Council votes to retain project manager for pool project By Craig Howard
Splash Contributor
While it may not be time to step up to the diving board or hop in the water for a few conditioning laps, the Liberty Lake City Council moved closer to the reality of an aquatic center on Tuesday night.
By a unanimous vote, the governing board agreed to retain a project manager for a pool and community center on the site of Town Square Park at a price tag of $50,000. The funds have already been set aside in this year's budget.
"This discussion is about the best way to deliver a project," said City Administrator Katy Allen. "The residents want to know what it's going to cost and what they're going to get."
In addition to securing a project manager, the money will cover the city's application to the state's Project Review Committee, the group which approves "design-build" methods of construction. The city is leaning toward a "progressive design-build" strategy, led by what Allen described as "a team based on their experience and approach to your project" as opposed to the traditional bid process.
Gary Bernardo of Bernardo Wills Architects told council on Tuesday that design-build projects represent "the lowest risk and most reliable, accurate method." Bernardo was involved as a consultant with a citizen-based Community Facilities Task Force that researched site options for the pool/community center.
"With this approach, you have a very strong certainty that what you're showing to the public, you can actually afford," Bernardo said.
Allen said progressive design-build has been used effectively by entities like the University of Washington and Sea-Tac Airport.
"You're aligning the scope and budget, saving time and putting more dollars toward construction," she said.
The $50,000 will also pay for procurement of a design-build team, legal review and mapping out of a budget. Allen said the selection of the project manager will occur between now and the end of the year.
Council remained wary of the dollar amount affixed to the entire plan, which would include retention of a design-build contractor, program development, design concepts, a construction estimate and building schedule. That lineup rang in at a cool $100,000, not counting a $25,000 contingency.
Adding in the agreed-upon $50,000, the overall expense of $175,000 left some around the dais reticent about the city committing too much for development costs alone. Council Member Keith Kopelson described it as "sticker shock."
"I'm concerned about spending $175,000 moving ahead with a project without knowing it's going to be approved," said Council Member Bob Moore.
The additional $125,000 would need to be approved by council in the 2016 budget. If endorsed, Allen said the funds would likely come from revenue generated through the real estate excise tax.
Allen said the funds would represent the "good faith" investment the task force was hoping for from the city, a gesture that would not only lower the cost of a capital facilities bond but also indicate the city's level of commitment to the project, possibly influencing voters.
Council Member Dan Dunne said he "enthusiastically supported retaining a project manager."
"I think it's critical that voters be informed of the objective of the bond," Dunne said.
Mayor Pro Tem Cris Kaminskas said residents considering a property tax hike to build the facility "will want to know what this project is all about."
The estimated price of the pool/community center is $11.2 million, not including operation and maintenance costs. The project would cover 16,000 square feet and be built on land owned by the city. Town Square Park already occupies 2 acres of the overall 6.4-acre site on Meadowwood Lane.
The city's anticipated timeline, as outlined by Allen, would include hiring a design-build contractor sometime between January and May of next year, holding public outreach meetings between May and August and putting the initiative on the ballot in August. A capital facilities bond requires a supermajority of at least 60 percent for approval.
Regional sports complex appeal
Another sports-related project shared the stage with the Town Square dialogue on Tuesday night.
Spokane County Commissioner Shelly O'Quinn and Doug Chase, director of Spokane County Parks and Recreation, provided an overview of an ambitious regional sports complex plan that would include, among other sites, an area around the HUB Sports Center in Liberty Lake as well as the county park on the banks of Liberty Lake.
The idea was initiated by the discussion to build a downtown sports complex, O'Quinn said.
"We heard these conversations and thought, ‘Why not the Valley?'" she said.
Under the plan, the grounds near the HUB would be the new home of eight softball fields and one multi-use field as well as parking, illumination and a maintenance building. An upgrade at Plante's Ferry Park would mean 13 soccer fields and five softball fields with synthetic turf and illumination.
The next step is to commission an economic impact study that would estimate the ripple effect of the new and improved facilities on the communities involved, particularly on businesses like hotels and restaurants as the sites host tournaments and other events. O'Quinn said the collaboration would ideally include the cities of Spokane Valley and Liberty Lake, the Central Valley School District and the Spokane Regional Sports Commission. The cost of the study – in the neighborhood of $48,000 – would be split among the entities that sign on.
"We look at this as a greater Valley partnership," O'Quinn said.
Liberty Lake has yet to commit funds to the study, although Mayor Steve Peterson has attended meetings of the sports facilities advisory committee.
"We need to be very diligent about what we can find out for ourselves before we go out and spend anything," Peterson said. "I want to make sure we have a good understanding of what this means to us."
The county has talked about a levy lid lift to pay for the project, though nothing has been finalized. O'Quinn said it would be ideal to have the economic impact study completed this fall, utilizing the same consultant hired to address the downtown project.
"We're still in that gathering information place so we can move forward next year," O'Quinn said.
Dunne said the study would provide "an opportunity to understand what the impact of this project would be."
"I value the notion of a third party opinion here," he said.
Chase referred to a survey from March that included 1,600 respondents from the areas of the county that would be affected by the plan. A total of 1.51 percent of registered voters in Liberty Lake responded to the questionnaire and ranked upgrades at Liberty Lake County Park as the first priority followed by additional fields near the HUB. Improvements at Plante's Ferry Park came in third.
Council Member Odin Langford pointed out that the votes cast by Liberty Lake voters on any kind of funding initiative would be irrelevant in the big picture.
"Whether the city votes for this or not is immaterial," he said. "We don't have the voting power to outweigh the rest of the county."
Wayne Frost, chair of the HUB board, said the study "would provide the answers." The HUB now generates an estimated $6 million in economic impact each year.
"You're willing to spend $50,000 (on the Town Square project design phase) but not $12,000 on this?" Frost said. "There's a lot of history behind this. These facilities bring money here from other places."
Peterson recommended a combined meeting with representatives of the county, Liberty Lake, Spokane Valley, CVSD and the sports commission before the city agreed to pay a portion of the study. The mayor said the gathering would take place sometime in the next two weeks.
In other city news:
• Council voted 3-2 (Shane Brickner and Hugh Severs missed the meeting with excused absences) to require all voting members of the planning commission to reside within city boundaries. Currently, up to two of the seven standing members can be non-residents. The ordinance will be changed to take effect at the start of 2016. The change, initiated by Moore, who served four years as chair of the commission before joining council, would allow two adjunct (non-voting) members to be non-residents.
• Allen said the city "has struggled with the numbers to justify the full interchange" at Henry Road. The future project is receiving early indications that while off-ramp construction might pass an interchange justification report required by the Federal Highway Administration and the Washington State Department of Transportation, on-ramp construction may be problematic based on growth projections and future buildout in Liberty Lake. The project received funding support in the last state legislative session.
• The city plans to install three flashing traffic beacons to improve pedestrian safety at the intersections of Molter and Boone, Molter and Country Vista and Mission and Malvern. An illuminated speed monitor will also be installed on Mission near Rocky Hill Park alerting westbound traffic to stay within the posted speed limit. Allen said the equipment should be in place within four to six weeks.
• Council will be presented with the mayor's budget for 2016 on Oct. 20. There has been talk of raising the fees at the Liberty Lake Ballfields to parallel rates in the city of Spokane. Fees for large events (over 100 people) at Pavillion Park may also be increased.
• Allen said the city is consulting with municipal attorney Sean Boutz about adding more clout to its code enforcement policy based on "ongoing issues and concerns with certain properties."
• The next City Council meeting is scheduled for 7 p.m. Oct. 6.
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