How many students are projected to be in the Ankeny School District for 2013-14?
- 9,733 http://organizational-development-and-le.ankeny.schoolfusion.us/modules/locker/files/get_group_file.phtml?fid=14853353&gid=875318&sessionid

What does the City of Ankeny Parks and Recreation state participate in their programs and events?
- 24,130 for 2010 http://www.ci.ankeny.ia.us/Index.aspx?page=592 and click on Annual Report

Now compare those numbers to 5 years. Or compare them to the numbers when Prairie Ridge opened, the football stadium was built or the YMCA built their pool.

Why do we need a new football stadium?
- The current stadium was built in 1977 when Ankeny’s population was approximately 15,429. The stadium seats around 5,000 with a population in Ankeny now of approximately 50,000. The stadium is one of few non-turf complexes in 4-A, which also limits the usability during the entire calendar year. The visiting side has only 1,000 seats which creates problems during CIML games and play-offs, not to mention a future problem when Ankeny High plays Ankeny Centennial. There are no modern restrooms on the visiting team side and only 1,150-ish parking stalls on-site. Though keep in-mind there is a YMCA there also with dues paying members. The stadium and press box are not ADA compatible.

The proposed complex just around the stadium will have twice that number of parking stalls.

Why do we need a new swimming pool? Can’t we just keep using what we have?
- The current YMCA pool, which is used by the School District, was built in 1989 when the population of Ankeny was approximately 18,482. Due to changes in code the pool does not allow diving and thus Ankeny hasn’t had a diving team for years; many CIML team do and Waukee is adding all the time. The city of Ankeny only has 8 indoor swim lanes which starting school year 2013-14 will need to accommodate 2 varsity swim teams, a YMCA with 7,000+ members, the Aquahawks Youth Swim Team and a community of approximately 50,000; and at the current location still no diving team.
- You can also ask to take a tour of the YMCA and get a first-hand look at the 2nd floor pool

The school district, as the 900 person kindergarten class starts this fall, does not have a cut policy for athletics and activities. Kindergarten classes, but studies done by the school district, are expected to continue to increase for years to come; putting further strain on the current facilities.
If you'd like information on how teams and organizations outside of the school district have limited facilities I can provide those for baseball, softball, soccer, gymnastics, basketball, volleyball and select teams among others. Outside of what's already detailed in the SFA study.

How does our 1 facility, 8 lane indoor swimming option compare to other communities?
- Clive and West Des Moines have at least 35 swimming lanes at Aspen (6), 7-Flags (4), Walnut Creek YMCA (6), Prairie Life (6), Valley (7), Dowling (6) to serve 72,056 (15,447 + 56,609)
- Altoona and Pleasant Hill have at least 14 swimming lanes at the Altoona Campus (6) and the HS (8) to serve 23,326 (14,541 + 8,785)
- Waukee has swimming lanes at their YMCA (8) to serve 13,790

Scott, we've been reminded here for many years why Ankeny swim teams can't seem to win a championship in swimming-because of their lack of a facility to support diving. Without those diving scores added in, very hard to do. I understand the need, the angst, and the unfairness of no solution by now, in competing equally with other teams. I've even heard from parents, that there are fears there will not be enough swim team members in 2013 to fairly divide into 2 teams, let alone any younger kids interested in diving.

William - You are very correct. This town of Ankeny does not have this money to just throw at a sports complex. Is everyone in Ankeny a millionaire? I think not. We have enough problems with our schools and town spending now, and should not be spending more than what is currently in our checkbook. Joe Morr

Actually if you review many of the Register articles about city projects, look at their respective websites, they are constantly talking about money from the general fund to do this project or that, to pay this now and that later. The general fund isn't a never ending well of funds by any means nor am I suggesting that, however to state the money isn't there at all is naive based upon projects that happen all the time in our community among others.
In addition, please keep in-mind this project isn't asking for the money right away and is offering cost savings through office space and personnel options. There are multiple opportunities for economies of scale to be implemented.

It doesn't.....but this complex, nor anyone associated with this complex, has ever made the statement of the sole purpose is to do "x".

What I do see on that mission statement page, what I see as the first item listed is COMMUNITY. So let's look at that word. A community means everyone working together, everyone contributing and everyone benefiting in some fashion. Everyone needs a part of this project, whether that's the facilities (school & community), the daytime need for space (schools & community), the part-time salaries or revenue (community, school, parents/booster club), the visitor dollars (city, hotels, chamber members, school district indirectly), the tax dollars (city, community, school district indirectly), the expansion potential (school, community) or exposure of such a grand facility (everyone).
The School District should not be concerned with economic impact, creating jobs or items you list above. However, since the school district, the parents and kids attending said schools and the tax payer would BENEFIT from those items you state above, why wouldn't we want to at least consider a project that helps the community verse one entity helping themself and only themself?
Might the developers make money off this project, possibly. But keep in-mind, they have 0 ownership in the project; they will only make money if the project is successful & commerical comes in, thus we ALL benefit. Why is that bad?

Listed below are a few examples from professional organizations and other school districts across the country
- http://www.charactercountsiniowa.com/sports/
- Vision:
To provide a safe, esthetically pleasing environment for the students of USD 501 and the Topeka community while experiencing life's lessons thru sport and activities.
- http://www.nfhs.org/content.aspx?id=3287
- Boise School District's athletic programs
Participation in District interscholastic athletic programs provides educational enrichment for our students, and has the potential to contribute to the total development of each student in positive ways.
We do not measure our success through wins and losses - we strive instead to offer an enjoyable experience to our young people.

A community coming together and allowing everyone to benefit through sports
- Elkhart, IN http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/31192931
said Matt Johnson, a lineman for a communications company, as he watched
his 10-year-old daughter play softball at Baugo. “This is the last thing you give up.
Children being active is the best thing that can happen.”
- The Sports Industry, in the economic downturn & when everything else was faultering was one of few sectors that changed. The impact of sports was still postive throughout the country
- The City of Ankeny P&R site will also explain the impact on everyone's lives sports actually is as it provides jobs & a high ROI among others

It exists in the area: need a new stadium and need a swimming complex for 2 varsity teams and we need to be able to form a dive team.

Please remember, the "mega-sports complex" isn't built for JUST the school district nor are any one of the facilities.

Again, there is a reason why the complex is asking for a split of money from the school district and the city; both need some of each of the facilities and at different "levels". For example, even though every school might have a gym, we must remember a majority of those gyms aren't available after 3:30 let alone on the weekend. That being said, the gyms at this complex aren't necessarily built for the school district, they are built for the needs of P&R/city/community because they don't have ANYTHING! A lot of gyms, but limited availability verse a lot of gyms in one spot for easy supervision and use. School district and associated teams could use, but this focus is more towards the city side in this example. Football stadium would be more school district focused ..... yet Valley Stadium is programmed 200 days/year, thus lots of other opportunities available.

Scott Koch has a lot of interesting thoughts to ponder. Still, I think someone needs to define the actual need for such a facility. It simply is not enough for someone to say we "need" this ( my wife tells me all the time we need a Mercedes !! ). The other things to define .... who is paying for it and who is going to maintain it ( please, someone go out to the tennis courts behind the current Prairie Ridge Middle School and see the condition of the courts there ). And, last, but certainly not least .... will this help to reduce the property taxes for Ankeny ? - we are WAY too high around here and I don't see much effort for reduction. With all the new people that have moved in during the last 5 years ( and seems most of them have moved into the newer, nicer homes , with higher taxes ), we should have PLENTY of tax revenue.

Kurt - what in your mind, as maybe someone who doesn't have kids, doesn't have kids who play sports, doesn't have kids who play sports anymore define as a need? What in your mind means there is a need, maybe that's the better question and might help SFA either get their point across or not get their point across.
- we currently don't have a dive team while Waukee's is growing
- individuals are turned away from swim lessons because they are full
- members at the YMCA don't get close to the same amount of opportunities because they are sharing space with varsity swim practise in the morning & evening
- there are plenty of schools with gyms however they close around 3:30, if they were to open who would monitor, who would open them up, who would pay for lights, air/heat and that staff member to work extra hours
- SE Polk last year abour rioted before the play-off game because the visitor's side is so bad for football
- Valley stadium is a revenue stream being programmed around 200 days/year, our facilities are black hole expenses....I personally like revenue

I believe SFA's study looks at what the needs are, where they are and how to fill those needs. However great question that needs to continue to be defined.

I believe you need to write P&R about those tennis courts as tennis is one of the sports the city and the school district already share facilities.

Thanks William. I don't work for the school district nor the city thus I can't answer your questions with specific, detailed answers. I'm good but not that good. I can only tell you what I can find online, what I've learned in meeting with said individuals over 8 years and from other conversations and meetings I've been in. I apologize that you think everything I say is opinion and posturing.....look forward to seeing and hearing from you at the meeting this Sunday.

Kurt, I have to agree with Scott (on some points that is). What more "need" do you want to hear? After watching the NBA Finals & Lebron winning a championship, there are still haters out there, still trying to come up with reasons why it's not that good, didn't really win, had to cheat to win, the season wasn't a full season, the Thunder game up, the refs helped him, etc.
A company out of Florida did a study. Ankeny P&R did a study. William, Kurt and Joe unless you work for a sports company, I'm taking a guess that Scott Koch knows more about sports & items related to these type of projects than you do. Participation numbers keep increasing based upon everyone's facts. School district numbers keep increasing & aren't projected to slow down in the next TEN YEARS! Kids are practising less & less but later into the evening because there isn't room available. Do you think SE Polk just randomly got pissed last year & didn't want to play us at home or maybe it was because our football stadium is horrible & an accident waiting to happen? We now have the same stadium for 2 varsity sports that we did for 1 & when this town was 30,000 less people! Go and try to sign your kids up for a swim lesson or join the aquahawks. My response is good luck & wake up early!
Kurt, William, Peter, Joe & others maybe this is a horrible plan, maybe it won't go anywhere. But it saddens me how me, me, me focused some have become vs community focused & sharing facilities like we should.

@ Jessica - I am not saying I am against this sports complex. I am just saying that something of this magnitude takes more data to justify it than someone saying we need it. We need lots of things in this world. And, speaking of the current football stadium, if the seating is a problem, correcting that problem with new seating, more seating , better seating is certainly a lot cheaper than building a whole new one. And, does anyone have the figures on how many days a year the stadium is used ? Is it 8 ? Maybe 10 ? Maybe 25 ? And, lastly, I know I have mentioned this before, but if you ( Jessica ) have not been out to see the condition of the tennis courts behind the Prairie Ridge Middle School ( the former Northview M S ) , be sure and take a look. There is a set of 4 original courts that are basically ignored. Then, a new set about 5 years old that have huge cracks and bubbles in the playing surface ( ever try to play tennis on a bubbly surface ? ). So.... we built several new courts. Who is taking care of the other ones ? My point is : maintenance is part of any facility and if we treat the new sports complex like we do these tennis courts, let's stop now with any more talk. Save the discussion, don't spend a dime.

@ Jessica - I really must ask : what does the reference to LeBron James and the Miami Heat have to do with anything here ? I am confused.

I've been at my job for 8 years, not this project :) Just to clarify

William so what's your solution. I've read many of your posts and can almost visualize you writing, eyes are red, forehead wrinkled, it's like you're mad at the world and taking it out on this project. I've always been told, you don't have to like something but before you disagree or hate on it you'd better have a plan yourself to reply back with.
Valley Football stadium was built over 10 years ago now for around $10 million.
A pool for both teams would be around $13 million depending on how it's built. Heck Greensboro's (that someone posted earlier) was around $19 million. Then you have operating costs of what $30,000/year for the football field (which doesn't include staff hours & associated costs) and swimming at $400,000/year.
So by my math William that's 10+13+.6+8 = 31.6 which does NOT include any personnel costs, upgrades, remodels, enhancements, etc over 20 years. And you have a professional company managing and programming the complex vs the school district that can't grow grass. You have a professional company that's trying to program facilities 15 hours per day to maximize the space verse a school district that's concerned with hours hit and miss, limited evenings and weekends and no sundays.

William what is your solution to the problem you have with this proposal?

Joe, at least the school board plan to reduce its tax base a couple years ago and even this year is good. The plan adopted by the old school board to significantly reduce taxes over the next 5 years is being followed (almost $2 per 1,000 the past two years) by the new school board and that is great news for Ankeny. We must have tax relief to be successful and my understanding is this pays for our second high school. We need two high schools because we will have 9,000 kids this year.

Joe, I agree with a lot of what you're saying. So what is the solution to our football stadium that's a tragedy or another riot waiting to happen and our swimming pool needs?
I would love it if everyone who is a member of the YMCA and either swims or has kids that use the pool said we're dropping our membership for a month in protest that although we pay $50+ to use the facility, we can't simply because the school doesn't have their own facility. I'm guessing that would be quite a hurt on the Y and might make them rethink their relationship with the school. I know some people that work in different parts of town that have just joined Aspen or inconvenience themselves and workout elsewhere because at least that pool is available .... whereas sadly the ONLY ONE in our community isn't.

Excellent points Joe !! Any family on a fixed income is feeling the pinch. Taxes have to go the other way ( down ) not up.

Jim, the two high schools have plenty of athletic fields to fulfill their needs. The only difference in our future facilities versus the past is that varsity football will share the current stadium or the new stadium constructed east of I35. There are two full sets of athletic fields in 2013 except for varisty football and we can share to save costs for several years for 12 home games (between both teams).

Exactly my fear. What you want is for a school district who can't manage fields of grass and program a stadium for more than 20 days out of the year to build another one. You want a school district to build that same stadium which will run as an expansive black hole, just sucking tax payer money. You want the school district to build 2 different swimming pools which will end up costing more money than building 1 50 meter pool and will do nothing for the community because not only will they be inside a school (thus unable to be used by the public) but they won't be able to host events, thus once again, creating a black hole, sucking tax payer money.
One thing I've learned in my life is the best laid plan is one that is not only available to change but ready to be changed. One that is blinded by it's always been done this way thus it needs to continue to be done that way will only end up running creating a worse problem than we started.

Since you're all about questions, I'm trying to figure this out, answer us this William, how again will the Kramme's make money off this project?

I'm not sure where you get personal insults, immature challenges or personal attacks but I'm sorry you have such thin skin, I'll try to stay away from making comments about your eyes getting red.