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3. 1998 Athletic Facility Study - History How We Started In June of 1997, residents of the White Bear Lake Area School District formed a new Athletic Association. The White Bear Area Athletic Association (WBAAA) represented most of the major athletic associations within the community. While the group established six goals for the year, meeting after meeting gravitated toward a discussion on the lack of facilities for our young athletes. In the fall of 1998, the WBAAA, along with several local municipalities and the School District, sponsored an athletic facilities study to determine the adequacy of the facilities in the school district. The Study Results The study indicated need in several areas to include: soccer fields, baseball fields, indoor ice sheet and aquatic facilities. The results were presented to a group of elected officials, community members and school district and municipal staff. Over the course of the next 14 years this study influenced several significant facility improvements in our school district. A group of staff from the various municipalities and the School District began to meet and look at these challenges in a more regional way. The Projects The City of Hugo committed to creating the Hanifl soccer complex and worked with the School District to enhance the gymnasium at the new Oneka elementary school. White Bear Township added soccer fields and full size baseball fields at Polar Lakes Park. The City of White Bear Lake upgraded Podvin Park to create an irrigated soccer/football complex. The City of Vadnais Heights built Kohler Meadows Park with baseball, softball and soccer fields. The School District upgraded all of their ball fields including irrigation for the fields at the secondary schools. These were all major outdoor facility improvements for this community. Next came work on major indoor facilities. The School District had been unsuccessful in seven attempts to build a pool(s) in the district, the local YMCA was in need of updating and several municipalities had heard from residents that we need a community center. In the fall of 2009, the School District, the YMCA, the City of White Bear Lake and White Bear Township executed agreements that have allowed a major renovation and expansion of the existing YMCA facility. The upgraded facility serves as the "home pool' for the White Bear Lake Area High School boys and girls swim teams and provides space to do other community water-based safety programs. The most recent project, completed in November 2010, is an indoor hockey/skating facility with two rinks and a large dome built through the efforts of a private non profit group and the City of Vadnais Heights.