January 1997 - Citizen led group forms to work on planning for unmet indoor recreation/wellness needs in the community

May 1998 - Group requests that City Council fund a Recreation and Wellness Center Feasibility Study

July 1998 - City Council approves $10,000 in 1999 Budget for study

December 1998 - Request for Proposals for a consulting firm to perform Feasibility Study

February 1999 - Contract with Ballard*King & Associates to perform Feasibility Study

May 1999 - Community Meeting of the Recreation & Wellness Center Initiative to gain public input

June 1999 - Surveys distributed at local grocery stores and Chamber

October 1999 - Preliminary budget for building a 37,000 sq. foot Recreation Center comes in at $7,245,000 (included multi-purpose room & kitchen, 6-lane pool, single gym, raquetball courts, Teen area, indoor playground)

February 2000 - Completed Feasibility Study presented to City Council

March 2000 - City Council determines that the community is not ready for a facility of this size & cost, does not move forward with plans

November 14, 2004 - Recreation & Wellness Center Group re-convenes for a meeting at Olympian Hall to discuss unmet indoor recreational needs (Steamboat Springs Health & Recreation Association reveals their plan to hire Ballard*King to do a Master Plan for their facility)

January 14, 2005 - Stakeholder Meeting hosted by Ballard*King for SSHRA Master Plan

March 9, 2005 - P&R Commission Meeting - SSHRA request City assistance with the cost of the $33,750 Master Plan

May 2005 - City Council agrees to fund 50% of the SSHRA study at $16,875

June 28, 2005 - P&R Commission requests City Council fund Phase II of the Ballard*King study from 1999 @ $37,000

September 1, 2005 - Contract with Ballard*King for Feasibility Study to include conceptual design, site location and cost estimates

November 8, 2005 - Public Meeting at Olympian Hall to determine the community's desire for a facility and identify unmet indoor recreation needs

December 8, 2005 - Second Public Meeting at Community Center, as well as several Focus Group Meetings

December 10, 2005 - Tour of other Recreation Centers in Glenwood Springs, Aspen and Silverthorne

January 2006 - First Draft of Phase II Feasibility Study presented to staff

February 21, 2006 - City Council Meeting - presentation of written report from Ballard*King on programming (at this time Council decided to focus on the Community Center and set aside the Rec Center discussion - see minutes)

April 12, 2006 - P&R Commission Meeting at Centennial Hall - facilitated by Ken Ballard with members of SSHRA, SPARCS, public (lengthy discussion about how to accommodate SSHRA needs to ensure sustainability)

April 20, 2006 - P&R Commission Meeting at Olympian Hall with SSHRA Board (reconvened smaller group from 4/12/06 meeting - did not reach any kind of consensus)

May 16, 2006 - City Council Meeting - presentation by Ballard*King on programming and operations pro-forma as well as Pre-App from SSHRA (at this time Council was not in favor of the SSHRA plan and recommended that all groups enter facilitation to work out differences)

June 13, 2006 - City Council Meeting - update on status of plans for a ballot initiative (at this time Council maintained that they would not consider ballot until facilitation is completed)

July 11-12, 2006 - Professional Facilitation by Merle Lefkoff for P&R, SSHRA, SPARCS, Citizens Group (report states that groups worked toward consensus and developing partnerships)

July 18, 2006 - City Council Meeting - update on facilitation with request to fund further meetings and move forward on developing ballot language

July 24 & 28, 2006 - Facilitated meetings with Tammie Delaney to further work on reaching group consensus

August 8, 2006 - City Council Meeting - 1st reading of Ordinance to approve Ballot Initiative for 2006, and approval to perform citizen polling

August 25, 2006 - Citizen Polling completed by Stifel, Nicolaus (Bond Council from Denver)

August 29, 2006 - City Council Meeting - reviewed results of Polling and determined not to approve 2nd reading of Ordinance to move forward w/ Ballot

October 5, 2006 - Recreation Center Committee meeting - determine roles & responsibilities, goals & objectives, task list & timeline