For the past 20 years, hundreds of meetings and thousands of conversations have influenced and guided the Community Center referendum question that will be before Cottage Grove residents on November 2, 2021.

The Cottage Grove City Council created the Community Center Task Force to study the potential future of a new community center. The desire for a community center has been documented over time in a Recreation Facility Needs Study (2005), Community Center Task Force Report (2011), Residential Community Survey (2012), and most recently in the My Future Cottage Grove Report (2017).

Following the My Future Cottage Grove Study, a new Community Center Task Force was charged with studying the subject and providing the City Council with a framework to help them make decisions regarding the potential development of a community center. By definition, the Community Center Task Force was a time-specific, project-specific group working toward a focused outcome. The Task Force consisted of 23 volunteers along with City leaders.

Since that time (2019), City staff, leaders in the City’s athletic and arts community, elected officials and stakeholders/potential partners have been formulating the vision for a potential Community Center. Those involved spent countless hours on community engagement, seeking resident’s input and feedback regarding construction and operational costs. The group also focused on the community's comprehensive and desired amenities.

This referendum is the result of your local leaders listening to the community’s concerns on the need for a unifying space and to cast a vote on the community center vision.