Big steps taken on community center remodel
Commission to hear plan on July 9
Pending California Coastal Commission approval, the long-anticipated Fletcher Cove Community Center remodeling project will begin construction this summer.
At its June 23 meeting, the Solana Beach City Council directed staff to “complete the tasks necessary” to obtain a permit from the commission.
The project is currently recommended for approval on the commission’s July 9 agenda, with the meeting to take place in Santa Rosa. Assuming it goes forward, staff will come back to the council on July 14 with a contract award to be considered for the renovation’s first of three phases.
“Our hats are off to staff and all the volunteers who worked on this project,” Mayor Tom Campbell said. “This looks like something that’s really going to happen.”
Enough funding has been raised for phase one, which calls for new grading, developing an Americans with Disabilities Act accessible parking lot with two handicap spots, and exterior access improvements. Construction should commence this summer, if all goes as planned. That part of the project is estimated to cost $90,000 to $125,000.
“All four sides of the building and more than half of the site area will be accessible to persons with disabilities at the completion of phase one. This compares to the existing condition of the property in which both the building and the site are entirely inaccessible,” the staff report states.
The purpose of this project is to make the center ADA-compliant while allowing it to continue its use as a community center.
Actual improvements to the building itself are part of the second phase, which, if the city is able raise enough money, could also begin this year. Architect Stephen Dalton, who presented blueprints at the council meeting, said the refurbishing will include removing asbestos siding, moving the kitchen to the other side of the center, renovating the bathrooms, and replacing the doors and windows. The project will ultimately make the building, constructed in the 1940s, fully ADA-compliant.
The renovations will be designed to handle the moisture of the community center’s oceanfront location. Since the building’s footing and foundation are not being altered, the project is not subject to a more thorough Coastal Commission review.
Phase two of the project is expected to take a year from start to finish.
“It should go pretty quickly. It’s just a small building, so there’s only so much you can do,” Dalton said.
If fundraising goals are met by the fall, staff reports that a phase two completion date of July 1, 2011, is possible, also marking Solana Beach’s 25-year anniversary as a city.
The city could receive grants to help with the cost for phase two, which, according to its work plan, will run at least $200,000. Bryan Pruden of the Solana Beach Community Foundation, which is leading the fundraising effort for the community center, said almost $200,000 has been raised so far; however, most of the funds will be put toward phase one.
The city’s estimated total cost of the project is between $400,000 and $500,000.
The third phase of the project is estimated to be completed one year after phase two, according to the work plan. This final piece of the renovation calls for landscape and softscape improvements to the site, such as an ADA-compliant winding path up to the building.
Related posts:
- Center progressing
- Fundraising efforts gear up for Fletcher Cove community center
- New Solana Beach foundation will focus on community center
- Center revamp elicits support
- Plan to expand Solana Beach shopping center progresses
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