By CAMERON GORDON, Student Reporter
Ground is set to break on a new arena in Alva this summer.
Alva Arena Authority ad hoc committee member Todd Holder recently gave a group of Northwestern students an update on the project’s progress. The arena will be built on 40 acres of land donated by the Mackey family. The land is east of town next to the Bill Johnson Correctional Facility.
The arena authority applied for tax increment financing status for approximately two sections of land around the project, called a TIF district. Making the area a TIF district means that, as the property values on the places in the TIF district increase, the taxes on those properties increase.
When this happens, the City of Alva still gets the same amount of money, and all the extra tax money goes toward the arena project for the set time period of 25 years. As new infrastructure is built in the TIF district, that increases property taxes, and the arena gets more funding.
The arena committee has chosen Tobin & Associates to design the buildings. The committee has also considered using solar energy for the arena.
“We could level off our utility usage and utility bills by entering into a contract with a local power company to buy back any excess energy we have,” Holder said.
The project is projected to take anywhere from 18 months to two years to complete. The arena in total will cost between $25 and $30 million. When completed, the arena will have four different major buildings. The buildings will include a main event center, which will have a dirt floor for rodeo competitions. The complex will also have a stall barn, a practice arena and a space for other events. The main dirt arena can be covered by canvas for events such as concerts. The stall barns can be rented out as well as other spaces without dirt floors.
“Expectations of mine are to maintain and increase our popularity – bring additional income to Woods County, increase tax dollars and to let people know what a wonderful part of the state we live in,” Holder said.
Arena authority officials say they believe this arena will help the community economically by bringing new businesses to Alva.
The project is more than 20 years in the making.
“Rome wasn’t built in a day,” Holder said. “We have done an enormous amount of due diligence.”