SANDPOINT - It's not in town, at least not yet. It's really not much more than a dream at this stage. But the possibility of a YMCA community recreation facility finding its way to Bonner County recently got one small step closer to reality.

A determined grassroots group formerly known as the Sandpoint Area Recreation & Community Center, or SPARC, has officially become part of the YMCA of the Inland Northwest in its ongoing effort to work toward establishing a physical facility in the area.

"We've been working with a group in the community around a possible presence," Steve Tammaro, president and CEO of YMCA of the Inland Northwest, said. "I think presence being the key word."

Right now that presence is ephemeral, and held together by the work of a new, 13-member YMCA advisory board of local government, business and community members.

Their goal: to physically bring the YMCA to Bonner County.

The advisory board met for the first time last month, and brought with them a considerable volume of preliminary work already accomplished by SPARC. One of the first business decisions made was to assign board members to one of three committees: board development, resource development, and strategic initiatives.

A local community recreation facility has long been the goal of SPARC. Though its efforts have been significant, it finally came to a place where they needed a bigger organization's help. To that end, they had been working to draw the Y to the area for some time.

"We got to the point with SPARC that we realized if we wanted to go to the next step we needed to be hooked up with an organization that has a history of doing what we wanted to do," longtime SPARC member, Y advisory board member and Sandpoint Mayor Carrie Logan said.

"For the most part, people on the committee have a passion to see this initiative succeed," board chair Kendon Perry said.

Board members want to give back, Perry noted. Many have personal stories about how the Y helped them at some time during their lives, he said. And it helps that the Y has a nationwide reputation of success, which is why SPARC chose to pursue them.

SPARC had been unofficially affiliated with the Y for two years, in a loose relationship that made the successful Junior Tackle football program possible, according John Ehrbar, director of operations for YMCA of the Inland Northwest.

Two attempts at a summer camp program operating from the former University of Idaho Extension Center on North Boyer Avenue were also attempted. But they realized only marginal success.

"That didn't get a lot of traction," Tammaro said.

But the Y's record of accomplishment made a relationship worth pursuing, Perry said.

Finally, SPARC approached the Y about becoming more of an official extension. The Y accepted.

"Having that group up there is a great first step for us," Tammaro said.

SPARC's early work has greased the skids for a possible recreation facility, according to Y officials. SPARC had already conducted two studies. A $20,000 grant from the Sandpoint Urban Renewal Agency funded a feasibility study by Strategic Researchers Associates of Spokane, and a "non-scientific study," wherein SPARC canvassed students in the Lake Pend Oreille School District to assess what they might want from a facility, according to Logan.

"We got back, I think 1,000 of those surveys," Logan said. "That told us the scope of what people wanted to address through a community recreation program and facility."

One of the biggest interests? An ice skating facility.

Ice may sound good, but - at least at this stage - appears unlikely, according to Perry.

"An ice rink has pretty much been eliminated at this time," he said. "They are darned expensive to run."

He noted that similar facilities in Spokane County failed, even though they were well-funded.

"I think that's a viable need in our community, but they are expensive to operate," Perry said.

The advisory board also already has conceptual facility plans, and has even considered many properties in the Sandpoint area.

One of the prime locations? The current U of I facility on North Boyer.

"Certainly there's no commitment in writing, but that's probably at the top of the list," Perry said. "We've looked at virtually every piece of dirt."

Among them are the Field of Dreams in Ponderay, and the now-empty, 200,000-square-foot former Coldwater Creek building on McGhee Road in Kootenai, Perry said.

But in the end, any recreational facility will likely be located close to - if not in - Sandpoint.

"If you go too far out of town it takes away from our core of users," Perry said.

There is currently no timeline for a constructing a facility. Capital campaigns - the process of funding the remodel of an existing building, or the construction of a new building and its infrastructure - takes time, effort and planning - and money.

"Unfortunately ... there's no such thing as a Y-in-the-sky. They don't have a pot of money they give you and say, 'go build it'," Logan said.

Ehrbar underscored Logan's comment.

"We don't exactly have a YMCA bank sitting around," he said.

Instead, funding a rec facility involves community fundraising. Organizers could choose from several different capital campaign tools, according to Tammaro.

But there's a lot of work that needs to be done before a dedicated facility is actually built, he said. The advisory board may look at successful models elsewhere across the county that used a local partnership effort. Another model may involve a local company, or an organization like a hospital or municipality, which builds the facility, then the YMCA runs it "for time immemorial." It's a trade: capital for operational costs.

Another model is a joint effort between school districts and the YMCA.

If the city could construct the building, "we would run with that." But Perry didn't think the city could do it, and the hospital is in the middle of building a new facility.

His opinion? "At the end of the day we will have to run a sizable campaign."

Perry wouldn't pin down a date for completion of a facility.

"To raise the kind of money to build any facility is no small task," he said, but expected to see "serious progress" in two to three years.

"We'll be on the cusp of being ready to build a building," he said.

"We've done a lot of work," Logan said. "We're way far ahead of where a community would be in terms of gathering data to support a facility because we've had this so long."

Stay tuned.

Local YMCA advisory board

committees and their responsibilities

How an advisory board works to meet its organizational goal

* Board Development Committee: manages the board and its composition to ensure it contains the necessary knowledge, attributes, skills, and influence that will help meet the organization's goals.

* Resource Development Committee: looks for and considers community funding resources for program development and a potential recreational facility.

* Strategic Initiatives Committee: reviews community survey results, and researches YMCAs in like-sized communities that have recently opened elsewhere.