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Community Center - Is it Right for Roseville? My name is Don Anderson. We have been residents of Roseville for 36 years and reside at 948 W. County Road D. We are in Roseville, but unfortunately the Postal Service has us in zip code "55126". 1 have been an active volunteer in the city, including 7 Y2years on the Parks and Recreation Commission, 5 of those as Chair, from 1992 to 2000. This was a period of growth in the city's recreational resources, the Oval, Reservoir Woods, Owasso Hills and Pioneer Park were established; many existing facilities were upgraded and plans for Lexington Park were developed. During this time I also served on the Parks Infrastructure Committee and the City Center Committee. Currently I serve as President of the North Suburban Gavel Association. However, my comments should not be taken as a statement from that organization. While serving on the Infrastructure and City Center committees, many of the community centers in the metropolitan area were visited -- from Maplewood and Shoreview to Plymouth, Maple Grove and Chaska, and all points in between. Do we need a facility as large as some of those we saw? Probably not, but we could incorporate some of the features found; features that should reflect the wishes of the residents of our city. Meeting rooms with a large theater auditorium, Parks and Recreation staff offices, limited fitness facilities, storage facilities for Roseville youth groups, possibly some type of water park (though not on the scale of Shoreview's) seem to be favored by user groups. One has to keep in mind that Senior Center activities at the Fairview Community Center are in a facility that is on borrowed time and may have to be relocated. That is why it is so important to coordinate our plans with those of the school district. City staff should look at the final phase of the Oval development, which recommended some of the above facilities. I feel we should limit the community center expansion to our existing city hall site. I believe we can accommodate this expansion without moving the public works facility. (I left the City Center committee because, I felt, the idea of also including housing on this site was unrealistic if we were to incorporate any of the community center, police and fire needs on this site). Roseville does need some sort of a community center, surveys and public comment attest to that. However, the size and nature of such a facility must depend on public input and study as well as a cooperative effort with the school district. If this isn't done - and a one night public meeting isn't sufficient study time - any referendum is doomed for failure. Witness what happened a number of years ago, when a second ice rink and other recreational facilities were proposed and, I feel, the public was not fully informed or educated on the need. That proposed referendum also conflicted with a referendum presented by the school district. My final comments -- when we looked into the feasibility of having a private fitness firm run a community facility, the data did not favor the citizenry. The fees charged soon offset any discount given to community residents. Also, given the proposed budget cuts on city services, under the existing government structure, how can such a facility be staffed and operated it at the level the public demands without further deteriorating other public services?