Exercise, birthday parties and hanging out for Morgan Hill
seniors and juniors is on the City Council agenda Wednesday when
the council hears recommendations dealing with potential extra
costs and design changes for the Indoor Recreation Center.
Exercise, birthday parties and hanging out for Morgan Hill seniors and juniors is on the City Council agenda Wednesday when the council hears recommendations dealing with potential extra costs and design changes for the Indoor Recreation Center.
The 59,204 square-foot center is scheduled to include not only gymnasiums, an indoor swimming pool and exercise rooms, it will also house – in separate wings – both the senior center and a youth center.
The $26.2 million center is proposed for land between Monterey Road and Edmundson Avenue, just east of Community Park. Since the center’s original conceptual design was made, Council has adopted a policy that would strongly encourage any new public building to meet the “Gold Level” of the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEEDS) program. In other words, the buildings would be “green.”
A memorandum to the City Manager from Mori Struve, deputy director of operations for Public Works, said the LEEDS designation would add $30,000 to the design costs and up to an additional 10 percent in construction costs – or $1.2 million.
Struve recommends either moving the design “toward, but not necessarily attaining, the certification level.” At the same time he suggests increasing the design and construction contingency from 9 to 10 percent.
The design changes come from a trip that Council members Greg Sellers, Hedy Chang and Steve Tate and Recreation Manager Julie Spier took to Colorado, during which they visited several similar centers and collected ideas, not necessarily thought of during the design of the Morgan Hill center.
Some of these ideas might change the center’s design.
Struve also recommends speeding up the project schedule by five months, which, he said, would limit the risks of unforeseen costs. He also recommended expanding the Indoor Recreation Center subcommittee, currently composed of Sellers and Chang to include representatives from the Parks and Recreation Commission, the Youth Advisory and Senior committees.
The expanded committee would work with city staff to identify the proper “program model” – or components of the center – to consider the larger budget requirements, to approve an adjusted schedule and to work out a way to include“appropriate interests in the design review process.”
The report does not say whether or not those “appropriate interests” would include critics of the center, who have been vocal.
The next step is the schematic design phase. As the schedule now stands construction would begin in March 2005 and the center would open in May 2006. The architectural firm of Noll and Tam – which has designed the new library, should the city receive grant money with which to build it – is the indoor center’s design team.
Council will also consider other issues at the Wednesday meeting: an investment policy update, several Measure P appeals and the business terms proposed for the purchase of a building at 16200 Vineyard Ave. for a new police station.
The complete Council agenda in full is available at the City Clerk’s desk in City Hall and on line. City Council and/or the Redevelopment Agency meets at 7 p.m. Wednesdays in City Hall Chambers, 17555 Peak Ave. The public is always invited to speak on issues not on the agenda before 7:30 p.m. Details: 779-7271. Council meetings are broadcast live on cable access channel 17. The city’s website is www.morgan-hill.ca.gov
