Funds approved for plans for Rec Center expansion.
Original design anticipated possible need to expand the Community Center
Islander News, February 21, 2008
By Kelly Josephsen. kjosephsen@islandernews.com
The Village Council will spend $90,900 on architectural plans for a Community Center expansion, prompting several members to note failing to go ahead with building the addition would turn the allocation into wasted money.
"I don't want to spend 90 grand on plans we're not going to use. We should have the discussion of, are we going to do this?" Council member Michael Davey remarked.
Others shared Davey's concerns, but noted they need to see plans — and the cost estimate they will be used to generate — before they can formally vote on the expansion.
"Conceptually, I think all of us up here agree we're going to do this," Vice Mayor Jorge Mendia noted. "But we need plans, and we need a budget."
Those needs led to a unanimous vote Tuesday, February 12, to pay Currie Sowards Aguila Architects $90,900 to design a 4,500-squarefoot second-floor addition for the southeast side of the Community Center. Currie Sowards Aguila, then the Robert Currie Partnership, designed the original Community Center.
Village officials have always been aware they might need to expand the Community Center, and Currie Sowards Aguila's original design reflects that. Now, as Village Manager Chip Iglesias told the Council last week, representatives from the Village and Community Center Advisory Board feel the time has come to move forward with the project.
The sense of urgency is in part prompted by two additional tasks covered by the $90,900 fee — designs for a second elevator on the building's east side and modifying an existing sanitary grinder pump.
The pump has suffered vandalism and damage and must be fixed, and the Community Center currently has just one elevator that often breaks down due to overuse. Therefore, Council members say there's no question those two projects need to be done as soon as possible.
That said, discussion February 12 mostly focused on the expansion.
After Davey raised his concerns, Council member Steve Liedman noted local leaders planned all along to pay for architectural drawings before deciding whether to move forward with construction.
During the 2007-2008 budget hearings, Liedman pointed out, Council members approved a line item in their Capital Improvement Fund specifically for "Community Center Second Floor Plans."
Indeed, Iglesias reported, that line — along with a separate "Community Center Second Elevator" line — will be used to cover Currie Sowards Aguila's fee
Still, Davey said he wants the Council to look at the "big picture" of local projects before acting on the Community Center — a suggestion resident Angel Martin had floated earlier at the February 12 meeting.
Martin, who is spearheading a group of parents pushing for a municipal charter school in the Village, supports Community Center expansion — "We should probably have done it way back when we built the Community Center" — but noted he'd like the Council to explore synergies with other projects.
He noted the community will soon decide what to do with Village-owned land at 530 Crandon Boulevard — a recreational use is a leading possibility — and his group is also working with Village staff to suggest sites for the charter school. "There may be some' synergies we can achieve" between those two projects and the Community Center addition, he said. "We need to also look into the other options."
Council members agreed, but said approving the architectural work for the Community Center will not keep them from doing an analysis like that suggested by Martin and Davey.
Vice Mayor Jorge Mendia noted there really aren't a lot of options for where and how to expand the Community Center, and Mayor Robert Vernon added the actual use and programming of the additional 4,500square-feet will be up to the CCAB and Parks and Recreation Department.
That, the Mayor indicated, is where officials will address Davey's and Martin's concerns. Iglesias agreed: "The design of this space is not going to be too complicated. I don't think there's much mystery. The motif of the building will be maintained; they're just adding a rectangular space."
Still, Council member Thomas Thornton, a contractor by profession, asked if the Village should instead direct the architects to do a less expensive conceptual design instead of full architectural plans.
Iglesias said conceptual drawings wouldn't give the Council a cost estimate or plans they could vote on, but did agree with Thornton's suggestion that someone work with the architect to make sure the work that results from its plans would fit in the Village's budget for the project, probably between $1-2 million.
Consultant Paul Abbott, who oversees Village facilities, said he will work with the architects to prepare cost estimates for what they design. All that will come back to the Council for approval, Abbott added.
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