City Council Meeting Date: May 7, 2024
To: Mayor and City Council
From: Ben Martig, City Administrator
David E. Bennett, Public Works Director/City Engineer
Title
Update on Ice Arena Partnership, Tax Impacts and Timeline.
Body
Action Requested:
The Northfield City Council is to discuss Ice Arena Partnership, Tax Impacts and Timeline.
Summary Report:
At the March 12, 2024 City Council meeting staff gave an update on the Ice Arena Partnership along with updated project options and costs. The City contracted with JLG Architects and RJM Construction to provide updated costs on a new ice arena, along with remodeling/expanding the existing Ice Arena. The options and cost are below in the Financial impact section.
A couple items that need further exploration from the Council was related to the Economic Impact of an Ice Arena and if there is more capacity for donations beyond the $2 Million indicated by the Northfield Hockey Association (NHA).
Economic Impact
The City leveraged two reports by the University of Minnesota Extension, the first report was "Economic Contributions of Attendees of East Grand Forks Ice Arena Youth Events" in 2022 and the "Economic Impact of the Hermantown Amateur Hockey Association on Duluth, Hermantown, and Proctor, Minnesota" in 2020. The reports look at number of visitors, visitor spending, accommodations, and influence of visitor destination. Both reports quantify direct and indirect spending.
The City reviewed the ice related events at the Northfield Ice Arena and approximated economic impact. The economic impact is shown in the table below.
Direct Spending Impact is the initial activity of spending by people attending youth skating events.
Indirect spending impact "is the summation of changes in the local economy that occur due to spending for inputs (goods and services) by the industry or industries directly impacted. For instance, if employment in a manufacturing plant increases by 100 jobs, this implies a...
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