Anchorage Daily News

Editor's note: This story was originally published December 6, 2001

Just how much do Wasilla residents like their sports? City officials may find out.

They're considering a measure to raise the city sales tax to pay for a new multiuse sports arena that would include a hockey rink, basketball courts and could even play host to the official start of the Iditarod Trail Sled Dog Race, with mushers driving teams through the building.

The city council will have a public hearing Monday before deciding whether to ask residents to raise the sales tax from the existing 2 percent to 2.5 percent to pay the estimated $14.7 million cost of the center. If passed, the question would appear on the ballot in May. Voters would have to approve the sales tax increase before the center could be built.

The 104,000-square-foot complex would be nearly three times as big as the McDonald Center in Eagle River and about twice the size of the Ben Boeke Ice Arena in Anchorage.

It could seat up to 5,000 people and would include an ice rink and a cushioned hard-surface court where people could play basketball, volleyball and soccer, said Jim Blair, with GDM Inc., an Anchorage firm hired by the city to create a conceptual design for the center.

In addition to sports, the center could be set up to host conventions, trade fairs, theater productions, graduations and even motorcoss competitions, he said. It would be built on land just off the Parks Highway near the city airport.

Supporters of the center, including Wasilla Mayor Sarah Palin and many sports buffs, say the Valley's growing population desperately needs more places to play indoor sports.

''It's for the health of the community,'' Palin said.

Thousands of Mat-Su kids and adults play basketball, soccer and other sports in competitive and recreational leagues. One junior hockey league in Big Lake alone has more than 100 participants.

The Valley's sole indoor rink at the Brett Memorial Ice Arena is so booked there are no openings until March, said clerk Stephanie Duboc.

''We do have ice time at Christmas, but we're closed,'' she said.

Rebecca Dargis, who lives near Wasilla, says her two home-school sons struggle to find ice time for their competitive hockey team. They often have to play games without practicing, or if they do find ice time, it's at odd hours like during church on Sundays or late on weeknights, she said.

''It's so frustrating,'' she said.

Even the Valley's four high school hockey teams, which get priority at the rink, have to trade off practicing at 5:30 in the morning because it's one of the few times available, Colony High School hockey coach Eric Troisi said.

''I've been coaching for 11 years, and I think it's the worst I've ever seen,'' he said.

Troisi, who also coaches a ''squirt'' team of 10- and 11-year olds, said he often has those kids practicing as late as 8 p.m.

Soccer and basketball fans also support the idea of the center.

Steve Cole, who lives in Big Lake, said he'd welcome the new center for his two soccer-playing sons who resort to using his garage for practice when they can't get into a gym.

''They squeeze in there and pound on the garage door,'' he said.

A sports complex has been talked about for some time. Several years ago, Valley voters turned down a state grant to build a sports center, said Curt Menard Sr., who served on a nine-member steering committee Palin created to look at options for building a sports center.

The state grant required the borough pick up the tab for operating the center, Menard said.

Wasilla city residents would also have to pick up the tab for operating this center, but Blair said it eventually will pay for itself.

His company estimated the facility will cost about $600,000 a year to operate and will generate about $550,000 in user fees in its first year. After that it should break even, he said.

The main draws will be the ice rink and the hard surface court, he said. But hosting trade conventions and other events will help fill in the slow summer months. It would even have a walking track for seniors, he said.

''The market is definitely there,'' he said.

So far, the idea of building the center has generated little opposition at meetings, although Mat-Su Borough officials turned down a request from the city to help build the center.

Borough land manager Ron Swanson said officials were concerned the center would not pay for itself.

Swanson said the borough-operated Brett arena, opened in 1983, has yet to break even. But it came close last year, generating about $350,000 of the $380,000 it cost to operate.

He also noted that city officials approached the borough with the sports center idea at the same time city mayor Palin was speaking out against a proposed 2 percent boroughwide sales tax promoted by borough officials. At the time, Palin said she opposed the borough sales tax in part because she feared it would drive business away from Wasilla. The borough sales tax was soundly defeated by voters in October.

In an interview this week, Palin said the city's sales tax proposal is different because it's tied to construction of the sports center. The borough's tax did not specify what the revenue would be used for.

''There's bricks and mortar here,'' she said. ''You know what you're paying for with this half-percent increase.''

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