City Lights: Williston Fitness Center Entrance Encounter

This past Sunday 1500 Minnetonka residents, including myself, attended the Williston Fitness Center Grand Reopening.  It was a beautiful day and a great celebration of this facility. You can see photos of the center at today's .

The City of Minnetonka runs this facility, which completely pays for its operation through memberships and course fees. It serves residents of all ages. At the City Council meeting the day after the Grand Reopening, they were pleased to announce 50 new memberships from that event.  

I had been hearing from many folks over the past months that the entrance was troublesome for those with mobility limitations. The stairs are high and steep, and the ramp is long and slippery in winter.  I asked  Kelly O’Dea, Manager of the Center, about  the entrance.

Kelly said the original design had fewer steps, but once construction began the entrance was redesigned to accommodate a steeper grade than expected.  Look at the artist’s drawing used on the Grand Reopening program, shown on the right. The entrance at the left is my photo. The original plan shows fewer and less steep steps. It’s not clear from the illustration how the ramp was originally designed.

Kelly recognizes the concerns about access, and proposed many helpful ideas.

• A handrail down the middle of the stairs
• Handrails on the ramp
• Access from the parking lot to the ramp at the switchback point
• Heated sidewalks to melt the snow
• Roof over the ramp to keep the inclement weather off
• Ground level emergency exit

Access to the Williston Fitness Center will certainly be better when these improvements are implemented. Please contact Kelly O’Dea at kodea@eminnetonka.com or 952.939.8379 with your suggestions or comments on this facility.

Coming Next: Minnetonka Natural Resources Restoration