By Andrew Tellijohn

Pine City has long had a growing youth hockey program, but until recently it didn’t have enough quality ice to support that expansion.

That’s changing, however, after a five-year collaboration of the city and several local civic groups allowed for the redevelopment of the Hilltop Recreation Area.

So far, that collaboration has resulted in the construction of a new multi-use facility, which replaced a dilapidated structure that was not accessible to people with disabilities. The group has now turned its attention to fixing drainage issues associated with aging ice rinks with drainage challenges and adding sidewalks, a canopy, and other amenities that will make the facilities usable year-round.

“We definitely need it from a facility standpoint to meet the needs of the program,” says Marco Schisano, president of Pine City Youth Hockey Association.

For their efforts, the Hilltop Recreation Area project received a 2022 League of Minnesota Cities (LMC) City of Excellence Award.

Back to the beginning

By day, Schisano works in employee relations at Life Time Fitness. By night and on the weekends, however, he’s a hockey dad who leads youth hockey. And, city officials say, he’s the energy and drive behind the Hilltop project that led to the new multi-use facility.

He’s not a resident of Pine City but his kids play for the organization, and he’s poured all of his energy into this project for nearly five years.

The new multi-use facility, nicknamed the “warming house,” is accessible to people of all abilities. It houses four locker rooms, two restrooms, a lobby concession stand with large windows overlooking the recreation area, and on-site storage for recreation and maintenance equipment.

Planning for the project actually began around five years ago. Youth hockey parents saw a need for better outdoor ice, not only for kids playing in organized hockey, but for those who wanted to meet up for pick-up games.

The previous facilities were run down. The existing warming house wasn’t compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA), and equipment storage areas were infested with squirrels and mice. The rinks themselves had uneven ice that did not fare well through weather changes. And there was no storage for a Zamboni — which meant that in order to redo the outdoor ice sheets, the machine had to be trucked in from the Pine City Public Works garage a mile away.

After hearing complaints from parents during the winter of 2017-2018, city staff convened officials from Youth Hockey, the civic center, and Pine City public schools to find a solution.

They formed the Hilltop Recreation Area Improvement Committee that, at times, has also included Pine City Pickleball, Pine City Hoops, Pine City Summer Recreation, and Northwoods Youth Soccer.

Committee members met weekly to discuss project design and other issues. Led by Schisano, they also started rounding up volunteers who donated time, much of the necessary materials, and food for those working on the building — it was constructed with nearly 100% volunteer labor.

“Getting those four entities together happened early on and it was what I think was most important,” Schisano says. “We’ve stayed in communication; we’ve stayed collaborative all these years on the project.”

Crushing it with collaboration

While everybody has worked well together, it took some time getting started. Pine City Council Member Mary Kay Sloan acknowledges that initially there was a bit of mistrust between the city and the youth hockey program.

There also were a lot of moving parts. The city owns the parkland. The civic center is a nonprofit that operates the community’s indoor ice. Eventually, the city and Pine City Youth Hockey agreed on a long-term lease of the outdoor ice under which the organization would maintain the ice in exchange for first dibs on outdoor practice times.

“Once the lease was established, Youth Hockey felt comfortable putting their sweat equity into it,” says Lezlie Sauter, a mother of four hockey players who was previously community development director for the city before moving on to work for Pine County. “They didn’t want to invest a bunch of time, energy, and money only to have it pulled out from underneath them and not have access to it.”

All sides worked hard at building the relationships and all agreements were put in writing right away. Sloan was just getting on the City Council as momentum was beginning to build for the project, and she was eager to get involved.

“When there is a group of people who want to do something in the city, the city needs to listen and take part,” she says.

Amazing volunteers

While Sloan is proud of the city’s involvement in the project, she says this was a project that would not have gotten done without the coalition of volunteers and donors who made it happen.

Pine City is kicking in $12,000 annually to Youth Hockey for maintenance and has basically ceded control of the space to the Youth Hockey program for winters, during which they will be used for games and practices along with some open skate opportunities.

“They’re the ones who put all the work into it,” Sloan says.

Sources credited several local companies for donating labor and materials, including Patzoldt Concrete Masonry and Hopkins Sand and Gravel, DPR Builders, Rydberg & Sons, and Anderson Electric, among others, for providing significant services.

“The community saw we had a good vision and they were willing to support it,” Schisano says. “It was important for us to try to keep it local. That was something we communicated that was our intent and our plan.”

The city and Youth Hockey also collected several grants that helped offset the cost. The Greater Pine Area Endowment gave $25,000 and $27,465. East Central Energy’s Operation Round Up contributed another $10,000. And Youth Hockey kicked in $50,000. Sauter says the $750,000 building ended up costing closer to $240,000 out-of-pocket.

“It really is the only way small communities like Pine City can do projects like this,” she says. “We don’t have deep pockets. So, people will donate their skills and expertise. These were all big contributions that helped give us the confidence to start construction.”

Schisano also credited current and past city staff and elected officials for their efforts, including former Council Member Brian Scholin; former Parks & Recreation Director Stacy O’Rourke, and Sloan, who still sits on the City Council and recently returned to the committee.

Sloan recently rejoined the committee when O’Rourke left for another opportunity, and she has been impressed throughout by the drive of Youth Hockey.

“Marco is the passion behind it,” Sloan says. “He’s got this whole group of people. He says, ‘All I have to do is put out a few phone calls and I’ll have the workers here,’” Sloan says. “It’s a lot of people. Young people, people with families, working hard and spending hours making this happen.”

What’s next?

The first two phases of the four-phase project are completed. While much of the labor and materials have been donated, the city and the school district also worked together to apply for a Minnesota Department of Natural Resources Outdoor Recreation Grant, which netted $250,000. That will be used during the next phase, which involves fixing drainage and grading issues that have plagued the park in the past.

Schisano has begun looking for additional funding for the next steps, which include adding sidewalks to the park and adding a canopy that would allow for year-round use. Those features are expensive but they allow the city to make plans without concern about the weather.

“If the community books a concert, we can have it rain or shine,” he says. “We’ve completed the warming house, which is great.”

But the group agrees that the next phases can take the Hilltop Recreation Area to the next level with a reach far beyond Youth Hockey.

“Phase three, which we’re working on right now, I see art shows there, I see yoga, I see kids shooting basketballs, I see car shows. I even see somebody being able to get married up there,” Schisano says. “There are so many things it can be used for and hopefully that energy gets felt by the whole community. I see polka dances. Sock hops. Let’s really have some fun.”

More succinctly, Sloan says, it can take a property — that was previously little used outside of hockey and a few summer sports activities — and turn it into a true, year-round recreation area.

“My big picture goal is that it gets completed and it’s a valuable resource for the Pine City community,” she says. “This is truly for the community.”

Adds Sauter: “It definitely is a showcase of how our community comes together when we have a common goal.”

Andrew Tellijohn is a freelance writer.