Fundraising efforts for a multi-million dollar expansion of the Soldotna Regional Sports Complex will move ahead this spring.
At a work session last week, the Soldotna city council indicated it was, at least for now, willing to entertain the possibility of taking on at least some debt to see the project through. City public works director Kyle Kornelis says a lot needs to come together in the next year or so.
“There’s a lot of time and energy associated with this. If we’re going to analyze building costs and develop fee structures for field time, engage different sporting teams and get commitments, if you will, for their usage throughout the year and really package up this project, there’s a lot of time and energy involved with that so we want to make sure we’re going down the right path and that council is comfortable with that direction.”
Tim Dillon, executive director of the Kenai Peninsula Economic Development District, is one of the people who will be working down the path of putting together a capital campaign to raise some of the money for the facility. The city has already set aside $3 million for the project.
“I believe there’s a couple million (dollars available) and I believe that there is some potential grants and things. But again, no one wants to be first. When you’re sitting down with a potential funder when it comes to grants, they want to see a variety of people who have skin in the game, including the city.”
That could mean financing through a bond, because there would still be six or seven million dollars needed to complete the new field house, as it's been envisioned. The fundraising team will be at work through the spring and summer. A bond measure could be discussed this fall ahead of the 2019 construction season.