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REQUEST FOR ACTION <br />To Item Number <br />Parks and Recreation Commission 8.1A <br />Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by <br />Action/Discussion Items November 18, 2009 Steve Benoit, Recreation Manager <br />Polic Issues <br />Item Description Reviewed by <br />Field Usage by For-Profit Agencies Bill Maertz, Parks and Recreation <br /> Director <br /> Reviewed by <br />Action Requested <br />Field access by for-profit agencies <br />Background/Discussion <br />Our Department has received several requests from private, for-profit organizations wishing to rent City <br />of Elk River athletic facilities for the purpose of operating tournaments for profit. Currently we do not <br />have an in-take process in place to accommodate these types of requests. In the past the primary users <br />of fields has been Elk River Athletic Associations as well as in-house Park and Recreation Programs. <br />A survey of other agencies in how they manage for-profit groups was conducted. Results showed a mix <br />of agencies that allow for-profits to rent athletic fields and others that do not. Those that do allow <br />rentals have higher fee scales developed in relating to for-profit agencies. <br />Other Information to Consider <br />1. Our current field use process was set up with the intent of accommodating non-profit youth agencies. <br />2. Most participants in these activities would likely reside outside of Elk River. <br />3. Renting to for-profit agencies would potentially generate additional rental revenue as well as the <br />economic value of bringing participants into the Elk River community for an event. <br />4. Activities that for-profit agencies wish to conduct may directly compete against both in-house <br />programs as well as activities being provided by Elk River Athletic Associations. <br />5. Elk River Athletic Associations do invest financially into field improvement projects. <br />6. Booking fields to for-profit agencies can cause scheduling conflicts with Elk River Athletic <br />Associations. Even with giving Elk River Athletic Associations' first access to fields, they often do <br />not know the field needs until close to their tournament dates. There was a situation where an <br />association could have expanded the size of their tournament but the additional fields they needed <br />were already booked to afor-profit agency. <br />S:\PARKS & RECREATION\11-18-09 PRC Packct\Authorizadon to Adjust Field Usage by For-Profits.doc <br />