DCTC and city of Rosemount form partnership to build sports facility on campus; Ames Construction of Burnsville provides in-kind service.
DCTC athletic and recreational facility rendering with field development and potential future expansion
On May 8, 2008, at the annual Campus Focus event in the Dakota Room, Dr. Ron Thomas, the president of Dakota County Technical College, announced that DCTC has formed a partnership with the city of Rosemount to build a soccer complex on the college’s Rosemount campus.
Ames Construction of Burnsville is providing in-kind service to help build the facility, which will feature three full-sized adult soccer fields that can be subdivided into six youth soccer fields.
“This is truly a great moment for the city of Rosemount and DCTC,” Thomas said. “The new athletic and recreational facility will create a tremendous convergence between our college and the community. Ames Construction is doing a wonderful job and has been a vital link in the project’s development.”
Cam Stoltz, the college’s athletic director and head coach of both the men and women’s soccer teams, reported that the partnership is a win-win for everyone involved. He noted that Dakota County alone has more than 8,000 registered youth soccer players, which means that the complex and championship field will provide a superb recruiting tool.
“The new soccer fields will take our program to the next level,” Stoltz said. “Forming a partnership with the city of Rosemount is great for the college and the community.”
Dan Schultz, the director of Rosemount Parks and Recreation, related that forming business-wise partnerships with organizations and entities within the community is job number one for Rosemount city officials. He pointed out that DCTC is located in the exact geographic center of Rosemount and is perfectly positioned to grow with the city.
“This is truly a great moment for the city of Rosemount and DCTC. The new athletic and recreational facility will create a tremendous convergence between our college and the community.”
“We are thrilled about our partnership with DCTC,” he said. “Sharing the cost of the project makes sense. During peak season, between 150 to 200 kids from our community will be using the fields on a regular basis. We won’t have scheduling conflicts because DCTC will use the space before 5 p.m. with community groups using the space after five.”
“We also plan to employ the facility for sports camps and a number of high-profile events, including our annual Cleanup Day and our Easter Egg Hunt,” Schultz added. “The latter event will attract more than 600 children plus their parents. The community exposure for the college will be immense.”
Recent research backs up Schultz’s assessment, concluding that the new soccer complex will generate roughly 26,000 community visits per year. The fields will also be an asset to various academic programs at the college, including Exercise and Sport Science. Students from the Concrete and Masonry and Landscape Horticulture programs will inevitably gain valuable on-the-job experience by participating in the construction process.
Coach Cam Stoltz reported that the project has been divided into three phases. Phase one involves getting the fields up and running; phase two includes installing temporary bleachers, concession stands, concrete sidewalks and ticket gates; phase three entails lighting the fields for night games. The finished project will give DCTC the most modern and complete soccer facility at any small college in the upper Midwest.
“The entirely functional facility will also be suitable as a multi-sport park,” Stoltz added. “Ninety percent of the usage will come from the community, but the Blue Knights will get first crack at the fields, which are designed to serve all soccer populations.”
Randy Anderson, the college’s vice president of finance and operations, reported that DCTC provided the land, but no money for the project. He said that the city of Rosemount will be responsible for all maintenance, groundskeeping and scheduling at the facility.
“Partnerships and cooperatives like this are the wave of the future,” Anderson said. “To keep our programs current and viable, we need to become an essential presence in our community. The new soccer complex will open the doors at DCTC, attracting a flood of prospective students while creating strong and lasting relationships with the city of Rosemount and our surrounding communities.”
