11-18-2009 PR MIN - Laserfiche WebLink

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Park & Recreation Commission ;Minutes Page 3 November 18, 2009 8.1.A Field usage by For-Profit Agencies Recreation Manager, Steve Benoit shared that the department has received several requests from private, for-profit organizations wishing to rent City of Elk River athletic facilities for the purpose of operating tournaments for profit. Currently we do not have an in-take process in place to accommodate these types of requests. In the past the primary users of fields has been Elk River Athletic Associations as well as in-house Park and Recreation Programs. A survey of other agencies in how they manage for-profit groups was conducted. Results showed a mix of agencies that allow for-profits to rent athletic fields and others that do not. Those that do allow rentals have higher fee scales developed in relating to for-profit agencies. Other Information to Consider 1. Our current field use process was set up with the intent of accommodating non- profit youth agencies. 2. Most participants in these activities would likely reside outside of Elk River. 3. Renting to for-profit agencies would potentially generate additional rental revenue as well as the economic value of bringing participants into the Elk River community for an event. 4. Activities that for-profit agencies wish to conduct may directly compete against both in-house programs as well as activities being provided by Elk River Athletic Associations. 5. Elk River Athletic Associations do invest financially into field improvement projects. 6. Booking fields to for-profit agencies can cause scheduling conflicts with Elk River Athletic Associations. Even with giving Elk River Athletic Associations' first access to fields, they often do not know the field needs until close to their tournament dates. There was a situation where an association could have expanded the size of their tournament but the additional fields they needed were already booked to afor-profit agency. Staff Recommendations 1. Staff recommends that for-profit agencies not be allowed to rent Elk River Athletic fields for the purpose of operating a program or tournament for profit. The original intent of building the fields was for use by non-profit athletic associations and in-house programs. Allocating the fields to for-profit agencies would conflict with this intent. 2. If the Commission does determine that for-profit agencies should have access to rent Elk River athletic fields for profit activities, staff recommends a new fee scale be implemented that is more appropriate for these types of events. Also, a priority date system be put in place to ensure non-profit groups have first access to field usage. Commissioner Peterson asked who the user groups were.