The Parks and Rec Commission (PRC) held their monthly meeting in the City Council Chambers on April 19th at 6:00 p.m. The agenda was set for three different recommendations for council and an update from Parks Director Chris Jenkins. The three recommendations were regarding the Hastings Civic Arena, Veterans Park and trail signage. Ultimately, all three recommendations were unanimously approved and sent to council.

It is rare to have a resident request to make public comments to the PRC regarding potential recommendations, but it does happen. On Wednesday night, two residents asked to speak on behalf of their organizations. First was Curtiss Gerrits from the Hastings Hockey Association and second was Tony Kaiser from the Hastings Hawks. A third request came to commission via email from Amanda Truax of River Blades Skating School because she was unable to attend in person.

Both spoke on the importance of having both the historic sports facilities for not only the residents of Hastings to utilize, but also the importance of current amenities and upgraded facilities to help attract younger families to live in Hastings.

Ice Arena

Gerrits spoke to the need of expanded locker rooms for both the Hockey teams and the need for a dedicated figure skating locker room in support of Truax’s email. He added that an expanded foyer with additional meeting and party rooms would add to the appeal of the arena as well as the bottom line for supporting the facility. He explained there is a need for a dedicated dryland training area and an off-ice warm-up area for hockey players.

A discussion was had around the separate plan in place for needed repairs, safety updates and refrigeration updates that are in process and that the request to add features to the arena is a separate request. There are many aspects of the arena that are still in the 70’s from the original build of the space. Many of those historical items can be kept alive or at least given a nod of respect while updating and modernizing the facility. Adding a second level for fans to view games would be a wonderful addition. A bigger back hallway, bigger locker rooms with more amenities for visiting teams would be wonderful additions to the arena.

Veterans Park

Kaiser spoke on the history of the Hawks and their support of the local baseball scene as a whole. He spoke on the need for a new, up-to-date and expanded facility at Veterans Park and how a full scrape and rebuild would benefit the community with the ability to host larger and more frequent youth tournaments. The need for a centerpiece facility, a destination complex for communities outside of Hastings to visit. A place that people say ‘That is the place you need to go’ when talking about baseball fields.

The Hawks have done over $350,000 worth of upgrades to the field in the last 25 years, but the surrounding facilities are literally crumbling. The roads inside the park, especially around the original five fields from the 80’s, have chunks missing. Parking is off the dilapidated asphalt and on dirt, or mud if there was a recent rain prior to a game. Handicap accessibility is non-existent at both the large baseball field as well as the four multiuse fields and the soccer fields. The layout of the fields is simply inefficient and unsafe. The backstops are undersized, and the foul territory is unprotected, so people are hit with foul balls. Much of Veterans Park is original, meaning since the original installation, very little has been done to update or upgrade and the safety and accessibility options are the same as they were when the fields and buildings were built in the 80’s. Yes, repairs have been done to maintain things, but at some point, a car from the 80’s gets retired to collector status and a new model is purchased. The baseball and softball portions of Veterans Park are over 40 years old and that section of Veterans Park is showing it.

After the public comments, commissioners had a chance to discuss their thoughts on the three different recommendations put in front of them. All three were built the same way, as recommendations to city council to hire a consultant and develop a plan for the redevelopment of the Hastings Civic Arena, the redevelopment of Veterans Park and a comprehensive plan for trail signage.

Of the three, the trail signage piece was the fastest to be agreed upon and the commission felt that was the easiest of the three to get done. The other two, redevelopment of two major sports complexes in town, were both quickly agreed that the plans need to happen, but which one first?

Director Jenkins did state that the complexity of the research for each of the two major redevelopment ideas would take extensive time to research and the planning should be done one at a time. That each plan would be too complex to allow them to happen simultaneously. He also stated that the summer and fall are very full of work for his staff and that work on the two redevelopment plans would likely not begin until the end of 2023 or start of 2024. Another aspect of this is, it is a request of council to spend park dedication funds on creating a plan with a pretty picture to see what is possible at both locations and to provide a starting point related to the costs of each plan.

“We cannot know the cost to our shareholders without first determining the proper usage of the space and getting that pretty picture of what it could look like if we move forward,” Director Jenkins has said in the past related to both proposed projects.

“This is just to create a plan, an idea of what could be done with the space, it is not committing to doing the work,” he added. “It is just the first step in a lengthy process.”

Council members are on board with the exploration phase, but a big concern of theirs is how do we pay for this if we move forward with the plan? As director Jenkins has stated many times, without a pretty picture showing the potential for each space and showing the costs of what it will take to get that done, we cannot explore funding options.

The Hastings Hawks and Hastings Youth Athletic Association (HYAA) have expressed support for a Vets Park rebuild for decades and that they would help fundraise to offset some of the costs, but how do you go to a potential donor and say, ‘we have an idea for improving Veterans Park and we need your help to do it,’ with no plan in place? No donor will blindly support that. Getting the pretty picture shows donors and government funding agencies that you have a clear vision and have calculated the costs for the project, that makes setting a goal much easier in both the Veterans Park needs and the Civic Center needs.

The commission discussed priorities and needs for each location and decided the best thing they could do was to suggest that the City Council supports all three proposed actions for the parks system in Hastings. The proposals were each voted on and all three passed unanimously.

First was Veterans Park. The motion was to officially recommend hiring a consultant to develop a comprehensive expansion and redevelopment plan using park dedication funds.

Second was the Civic Center. Motion to recommend hiring a consultant to develop a comprehensive facility update/upgrade plan for the Hastings Civic Arena, and fund it with park dedication or arena fund balance.

Third was trail signage. Motion to recommend hiring a consultant to develop a comprehensive trail system signage and implementation plan for the Hastings Trail System, and fund it with park dedication funds.

The three recommendations now go to the City Council for approval of the planning phase. Once the planning phase is approved, the city can begin the bidding process for plans. Then feedback from the community, as well as the local groups that use the facilities, will be collected so designers can implement the requested changes while using their expertise in designing the various facilities.

As always, if you have feedback on the suggestions made by the Parks and Rec Commission, reach out to your respective City Council members and let them know your thoughts and concerns. Hopefully, you can let them know that you support the initial planning phase to see how all of these items can improve these three areas for all of Hastings to enjoy.