Community building committee to meet

RIVERSIDE ? The Riverside Community Building Committee is planning a meeting Thursday night to discuss a survey. The committee has talked at previous meetings about sending out a survey in town to see what the residents want in a new community building. The meeting is at 7:30 p.m. at the Riverside Community Building.

The committee has collected information about wellness centers/community buildings in neighboring towns. Jan Schnoebelen is on the committee and she visited Blairstown and Williamsburg?s community buildings. She asked the staff at the respective facilities a series of questions that the committee created at an earlier meeting.

Schnoebelen found out that the Williamsburg Recreation Center cost $3.5 million to build. It brings in $170,000 annually through membership and usage fees, and receives another $70,000 from the city.

One of the things the committee wanted to find out was whether cities had to raise their taxes or take out a loan to finance their community building. Williamsburg did not have to raise taxes to pay for its recreational center. A local feed company donated a significant portion of the money and land for the facility.

Another question the committee members asked during their visits was whether the organizers of the community building would do anything differently if they had a chance to do it again. In Williamsburg?s case, the organizers said they would have made their gymnasium larger.

Blairstown is a town of 700 people and its facility was smaller than Williamsburg?s. The community building is located downtown and includes a full-size gym and library. Schnoebelen said she was very impressed with the library but underwhelmed by the gymnasium, which had no staff member to supervise it.

Blairstown?s community building cost $1.4 million and was funded with grants from Vision Iowa and the Iowa Department of Economic Development. The city did not have to raise taxes to finance the building. It does not charge a membership fee to use it, either.

Schnoebelen said that, of all the wellness centers and community buildings she?s been inside or heard about, she thinks Wellman?s Parkside Activities Center is the most impressive.

Linmarie Eden, another committee member, agreed with Schnoebelen that Wellman had one of the nicest facilities around.

?I have a son who plays basketball, and we played at Wellman last year,? she said. ?They have a nice basketball court and a running track. They have a lot of different things. I think it?s the kind of thing we could afford, too.?

Members of the Riverside City Council have talked about putting the proposed splashpad inside of the community building, although that has not yet come up at a community building committee meeting. The committee meets every third Thursday of the month. Its meetings are open to the public.