As the construction of the Solon Community School District’s new indoor athletics facility is set to begin by the end of this month, stronger opinions have begun to form in the community.

The facility, originally voted on in a March 2023 bond issue worth $25.5 million, was pitched to confront the issue of space and growth.

“All districts struggle with gym space,” said Solon Superintendent Davis Eidahl. “They never have enough gym space.”

Eidahl explained how in 2023 a group was created for the purpose of making a ten-year plan for the district. And in a town with exponential growth like Solon, the concern of gym space for more and more students was a high priority.

And with the inclusion of the Iowa climate year-round, the problem of inclement weather for outdoor sports needed a solution.

That solution was Solon’s new indoor facility, but some in the community are at a crossroads.

On March 30, Doug Kremer, an administrator of the “Solon IA Community” Facebook Group, brought up the indoor facility in a post, stating that “part of me is pretty excited because it seems incredible that our small town could have such an amazing facility for our athletes.”

“The other part of me can’t help but feeling like this is a huge waste of money that could be better spent elsewhere,” he continued.

Community members, even in the comments of the post, seemed to be split on their opinions.

But students, especially student athletes, are sold on the facility.

“[Currently] there’s a lot of collision when it comes to practicing and making sure you have time and room to get a practice in,” said Tenley Levin, a Solon High School track and field sprinter and long jumper. “I think everybody is just pumped for it because there’s going to be a lot of new places people can practice in, so we don’t have to fight over gym space or fight over practice space,” Levin said.

On some occasions, Solon’s athletic teams, like track and field, have to end practice early due to conflicting games or events.

“So as a way to accommodate gym space,” said Eidahl, “we talked about the need for this indoor facility.”

The space, with a turf patch large enough for various activities such as baseball, football, marching band, or soccer, will also have added amenities like batting cages or golf simulators.

The building will be open to student activities as well as community activities, similar to how the district operates their gymnasiums, allowing community members to schedule in times for their teams to meet.

But in the past, due to the amount of students in Solon’s athletic teams, the schedules fill up quickly.

“What’s happened [in the past] is we’ve got so much participation in those youth sports that our reserve times fill up,” Eidahl said, “and which then would require families to travel out of town to find gym space.”

But this new facility, Eidahl explained, will allow Solon families to stay in town and have the space they require.

“A facility like this can be a multi-use facility, so it’s not benefiting one particular sport or one group of students,” explained Andy Umthun, an assistant director of the Iowa High School Athletic Association. “It’s really benefiting everybody.”

On the other hand, Umthun did voice some challenges that he has seen when it comes to these facilities, such as maintenance.

“When you have any facility that is community use, you have to have great plans in place for maintenance, upkeep, policies on how it is going to be used, rented out, those types of things.”

Umthun also noted that the statewide trend of indoor athletics facilities is still fairly new, which could lead to some uncertainty when it comes to the longevity of these facilities. But he, like many other in the athletic circles in Iowa, voiced his personal enthusiasm for the project.

But some, even within the Solon city limits, feel that the funds and energy put into this project could be better focused elsewhere.

Cindy Jensen, a Solon community member for the last 25-30 years, understood that families in Solon want their kids to have access to higher quality athletic facilities. The issue, she said, is that these facilities could neglect the community’s older citizens.

“It doesn’t seem to me that there’s a lot of respect for [elderly] people, and they’re kind of forgotten.”

Jensen, after she retired, began to volunteer for Solon Senior Support, a volunteer network that connects its members with older adults to be able to assist them in their day-to-day activities.

“They forget that they have stories too,” she said.

Jensen also noted the plans to demolish Solon’s community center in the coming years, noting that a place like this – a place for the entire Solon Community to meet and speak with one another – may not be available for an uncertain amount of time following the building’s demolition.

“It’s a community center for people to come in there, for elderly people to have a place to meet, for them to be able to have meetings there, and opportunities for speakers and potlucks and something to get them out of their house and socializing.”

Jensen mentioned the community centers in other Iowan towns like Mount Vernon or North Liberty, and how they’ve been aiding the growth of their respective communities.

“It was 20 years getting there. These things don’t happen overnight. And with us losing our only place in 18 months… People don’t realize that. Look at North Liberty and all the things that they have built up for kids and adults. They have a wonderful [recreation] center down there that a lot of adults use, and we don’t have that.”

The use of the facility by both the community and the student body will be determined when the construction is finished and the facility is opened in the winter of 2027.