Council OK
’s $600,000 for improvements
Lines to buy lunch, sunscreen or swim diapers or to climb the water slide should be far shorter at the Aquatics Center this summer after the City Council unanimously approved spending about $600,000 on upgrades and repairs.
Another $320,600 for upgrades at the community center/Gavilan College building (sticky doors), plus a possible $992,500 expansion of the Hiram Morgan Hill Room, were put off for discussion at a later date.
Most of the Aquatics Center’s needs came from the Condit Road facility’s unexpectedly high use since its June 2004 opening. Recreation Manager Julie Spier said they expected about 665 patrons a day but actually had 2,100, a success by any standard.
The upgrades must be in place by summer for the improvements to begin their promised financial payback, council was told by Recreation Manager Julie Spier.
She explained why so much was needed so soon.
“We learned from the successes of last year,” Spier said. “The concessions and retail needed to grow and our patrons complained about the lines.”
Councilman Mark Grzan questioned Spier, Aquatics Supervisor Aaron Himelson and project manager Glenn Ritter closely about the request.
“How did we get to a point of (needing) $600,000 to refurbish a facility that’s only eight months old?” Grzan asked. “How can we be sure this won’t happen as we build the indoor recreation center (IRC)?”
It probably will, he was told, and the blame is mostly on value engineering, a method of substituting cheaper materials for those in the original plan, or removing some components – such as solar energy – all to save money initially. Ritter said that saved $550,000 in construction costs for the swim center.
Architects Noll and Tam are currently value engineering the IRC on Edmundson Avenue next to Community Park, to bring it in at $26.6 million or less.
The council insisting that the $12 million Aquatics Center open in early June 2004, insisting on the fastest construction time, also had an effect. For example, concrete discolored by chlorine needs work. Ritter said 28 days are normally required for concrete to cure properly; the Aquatics Center opened to the public only seven days after it was poured.
“I would not advise putting a facility on the fast track again,” Ritter said.
Mayor Dennis Kennedy mentioned the ultimate benefit of the fast track.
“Look at how much revenue it brought in,” Kennedy said.
Spiers said Friday that the center was supposed to open for the Memorial Day weekend but, even with fast tracking, did not open until June 12.
“I estimate that we lost between $7,000 and $10,000 in revenue each day between those dates,” Spier said.
The $600,000 includes a redesign of the lobby/ticketing/retail areas, concession improvements, a second water slide, more parking, competition timing systems, repairs to locker room drains, commemorative brick installation, studies of wind and solar energy and more, all designed to make the center work better and be more comfortable for patrons.
Most items would completely return the investment in two to seven years.
Resident Bob Benich urged against studying wind power because of its inherent danger to birds, but did encourage a study of solar generation of heat and electricity. If the studies lead to installation of alternate energy production, the center’s energy bills would plummet.
Council asked for all three studies to be done.
While the Aquatics Center will get the needed repairs, the community center will have to wait, though some critical repairs could move forward since not all the money for community center repairs will have to come from the RDA fund.
City Manager Ed Tewes said the annual operating budgets of the community and aquatics centers contribute to a fund to cover depreciation of the building and equipment.
“There could be money to replace the (Gavilan College ) doors from that fund,” Tewes said.
One other matter of concern was the $1.3 million in RDA money that will fund the Aquatics Center improvements and, possibly, in future, those at the community center. Since every building project the city has attempted recently has had major cost overruns, new library proponents worry that, if the $1.3 million is used elsewhere, there wouldn’t be anything left for a library overrun.
Kennedy promised that the library wouldn’t come up short once construction begins and costs rise beyond the $17 million set aside, if they do.
“This is my personal commitment,” Kennedy said. “I will support using general fund reserves to supplement library costs.”
The other four councilmen did not comment on Kennedy’s statement.
A complete list of Aquatics Center repairs and additions, and those of the community center and Gavilan College, with costs and payback time can be found at www.morganhilltimes.com.
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.
