, but failed to pass.
Click here for more information (note: look for Ordinance 2022-020).