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HomeMy WebLinkAbout1999-12-13 City CouncilCity of Palo Alto City Manager’s Report TO: FROM: DATE: SUBJECT: HONORABLE CITY COUNCIL CITY MANAGER DEPARTMENT: COMMUNITY SERVICES DECEMBER 13, 1999 CMR: 416:99 OPTIONS IN CONSIDERATION OF JOINT CITY/SCHOOL GYMNASIUM PROJECT This is an informational report and no Council action is required. Staff will continue to assess need and explore possible solutions to shortages of gymnasium space in Palo Alto. Should additional opportunities for a joint use facility emerge, staff will forward the information to Council. Council may agendize this report at a future date, should there be a need for further discussion BACKGROUND At the April 12, 1999 Council meeting, staff was directed to work with .the Palo Alto Unified School (District). District staff to define possible cooperative gymnasium projects at the two middle schools. Staff was further directed to pursue a needs assessment and report to Council with options and cost estimates. The current Building for Excellence program that the District is implementing was looked upon as an opportunity for the City to consider a joint project at the two middle schools. The District has plans to renovate, but not expand, the Jordan and Jane Lathrop Stanford (JLS) Middle School complexes and has funds set aside for these projects. A number of communities, including neighboring Mountain View, have joined with their school districts to build joint-use athletic facilities. The Mountain View facility is a new stand-alone facility, not expansion of an existing facility. Staff conducted an informal needs analysis of existing programs and projected population growth. Components of the analysis included the number of current participants, interviews with all known users of gymnasium, facilities, program scheduling, available gymnasium space and possible new space acquisition, future population growth, and future program demands. Information was gathered from the Palo Alto Family YMCA, the YMCA Gymnasium Task Force, the Albert L. Schultz Jewish Community Center, District staff, City staff, interested individuals and enrollment forecasts from Lapkoff & Gobalet Demographics Research, Inc. CMR: 4t6:99 Page 1 of 5 Large participation numbers in school and community programs, and projected population growth demonstrate the need for additional gymnasium space. Programs where the shortage is most critical include middle school athletics, YMCA basketball and City-sponsored adult sports programs. Existing gymnasiums are used extensively throughout the year, with the November through March basketball season being the peak use period. Projected population growth will increase future need. District enrollment forecasts indicate an 18 percent growth in the middle schools and a 17.5 percent high school population growth in the next five years. For example, by the year 2002, an additional 420 gymnasium hours are estimated to be needed to serve 1800 children in the YMCA basketball program. Adult sports will be impacted by the large "Baby Boomer" generation, which is anticipated to remain active longer, increasing the demand for athletic facilities. Senior sports participation is already strong and continues to grow. Middle School Athletics: The Jordan and JLS gymnasiums are utilized September through April for the middle school athletics program. Seventeen volleyball and 39 basketball teams serve approximately 600 children. Games, once they begin, utilize all available gymnasium space. All practices must then be conducted outdoors; many are cancelled due to inclement weather. Some teams practice as early as 7:00 a.m. or as late as 7:30 p.m., in order to secure gymnasium time, YMCA: The Palo Alto Family YMCA conducts its comprehensive basketball program, January through March, for approximately 1,380 boys and girls. All available gymnasium space in Palo Alto, and some in Menlo Park, is used for its basketball program. Some practices go as late as 10:00 p.m. on school nights due to lack of available gymnasium space. This shortage of gymnasium space resulted in 292 children being turned away the past two years. The YMCA convened a special task force in July 1998 to analyze the need and assist in securing additional gymnasium space. This task force included a City Council member, School Board member, Palo Alto Family YMCA Executive Director, Palo Alto Recreation Superintendent, Palo Alto Unified School District Business Manager and YMCA Board members. The Task Force was successful in securing a small amount of additional gymnasium space, but not enough to meet the identified need. City of Palo Alto Adult Sports Program: The City’s Adult Sports program is seeking additional gymnasium space to meet increasing demand in basketball, volleyball and badminton. An indoor soccer program could also be instituted, reflecting the growing popularity of this sport. The wood floor in a gymnasium would be invaluable in serving other growing City programs including gynmastics, dance, table tennis and martial arts. DISCUSSION The District is open to discussing any workable option at existing middle school sites or other sites, as evidenced by the attached letter of endorsement. (Attachment CMR: 416:99 Page 2 of 5 A), Options explored by the City and District staffs, including advantages and disadvantages of each option, are detailed in Attachment B. Existing Middle School Sites Expansion of an existing middle school gymnasium is possible, but presents some practical problems that would need to be overcome. The current Building for Excellence program identifies improvements that need t6 be made to the existing gymnasiums, including handicapped access and upgrading floors, walls, locker rooms and restrooms, costing $1,860,000 at J-LS and $1,626,576 at-Jordan. These renovations will need to be done whether or not new or expanded gymnasium facilities are built and will exhaust all available funding. The District has no funds available for a joint project on an existing middle school site, so, at present, any additional construction would have to be at City expense. Building for Excellence projects at JLS and Jordan have progressed to the point that to redevelop the Master Site Plan or alter the campus would involve additional costs and result in delays for redesign. Additional time would be needed to develop an agreement between the City and the District. Pursuing this option would likely delay the needed renovations promised to the community, if the process was reworked to include a joint use gymnasium~ Thus, construction of an expanded or new gymnasium on existing sites might best wait until current Building for Excellence projects are completed. An expanded or new gymnasium on a current middle school site creates other impacts. Swimming pools, tennis courts, basketball courts and/or parking may have to be moved, depending on when (or where) the project occurs, and where located, costs could range from $120,000 for three tennis courts to $2,000,000 for a new swimming pool. Replacement of these facilities for a new gymnasium would likely encroach on existing turf area, negatively impacting outdoor community sports programs. Palo Alto currently has a shortage of turf area and this option would create other community issues. A new gymnasium may be some distance away from the existing locker rooms, creating logistical concerns for all users. New Gymnasium at Third Middle School Discussions are underway by the Board of Education to identify a third middle school site. Many options are being explored. City and District staffs agree a new site that allows building a new gymnasium with proper amenities and proper siting would be highly desirable. Should the District reacquire an existing site currently being used for other purposes, an existing gymnasium(s) may be available. However, all sites being considered for reacquisition have room for expansion or building of an additional gymnasium. Possible reacquisition sites were not analyzed, as the District has not identified which, if any, it would pursue. CMR: 416:99 Page 3 of 5 Gunn High Schoo! The Gunn High School Booster Club is developing a Sports Complex Master Plan, which may include an additional gymnasium. However, athletic schedules are much heavier in the high schools. Multiple boys and girls teams in sports such as volleyball, basketball and badminton already create a shortage of available gymnasium space for the high schools, without any community use. Palo Alto High School has a second gymnasium and access to either of its gymnasiums is almost non-existent, due to their extensive activities. Additionally, the high school population is projected to grow by 17.5 percent in the next five years. Shared Use and Maintenance Should the project become a reality, shared use would need to be defined. The concept City and District staff have discussed is similar to that employed in other jurisdictions, including Whisman Sport Center in Mountain View. The schools would have exclusive use when school is in session. City and community use could occur when school is not in session. While the Mountain View agreement could serve as a template for a joint use gymnasium operation, Palo Alto City and District staff would need to work together to develop an actual agreement regarding shared costs and operational procedures. The City and District do have a history of successful shared gymnasium uses including Middle School Athletics and the Safer Summer programs. RESOURCE IMPACT Gymnasium cost estimates, provided by the District and Vanir Construction Management, indicate that a new, stand-alone gymnasium floor without locker rooms, bathrooms and other activity rooms could cost as much as $190 per square foot. Thus a 12,000 square foot expansion, using $190 per square foot as an estimate, would cost $2,280,000. No locker rooms, restrooms, offices or auxiliary rooms would be included. The same cost estimates show a new. 40,000 square foot facility, including site work, gymnasium floor, lobby with toilets, offices, corridors, and locker rooms with showers and toilets, could cost as much as $206 per square foot, for a total cost of $8,240,000. Construction on an existing middle school site could create additional relocation and maintenance costs, ranging from $120,000 for three tennis courts to $2,000,000 for a swimming pool. As previously noted, the District has no funds available at this time for an expanded or new gymnasium on existing middle school sites. Any additional construction on the current middle school sites would have to be at City expense. Additionally, the District may or may not be able to fund the increased maintenance if an added facility were on an existing site. However, the District is able to contribute land to a potential project. No funding is currently identified for a third middle school site. Should a third middle school be built on a new site, the District would include a CMR: 4t6:99 Page 4 of 5 gymnasium in the construction. The City presumably would only pay for the additional gymnasium space, making this potentially the most cost-effective option for the City. Some one time funding assistarice could come from Proposition 12 the Clean Water, Clean Air, Coastal Protection and Safe Neighborhood Parks Bond Act, which will be on the March 7, 2000 ballot. This bond act requires only a simple maj ority vote for passage. POLICY IMPLICATIONS A commitment to enter a shared project with the District to build a gymnasium would compete with the City’s other funding priorities. TIMELINE If Council were to proceed in a joint gymnasium venture with the District, an undetermined amount of time would be needed for an agreement between the City and the District to be concluded and City funding identified. The design and approval process would then take approximately 12 months; the construction of the gymnasium would take approximately, additional 15-24 months. ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW This is an informational report, not requiring California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) review. ATTACHMENTS A. Palo Alto Unified School District endorsement letter. B. Joint City/District Gymnasium Options. PREPARED BY: Barry Weiss, Recreation Superintendent DEPARTMENT HEAD~ J[ PAUL THILTGEN Director, Community Services CITY MANAGER APPROVAL( City ManLager~~ CMR: 416:99 Page 5 of 5 PALO ALTO UNIFIED SCHOOL DISTRICT 25 Churchill Avenue ¯ Palo Alto, CA 94306 Telephone: (650) 329-3737 ¯ FAX: (650) 321-3810 OFFICE OF THE SUPERINTENDENT DATE:November 30, 1999 TO: FROM: RE: June Fleming Don PhilIips’~. Joint Use of School Gymnasiums The Board of Education and District Staff believe that by pooling resources through the City of Palo Alto and the School District we can better serve the needs of the District and the community. We believe that one area of need is for additional gymnasium space to support school and community-based recreational activities as well as intramural team youth and adult sports activities. We support the notion that locating additional gymnasium space on a middle school site would be optimal given the pragmatic needs at the middle school level and the centrality and size of a middle school campus to support joint use projects. We are also open to explore other possible steps, including our two high school sites for additional gymnasium space. In particular, Gunn only has one gymnasium and a second gym would be very helpful to the ongoing physical educational sports programs at Gunn and also add additional community athletic space. The challenge would be in providing sufficient gym time to address the broader community need. The School District staff has worked with the City staff to review needs, options, and associated costs. While many of the details need to be worked out, we believe that a joint use gymnasium facility could help better serve the athletic and recreational needs of the young people in our community and the broader adult community. The next steps from the School District perspective include agendizing the City report on a Joint Use Gymnasium Project and concurrently reviewing District program and facility priorities to determine the priority the District places on pursuing a joint use gymnasium project. We are pleased with the efforts to date and the spirit of cooperation between the City and District staff and believe that we all have much to gain from pursuing a City/School District Joint Use Gymnasium Project. ATTACHMENT B JOINT CITY/DISTRICT GYMNASIUM OPTIONS J.L. Stanford Middle School Expansion could possibly occur. The existing swimming pool may need to be relocated. An additional gymnasium could be built near Fairmeadow School, on the existing turf area. Advantages Adult access may be addressed if ~dults were to enter the facility from Mitchell Park. The current swimming pool is old. A new pool would benefit all users. Disadvantages Adults may not enter the Mitchell Park as desired. site tkom Relocating the existing swimming pool could cost up to an additional $2 million. No City or District funds presently identified. Due to lack or adequate space on campus, this option could produce additional gymnasium floor space but probably not the needed lockerooms, restrooms, offices for multiple staff, auxiliary rooms or possibly even bleachers. An additional or expanded gymnasium, depending on when the project occurs, could create other impacts, such as: " Replacing tennis courts or basketball courts would add cost to the project. ($40,000 per tennis court, $15,000 per basketball court) ,/ Relocating the parking would cost an additional $292,000. ¢" Relocating parking would encroach on existing turf area, negatively impacting outdoor community sports programs such as soccer and baseball. ¢" Building on the existing turf area, would negatively impacting outdoor community sports programs such as soccer and baseball. ¢" Placement on the existing turf area by Fairmeadow School would place the gymnasium away. from the existing locker rooms creating logistical problems for users. Jordan Middle School Expansion could possibly occur. The existing swimming pool may need to be relocated. An additional gymnasium could be built on the outdoor tennis courts and/or the west end of the turf area. Advantages Jordan has slightly better adult access than J.L. Stanford Middle School. The current pool is old. A new pool would benefit all users. Disadvantages The lack of space tbr an additional gymnasium is even more pronounced than at J.L. Stanford Middle School. Relocating the existing swimming pool could cost up to an additional $2 million. No City or District funds presently available. Due to lack of adequate space on campus, this option could produce additional gymnasium floor space but probably not the needed locker rooms, restrooms, offices for multiple staff, auxiliary rooms or possibly even bleachers. An additional or expanded gynmaslum, depending on when the project occurs, could create other impacts. ¢" Replacing tennis courts or basketball courts would add cost to the project. ($40,000 per tennis court, $15,000 per basketball court) ,/ Building on the tennis courts and/or the turf area would encroach on existing turf area, negatively impacting outdoor community sports programs,such as soccer and baseball. ¢" Building on the existing tennis courts and/or the west end of the turf area would place the gymnasium away from the existing locker rooms creating logistical problems for the users. ,/Replacement basketball courts would encroach on existing turf area, negatively impacting outdoor community sports programs, such as soccer and baseball. Gunn High School The Gunn High School Booster Club is developing a Sports Complex Master Plan, which may include an additional gymnasium. Advantages Disadvantages Increases the gymnasium inventory.No City, District or Booster Club funds presently identified. lhis would probably not serve the community’s need as high school athletic schedules are much heavier than the middle schools and the high school population growth is expected to grow by 17.5% in five years. Palo Alto High School already has a second gymnasium and access to either of their gymnasiums is already limited due to their extensive activities. New Third Middle School Site City and District staffs concur that an ideal option for building a new gymnasium would be at a new third middle school site. Advantages and disadvantages detailed below are only for a new site. Reacquisition of an existing site was not analyzed as one has not been identified. Advantages Vlost cost ett~ctive option,third A third middle school is needed. The existing two middle schools are crowded with an increasing population presenting a strong need for additional classrooms. City and District could work cooperatively, from inception, to design, construct and appropriately site a joint use facility that meets both District and community needs. This presents a better opportunity to share construction and operation costs. This option provides the possibility of building a double gym with auxiliary rooms, including a weight room, dance/exercise room, and staff offices for both District and City staffs. These facilities are needed to accommodate more children, offer programs for a variety of interests and allow multiple staffs to operate efficiently. Disadvantages Obtaining land tbr a middle school site. No City or District presently identified. timds