If Mandan is going to get an event center, a lot of questions will have to be answered, and the process to determine the feasibility of such a facility began Tuesday.

Community leaders representing Morton County, the city of Mandan and the Mandan Park District met with JLG Architects representative Dan Miller, who is starting the process of conducting a feasibility study on an event center. Miller was joined by VenuWorks directors Ron and Sharon Cummins, who will be collecting data for the study.

Community representatives were asked what they felt the event center community study, conducted early in the year, meant to them; where a facility should be located; what size should it be; what uses will it have; and how will it be funded.

Park district director Cole Higlin said the most important part of the community survey was seeing the need for a facility in the community. A majority of residents and a much larger majority of businesses favored an event center.

The park district's Community Center is the focal point of many community events. The center has a 14,000-square-foot auditorium capable of handling up to 160 booths for a flea market. But there are a lot of demands for the Community Center, many unrelated to the athletic activities it was built to cater to.

City Commissioner Dan Ulmer envisions a facility that is somewhere between Bismarck's Civic Center and Mandan's Community Center. He said the Mandan High School gym seats about 1,200 while the Bismarck Civic Center can handle 8,000 to 12,000. Ulmer suggested a facility with an auditorium capable of seating 3,000.

"The biggest thing is how will we pay for this. We have to look at funding options that minimize the taxpayer's position," Ulmer said. "The biggest thing I hear from people is that facilities like this never pay for themselves."

JLG's Miller said such facilities are not moneymakers, but rather an investment to bring people into the community.

Bruce Strinden, a member of the Mandan Rodeo Club and Mandan Progress Organization, said that Morton County has more beef cattle than anywhere in North Dakota.

"Cattlemen are hauling their produce to everywhere but here for shows. The Bismarck Civic Center discourages that kind of show. There is also a proliferation of weekend cowboys looking for indoor arenas to do team roping and penning. We don't have a facility to house those kind of events," Strinden said.

Several locations were discussed. A study of the downtown area led to the feasibility study, but downtown has some serious setbacks. There is a block to a block and a half available for a facility, but it's estimated that three to four blocks would be needed for parking. The other opportunity would be to build an adjoining parking ramp to stack vehicles. Purchasing the property will be expensive, Ulmer said.

"We're looking at a million bucks a block just to flatten them," Ulmer said. "And we're seeing growth downtown, and the options are becoming less and less and less. Even if we decided today where to build, it would be still two or three years before work could start."

Other suggestions were Dacotah Centennial Park, expansion of the Community Center and an area north of Interstate 94 and west of Collins Avenue.

Park board member Jason Arenz worried that if a facility were built on the "Strip" or even near the Interstate, people using the facility would be encouraged to go to Bismarck for shopping, dining and hotel rooms. He wants people using the facility to stay in Mandan and spend their money.

"Once people get in their cars and slam the door, distance is irrelevant," Miller said. "You can pretty much get anywhere you want in this area in 10 to 15 minutes."

Ron Cummins said that should the facility be built for livestock and ag-related events, there would be a need to bring in dirt and a place to store dirt that could be a problem in the downtown area.

A facility could be built on one block or up to 20 acres depending on where it was going to be and what it would be used for, Miller stated.

Higlin said that if a feasibility study indicated the need for a facility and it was decided to move ahead, all the participating groups would have to agree upon how it would be managed.

"Everybody has to buy in,"Higlin said. "The management structure will have to be discussed. If there is a deficit in running it, we all have to be willing to absorb it. If there are revenues, we have to decide if it should be used, whether it should be reinvested. Should we outsource the management? I think it should be local. But who would they report to? The city? The park board? It's an important component that all jurisdictions be involved."

Miller explained that plans are to have the feasibility study completed by the end of January. Sharon Cummins said the next step has VenuWorks meeting with various community and user groups to collect information.

It was noted that the final product will include a design concept that will allow people to visualize what the facility might look like.

(Reach reporter Gordon Weixel at 250-8255 or gordon.weixel@;bismarcktribune.com.)