NIC rec center proposed

COEUR d'ALENE - Jon Totten believes North Idaho College is long overdue for a student and staff recreation center.

And the coordinator of NIC's Outdoor Pursuits program and chairman of the advisory board for the center says there's a lot of support behind such a proposal that would be funded with student fees and staff memberships.

"Students have been asking for a recreation center for more than a decade," Totten said. "There have been several proposals made without success over the years and this is their continued push."

Totten will pitch the proposal for an estimated $7.7 million, 30,000-square-foot facility to the college's board of trustees tonight at 6 at the Student Union Building. The board is expected to make a decision at either its March or April meeting.

Totten said the concept of the building includes a gymnasium, climbing wall, open recreation space, a weight area, multi-activity court, locker rooms, offices, storage, laundry room and an indoor walk/run track on the second story. The building would be built where the existing tennis courts are located.

The project would not go to a public vote, raise property taxes or have any impact on the college's General Fund budget, Totten said.

It would be funded through revenue bonds with income generated through student fees, staff memberships and center operations estimated to bring in $745,800 annually. The total debt service with a 30-year maturity on the revenue bonds is estimated at $14.5 million.

The proposal estimates the student fee charged at the start of each semester could be around $100, but Totten said the amount may not be what's ultimately decided.

NIC staff and faculty would also have access to the center with a membership fee.

"The exact rates and payment process has not been developed," Totten said.

The fees would be paid when tuition and other fees are paid at the start of each semester.

"The committee has done its homework," said Totten, referring to the financing. "It is our goal not to burden the institution. The funding will come from student fees so, as long as we have students, we're going to be fine. Our budget is based on conservative enrollment projections. (The funding) would be modeled after how the Student Union Building (SUB) was funded."

The facility would not be open to the general public, he said.

"The whole building will be built on student fees and memberships," he said. "We don't want to compete with other recreation centers."

Totten said the fees would start in the fall. Construction of the facility would start in spring 2016 and last about a year. He said some students would pay fees for the facility and never use it.

"That's a question we asked students (in a survey) and most are willing to do that," he said. "They want to leave a legacy, and that's commendable. There are some who will have paid into this and moved on by the time it opens, but there's no way to do this without collecting fees before it's built."

Totten said the facility would help with student recruiting and retention and inspire an attitude of lifelong fitness to battle obesity.

"Our indoor recreation facilities are grossly inadequate," he said. "Our students expect to have more recreation opportunities on campus."

Totten said indoor recreation program shares Christianson Gym with the athletics department, utilizes the climbing wall at the Kroc Center and has a small weight area in Winton Hall.

"Our volleyball and basketball leagues run until 11 at night sometimes," he said, adding that leagues and physical education offerings could be expanded at the center.

Totten said the facility, which could have hours from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m., would be separate from the athletics program and would not affect Christianson Gym.

"That said, the facility will serve all students, including our athletes, in an open recreation setting," he said. "A remodel of the current gym was discussed early in the process (to offer more recreation opportunities), but that was not our ideal location."

Tom Greene, NIC's communications coordinator, said the basketball, wrestling and volleyball teams will still hold games and practices in Christianson Gym, while intramural sports would utilize the new facility.

Al Williams, NIC athletics director, said the locker rooms at Christianson Gym are slated to be renovated in 2017, but the project has been pushed back for several years so it remains tentative.

Totten said the rec center would not consume any existing parking spaces.

"We realize that parking is at a premium at the college and that was a serious consideration when we chose this site," he said, adding that it will also be a central location on campus now and for years to come and that it will cause the least amount of disruption to the current layout of the campus.

Totten said the latest rec center proposal comes with a lot of momentum.

In spring 2014, the Associated Students of North Idaho College (ASNIC) conducted a survey that showed the students' continued support for a new rec center. The survey indicated students were willing to support an additional fee of as much as $100 per semester.

Then, in August, NIC's administration created an advisory board charged with creating a facility proposal.

"As part of this process, we connected with and visited several institutions with student recreation centers to learn from their experiences," Totten wrote in his proposal to the board. "From all of our colleagues we heard that these facilities are extremely beneficial to their campuses."

The independent Dormitory Housing Commission, which approved the bond for the SUB and NIC residence hall and would consider doing the same for the rec center, last week endorsed the rec center project and instructed the advisory board to move forward with its planning.

An architect has developed a pre-design of the facility.

Totten said he believes this proposal will be more convincing than previous efforts because more planning has gone into it and it has widespread support from administrators, staff and students. He also hopes the student fee funding approach will help.

"We know for a fact that if we came in with a $1 million request from the college (General Fund) that this would be dead in the water," Totten said. "We've worked diligently to make sure that this will not burden the institution. We've done our best with planning and now it's time to find out (whether the board will support the proposal)."