Soldotna sets fees, staffing, policy for field house

Soldotna’s City Council set the admission rates, rental fees, booking policy and staffing table for the Soldotna Field House during their regular meeting last week. A general daily admission will cost $5.

The field house is on time and on budget, city staff said during a council work session on April 9. After a grand opening ceremony on Aug. 16, the facility will be expected to operate in seasons, Soldotna Parks and Recreation Director Joel Todd said.

From January into April, the facility will have turf flooring for flag football, baseball, softball, soccer and rugby. In May and through August the facility will have courts for pickleball, basketball, volleyball and futsal. From September through December the field house will be set up with two courts and one turf.

Admission pricing was based on “an elaborate study” of other recreation facilities in the state and beyond. The $5 point, Todd said, was chosen “to try to find a balance between affordable access and some cost recovery.” That general admission provides access to the walking track, open gym and drop-in sports. There’s also a $3 discounted rate for youth 4-18 years old, seniors older than 65, active duty military and veterans. There’s a 10-punch card, a 30-day membership and a three-month pass available as well, each with a general and discounted rate.

There isn’t an annual pass, Todd said, because of the seasonal structure of the field house. At different times, different sports are available, and Todd said the three-month pass can align with one of those seasons and “take advantage of what flooring is down.” He said they didn’t want to sell an annual pass to someone who, for example, loves to play pickleball but who would then find themselves unable to play for part of the year — “that doesn’t feel right for us.”

Hourly rentals will be available for the turf, court and batting cage, as well as an event rental. A pickleball court rental costs $20, a basketball court rental is $50, a half-field turf rental is $60 and a single-day event rental is $2,500, among other options.

Todd said the hours for the facility will “probably” be 7 a.m. to 9 p.m., though that could shift earlier or later based on demand.

There’s also a roughly monthlong period stretching from late April through early May when the field house floor will be brought down to concrete. That’s when many big events like the home and sport shows are often set.

The field house can’t serve “every user group and every sport all the time,” Todd said. The distribution of sports and layouts can also be refined over time to meet the needs of the community. To “turn over” the floor into a new layout means moving heavy panels, estimated to take 10 people a 10-hour day.

“We’re envisioning it being a training facility, not a spectator facility,” Todd said. “We don’t have a million bleachers in there.”

The possibilities for the field house, Assistant Parks and Recreation Director Makai-Lynn Randall said, “are infinite and endless.” The field house could host dances, after-prom events, teen movie nights, and others to provide more recreational opportunities for local youth.

The parks and recreation department also presented their plan for staffing the building to the city council, led by the creation of a new field house coordinator position, hiring another maintenance technician and providing increased wages and scopes of work for four others in the department.

The Soldotna City Council adopted three resolutions during their meeting that evening that set a booking policy for the field house, the fees for the facility and the staffing table as presented during the work session.

A full recording of the Soldotna Field House work session can be found at “City of Soldotna” on YouTube.

Reach reporter Jake Dye at jacob.dye@peninsulaclarion.com.