Council to discuss improvements, repairs to city facilities
Upgrades and repairs could cost the city at least $600,000 if the City Council acts to meet Aquatics Center staff requests, but the expense could result in far higher income for the popular facility.
Also, the community center and the Gavilan College classroom building need another $291,100 to $591,100 in improvements.
The Aquatics Center on Condit Road opened June 2004; the community center, at Monterey Road and Dunne Avenue, December 2002. Many of the items include features eliminated from original plans or materials substituted to save original building costs; some were found to be critical; others useful if the money could be found elsewhere, which it has.
Funds would come from either reserves or $1.3 million left in the Redevelopment Agency flood control fund after money was set aside for the new library. The city’s contribution to flood control is many years down the road, freeing the fund, temporarily, for other uses.
The council on Wednesday will work through a wish list from Recreation Supervisor Aaron Himelson, that ranges from a second water slide through energy and chlorine generation to concession improvements. Himelson’s A list includes 12 items; his B list, 13 and a C list, 7.
The A list alone would cost between $532,000 and $671,000, depending on council priorities and generosity but could generate between $118,000 and $125,000 in new revenue, paying back the investment in two to seven years.
Much of the Aquatics Center list is a result of the facility’s tremendous success.
Big ticket items at the center include a cheaper way to generate chlorine ($135,000), a remodel in the lobby/ticketing area to improve service and reduce staffing ($47,000), concession improvements ($70,000), buying a timing system for swim meets ($20,000) and a second water slide ($100,000).
Finding more parking for the higher than expected cars and SUVs could take one of three ways, ranging in cost from $70,000 (120 temporary spaces); $170,000 (42 permanent spaces) or $40,000 (191 temporary spaces).
Council will also face authorizing, for $7,000, a study of wind and solar projects to save energy costs: $350,000 to build.
At the Community Center, Gavilan College has asked for new doors to replace the 11 sets of wooden doors that expand and contract with the weather, setting off false alarms and causing security concerns ($70,400); four sets are critical ($25,600).
A building to house a college satellite campus was added to the $21 million community center complex to provide some rental income.
The amphitheater could get a shade structure and picnic tables to enhance its usefulness and use, for $55,200 with a payback from rentals of from five to 10 years. Currently the audience sits on concrete/grassy tiers or on chairs; the mature sycamore trees on site are too far back to provide shade.
At the community center, popularity is causing problems where the size of the Hiram Morgan Hill Room has been an issue since the center opened. Originally designed to hold 400, community members insisted on a smaller room and the biggest room ended up seating up to 270, making the center unavailable for larger, more lucrative events.
Major events – the Historical Society’s Founders’ Dinner or the Chamber of Commerce’s Showcase Awards Dinner – are squeezed to discomfort.
Two scenarios are possible: to make an even longer room by expanding into the increasingly popular rose garden ($862,500) or expand out into the hallway, making a wider room ($992,500). To save $4,260 a year in cleaning costs, the HMH Room could use darker carpet ($15,000).
The hexagonal El Toro Room is also too small. A study for an expansion into the hallway would cost $20,000. Adding an overhead shade and a sound system to the rose garden – to help both the garden and expand the HMH Room’s use: $80,000 with repayment in eight years.
An electric sign to advertise coming events would cost $50,000 but would be rented by clients for a payback within 10 years. Installing a wind generator would cost $300,000 but could save that in lower energy bills in six years. Council will consider paying $5,000 to study the potential.
Council will consider these and other requests, within three levels of urgency.
The Playhouse, a wooden church from the 1920s, and the fourth part of the complex, was designed and renovated into a theater for $2.5 million by ELS Architecture and Urban Design and Kent Construction of Gilroy. It opened in February 2003 and requires no upgrades or repairs.
City Council and/or the RDA meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday in City Hall Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave. Details: www.morganhill.ca. gov or 779-7271. Live on cable access channel 17.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at ch********@*************es.com or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
