Senate Committee Tours Maple Grove Community Center on Bonding Tour
On a rainy visit to the Maple Grove Community Center on Tuesday, the Minnesota Senate Capital Investment Committee got to see a few leaks firsthand.
Maple Grove is asking the state for bonding money to go towards a renovation and expansion of the community center. The city hopes to receive $18 million in bonding towards a $90 million project.
“There are a lot of underlying issues that you as a visitor probably won’t see, but we as a city need to fix,” said Mayor Mark Steffenson. “We have some leak issues, some roof issues, and structural issues. The pools really need to be replaced because the walls have deteriorated to the point they need to be replaced.”
Maple Grove says the facility is a regional asset, and they point to the swimming pool as one of the reasons why. The city says 60 percent of swimmers come from outside of the community to use the pool and more than 650,000 visitors use the community center facility each year.
Also, the city has grown dramatically since the facility was built in 1997.
“I might call this a growing pain of Maple Grove,” said Sen. Warren Limmer (R-Maple Grove). “Nevertheless, it’s vitally important to health and safety as well as recreation needs for this city.”
New plans call for more space for senior programming, expanded banquet and meeting space, as well as an additional sheet of ice.
In the 2021 legislative session, Maple Grove received authorization from the state legislature for a local option sales tax of a half-cent for 20 years to assist with financing the project. Voters will see this question on the ballot in the November 2022 general election.
