Duluth officials outline $36 million athletic venues reinvestment plan, emphasize fixing existing assets first

City parks staff and a consulting team told the Duluth City Council’s Committee of the Whole that the city’s athletic-venues reinvestment initiative will prioritize repairing and maintaining existing parks-based athletic facilities and use an extended “half and half” tourism tax to pay debt on those improvements.

Eric Birkland, director of property, parks and libraries, opened the presentation and introduced senior parks planner Katie Bennett and parks and recreation manager Jessica Peterson, who reviewed the financing and eligibility criteria for the program. "The half and half tax refers to 2 existing taxes in Duluth," Peterson said, explaining that food, beverage and lodging taxes are classified under state law as tourism taxes and must be used in ways that support tourism.

The city’s litmus test for using the funds asks whether a venue currently hosts, or could host in the future, athletic competitions and events that regularly attract participants from outside the Duluth region. Staff identified a short list of candidate sites that commonly host out‑of‑region visitors: the Wade Stadium Complex, Wheeler Athletic Complex, Lake Park Athletic Complex, Freiburger Arena and the Arlington Sports Complex. Phase 1 work already completed or in progress includes irrigation improvements at Enger, snowmaking and lighting at the Spirit Mountain Nordic Center, structural repairs at Wade Stadium and a skate park project at Gary Newdelot.

RDG planning and design and a Johnson Consulting subconsultant summarized outreach and an asset-condition review that found many sites rated “average” to “challenged.” The consulting team said community input — three citywide workshops, six stakeholder focus groups and about 1,400 survey responses — showed strong demand for more practice and competition space, modern lighting and high-quality synthetic turf.

"Our main takeaway is that first and foremost, we need to fix what we have," the consultant said, urging the council to prioritize deferred maintenance, public safety and accessibility before pursuing large new indoor facilities. The market analysis concluded that Duluth does not need many new outdoor venues but would benefit from upgraded multiuse synthetic turf, more indoor multiuse courts and potentially indoor ice only with secured financial partnerships.

Councilors pressed staff for details on the fund balance and user mix. Peterson said the current half-and-half fund balance is "about $31,200,000," and noted that most candidate venues serve both youth and adult users but that Wheeler, Wade and Enger tend to serve more adult participants.

Staff said the funding approach will combine Avery (half-and-half) funds for core infrastructure with outside sources — grants, sponsorships, fundraising or naming rights — for amenity upgrades; the department expects to route recommendations through the Parks and Recreation Committee to the full council and said planning would occur this year with potential implementation beginning as early as next year and a 5–7 year timeline for full completion.

The briefing was informational; no formal action was taken. Staff will return with sharper site cost allocations, recommended phasing and the Parks and Recreation Committee’s recommendations before any appropriation or contract is approved.