City may have to eliminate gym for recreation center to move
ahead
Deciding whether to find another stash of cash – $1.2 million – for the Morgan Hill Indoor Recreation Center will face the City Council Wednesday. The tradeoff would be to build it without a gym.
Increased construction costs of $410,500 for materials and labor plus a contingency fund of $500,000 – the earlier contingency fund is used up – have caused Deputy Public Works Director Mori Struve to estimate the need for another $910,500, added to the previous cost of $15.4 million, and bringing the total construction cost to $16.7 million.
The entire center will cost, if council approves the increase, $26.6 million.
Struve also will ask for another $347,000 for a list of items designed to reduce energy costs that, he said, should pay for themselves within three years.
The council IRC subcommittee recommended the action, Struve said in his written staff report. Council members Greg Sellers and Hedy Chang are on the subcommittee though Chang was not present for discussions because she has been recovering from surgery.
“These costs were not anticipated,” Sellers said Monday. “We’ve made significant cuts on this project to the point that the integrity of the project is at stake.”
Council has already approved eliminating parts of the center to reduce costs and approved adding space for senior and youth centers, making it a more complex facility than originally intended. Located on West Edmundson Avenue next to Community Park, the center is now scheduled to open in August 2006.
Sellers said that the council’s two goals – that the facility should meet community needs and be able to sustain itself – are in jeopardy. Losing the gymnasium – which people will pay to use – is on the money making side of the ledger while the senior and youth centers are not.
“We must identify new resources,” Sellers said, “and I have some ideas.”
Sellers said the council will want to look at exploring private resources besides general fund reserves or unspent Redevelopment money because, to build a recreation center without a gymnasium would essentially defeat the purpose.
“It’s not really a matter of ‘if’ council approves,” Sellers said. “It’s vital to make a decision on Wednesday or be faced with further increases in materials and cost of labor due to the demand.”
Councilman Steve Tate said he did not expect the request when he opened his council agenda over the weekend.
“This came as a total surprise to me,” said Tate, who has been opposed to building the center without proper funding, especially if it ends up taking money from the new library building project.
“When the library ends up needing an extra $1.2 million, what will they say,” Tate asked Monday.
He had shepherded the new library project through council with a set budget of $17 million. However, library fans were told the project would get not a penny more and if costs rise beyond $17 million, the building size would be reduced.
Council already approved an additional $395,000 for the IRC from potential library funds in July, with Tate objecting.
Recreation Manager Julie Spier explained that council could reduce the library size from 28,000 square-feet and possibly not affect the program.
“The building (whatever the size) will be able to expand, but if you take out a component from the IRC (as a gymnasium), that would definitely change cost recovery,” Spier said.
The library is maintained and operated by the Santa Clara County Library System; the IRC would earn its own way or be subsidized by the city.
Chang said that, while she has not attended recent meetings, she has kept up with the details.
“I’m optimistic that we can be do both the IRC and the library,” Chang said.
Rising construction costs are affecting other local building projects too. The new Santa Clara County Courthouse, about to rise between Butterfield Boulevard and the railroad tracks, between East Third and East Fourth Streets, recently had its construction budget increased $6 million or 20 percent for the same reasons.
Carol Holzgrafe covers City Hall for The Times. She can be reached by e-mail at [email protected] or phoning (408) 779-4106 Ext. 201.
