The Shawano Hockey League needs more space at the Crawford Center and is proposing an expansion of the building.
Members of the county’s public property committee will meet hockey officials at the building to tour the site and discuss the five proposals. The meeting will take place at 2 p.m. Oct. 1.
Adam Gafner, president of the hockey league, initially presented the five options at the Sept. 3 committee meeting.
“This building was built with a lot of vision behind it,” he said. “There are no showers off of the locker rooms in the building, so that’s one of the things we would want to add. More locker rooms; we host many tournaments. Comparing our facility to other facilities, that’s where we’re short.”
Gafner said the hockey league would be responsible for all costs associated with the expansion.
The five options proposed were:
• An addition to the west side of the Crawford Center near the Huntington Building. This would be one level, run the length of the building and have a leg kicking out on the south end. This would leave space between the buildings for emergency and other vehicles.
“While I think it could fit our objective, I think it could possibly cause some issues with the layout of the building,” Gafner said. “From a preference standpoint, it’s probably not ideal.”
• An addition to the east side of the building. Original plans for the Crawford Center showed this was supposed to be the space for the kitchen. The addition could be multilevel.
“We could go there, but then you’re going to lose parking,” Gafner said.
• Options 3 and 4 are very similar and show an addition to the south side of the building, behind where the benches are located. Option 3 is 95 feet by 25 feet, while option 4 is 75 feet by 25 feet.
The addition also allows space for vehicles to get around the building. The addition would feature locker rooms and showers with the upstairs having a conference room for film and office space.
“This would allow teams to walk right to the bench from the locker rooms,” Gafner said. “This would probably be our most ideal spot that we would like.”
• The final option is inside the current building in the northwest corner. It would be 45 feet by 20 feet.
“It’s probably the cheapest option,” Gafner said. “It would connect right up against the kitchen area, and we would go vertical from there. But obviously, you lose space when you start adding stuff within a building.”
Nick Hesse, facilities management director for the county, said options 3 and 4 would result in tearing up much of the Crawford Center to get utilities to the addition.
“I would think you’d be better off … take that whole west end, let’s just redo that whole west end … and extend the kitchen on the east end (as in option 2),” he said.
The west end currently has locker rooms, offices, a lobby and kitchen space. Utilities are already in place.
Hesse also said any loss of parking can be made up in front of the building in the grassy area between the Crawford Center and Waukechon Street.
Gafner said whichever option is chosen, assuming an addition takes place, would require a few changes in the lease.
Any addition would have separate doors for access, so people would not have to walk through the Crawford Center to access the space.
The hockey league would agree to pay for all utilities for the addition the entire year, while also having access to the new area the entire year.
Gafner said he would like to create an endowment fund and use the interest for annual operation expenses for the building.
“We would want to extend our lease with the county,” he said, noting that the endowment would be a huge benefit to prove the league won’t go away any time soon.
kpasson@newmedia-wi.com
