Planted Roots explores community center

SANDPOINT — It’s a $53 million dream project that started with an independent film and some free firewood. The inspiration came from the former, while the latter provided the courage to forge ahead.

Local sisters Sarah and Hailey Hines have produced a pair of films through their Planted Roots organization. One of them, titled ‘Spread the Virus,’ was the genesis for sending those roots even deeper into the community.

“It was a short film about the ripple effect of one good deed,” Sarah Hines said. “The kind of deed that can sometimes cause a major impact on people’s lives that we never know about.”

With the movie in the can, the sisters, along with their parents, David and Shauna Hines, formed a non-profit foundation — also called Planted Roots — to put the film’s premise into action. As a family, they started offering acting classes for children before branching out into gathering up household goods, toys, food, clothing and toiletries for area residents in need.

It was roughly at this same time that they met Paul Krames and Dennis McLeish, who were involved in a similar community effort to deliver free firewood the needy families. When Planted Roots got involved, the program, now called Firewood Rescue, began to grow.

“This past winter, we delivered 38 cords of firewood for free to families up here,” said Sarah. “We were getting referrals from all over for people who needed wood to heat their homes. We’re already getting permits and building a storage shed so that, next year, we’ll hopefully have even more wood to give away.”

Just as exciting has been the spirit of volunteerism that accompanied Firewood Rescue. According to Hines, a single overture for help in splitting and stacking always turned up more than enough people and vehicles to not only prepare the wood, but also to get it delivered.

Ablush with the glow of strong reception to these activities, the foundation went looking for its next big idea. What it came up with was a doozey.

Currently planned to sit on a 20-acre footprint in either Ponderay or near the airport in Sandpoint, the project calls for a $3 million ice hockey rink and a $50 million recreation center.

“We’re trying to build something — as far as size and what it has to offer — similar to the Kroc Center in Coeur d’Alene,” Hines said. “We’re looking at different properties, trying to stay as close to Sandpoint as possible.”

The foundation first considered the University of Idaho research property on north Boyer, but found land costs to be higher than they were comfortable with. They had also entered into discussions with the YMCA regarding a partnership, but when the organization opted to move into the former Sandpoint West Athletic Club, those talks came to a halt.

The Hines’ remain big fans of the YMCA and believe its move to the SWAC site seems like a good fit. Still, they are steadfast in their feeling that Bonner County needs something larger and more diverse to serve its residents. Meetings with representatives from both cities under consideration have been encouraging, according to Sarah.

“Everyone we’ve met with in Ponderay and Sandpoint thinks this is really needed,” she said. “We’ve also done a Facebook poll that got more than 500 responses, mostly from people who love the idea.

“But we did get about 50 people who told us things like, ‘We don’t need a rec center — we need a Target or a Costco,’” she added with a shrug.

Asked if she was aware that the hockey rink/recreation facility concept had been floated here before without success, she said those earlier attempts differed in a couple ways.

“For one, we’re a non-profit, so we can apply for grants,” said Hines. “And I think it’s important that we also grew up here. My family lives here — both my mom and dad’s side — and my grandparents were married here and lived here for 50 years.”

On matters financial, the foundation is developing a study that will explore economic impact and job creation from such a large project.

The hockey rink will be indoors with real ice and stadium seating, while the recreation center would include a full-size swimming pool, cave pools and a “lazy river” for kids, a full gym with indoor track, basketball gym, tennis courts, a bistro, commercial kitchen, child care, public meeting space and a full-size theater for concerts and performances.

Staffing such a facility would require people to work as personal trainers, swimming instructors, chefs and baristas, childcare professionals and people in administrative positions and customer service.

“With the size of the facility we’re looking at building, we’re estimating we’d need about 100 employees at a minimum,” said Hines.

Just as it has until now, the foundation plans to plug into the community’s energy to move things forward. It ain’t broke, Sarah noted, so why fix it?

“Instead of forming our own, singular group, we want to work with the community as a whole to get this done,” she said, adding that locating the land will be top priority, with discussions already underway about connecting the parcel to either Sandpoint via SPOT bus service or to Ponderay’s “Field of Dreams” project by way of a greenbelt trail system.

“We have a lot of work ahead, but Step One is obviously to buy the piece of property.”

To learn more about the Planted Roots Foundation, the proposed facility or to apply for the Firewood Rescue program, visit online at plantedroots.org.