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HomeMy WebLinkAbout12-23-2009 ~ f /~T~ ttk _•-•--,y F ~ " r COMMUNCOMMITTEE ' AN-L-Jis WASH WGTON December 23, 2009 MINUTES I. CALL TO ORDER Chair Rich Wagner called the meeting to order at 1:09 p.m. in Room 3 located on the second floor of Auburn City Hall; 25 W. Main Street, Auburn, WA. Committee members present were: Chair Rich Wagner, Vice Chair Sue Singer and Member Lynn Norman. Staff members present included: Mayor Peter Lewis, ~ Councilmember Bill Peloza, Director of Human Resources/Risk & Property Management Brenda Heineman, Cultural Arts Manager Laurie Rose, Human Services Manager Michael Hursh, Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber, Finance Director Shelley Coleman, City Engineer/Assistant PW Director Dennis Selle, ProjecUConstruction Manager Steven Burke, Economic Development Manager Dave Baron, Planning/Building and Community Development Director Kevin Snyder, Facilities Manager Lisa Torres, Principal Planner Jeff Dixon, Information Services Director Lorrie Rempher, Parks, Arts and Recreation Manager Julie Brewer, Visual/Public Arts Coordinator Maija McKnight and Human Resources Assistant Terry Mendoza. Also in attendance were: Tom Bates, BLRB Paul Breckenridge, New Market Tax Credit Consultant Aaron Anderson, Grants Manager-Boys & Girls Clubs of King County II. APPROVAL OF MINUTES A. Chair Wagner suggested a motion to approve the minutes of June 8, 2009, Vice Chair Singer so moved, member Norman seconded. Minutes approved unanimously 3-0. III. DISCUSSION Finance Director Shelley Coleman and consultant Paul Breckenridge reported efforts in the last 30 to 45 days to work with US Bank in obtaining a Community Development Entity (CDE) and also to provide a loan for the entire package has been rejected. US Bank required guarantees that the City is unable to fulfill. The City will continue to explore other options for the New Market Tax Credit (NMTC) structure. Page 1 Communitv Center Committee Minutes December 23, 2009 Member Norman offered that maybe we should be reprioritizing the discussion to work on the Activity Center/Gym first since we are closer to getting the funding in place. We have good bids/pricing for it now and we could continue to work on both projects but move fonvard with the building of the Activity Center/Gym. Parks, Arts and Recreation Director Daryl Faber gave a status report on the Boys & Girls Club (BGC) of King County. The City has been in contact with them and both have reviewed and commented on a proposed term sheet for the project and then a Joint Operation Agreement. The issue is the additional $700 thousand gap in the funding which is beyond the $1.2 million that the BGC is willing to contribute right now. The idea is that they would have 100% use of the existing Parks and Recreation facility and then there would be a scheduled approximately 50% shared use of the to-be constructed Gymnasium. Aaron Anderson, Grants Manager of the BGC of King County stated that the $400 thousand was the amount that they felt comfortable with as a fundraising plan in Auburn based on their knowledge of what could be raised in Auburn without hamstringing operations going fonvard in Auburn. As of this date, no fundraising has been done and because costs have gone up and money has not been raised at this point, their Board has not approved any funding changes. The Recreation Facility project is in BGC's biennial budget and 2011 is when they can apply for a similar size grant to the one already committed by CTED. The BGC wants to be certain on the City's plans and with the City moving forward with the Activity Center/Gym portion of the project this is a good sign to them to begin moving forward with a marketing plan for fundraising. Human Services Manager Michael Hursh stated that we are moving forward with the HUD 108 loan. The draft pre-application has been submitted to HUD and they have responded with some changes. The reprioritization of the project and assigning a portion of the HUD funding to the Activity Center will be a good use of the funds in part since there is more general conduct of HUD-type business happening with the Activity Center than at the Community Center. Michael also reported that the King County Housing Authority role is that they are ready to be a silent partner (paper partner) for the formation of a QALICB (Qualified Active Low Income Community Business). Member Norman expressed her concerns about using Community Development Block Grant (CDBG) funds to repay the HUD 108 loan potentially diluting the uses of those funds and how adequately we can rely on CDBG funding. Further, a worst-case scenario is that we may have a need to use this money for housing repairs due to flooding. How do we make sure funds are available to be used for the Activity Center? Page 2 Community Center Committee Minutes December 23, 2009 Vice Chair Singer also posed a question regarding expectations on an increase in CDBG money. Human Services Manager Michael Hursh responded that the census occurs in 2010 and it takes about a year to pull the information. Given current funding, the result will be an improvement in the formula allocation which means an increase of approximately $150 thousand for the City in 2011. Chair Wagner commented that given the current reality, it makes sense to move fonvard with the Activity Center but we should not lose focus on the Community Center. Regarding property tax exemption Finance Director Shelley reported that it . would fall under the NMTC QALICB entity that is formed. Under this structure, we have put the land value of the park into the equation to increase the amount of funds we would receive. The property would be owned by this non-profit but these are sometimes not exempt from property tax. However, if formed by two government entities as a non-profit entity, it would be exempt from property taxes. This is one reason why King County Housing Authority could provide an advantage as a silent partner. Tom Bates from BLRB presented updated information on the re-bidding process costs and timing. They need to know once the City is firm on moving forward at least six weeks prior to re-bidding (ideally two months) allowing their staff to refocus. Tom stated that the costs from bids of April 2009 are adequate but the only caveat is to consider doing an updated cost estimate. Chair Wagner inquired about when the ideal window would close for re- bidding and Tom Bates responded that June 2010 is the latest they should advertise for bids again. Ideally, the sooner we get out with bids the better which means February, March or April. Bid prices do go up as the construction season progresses. Tom Bates also provided a 45-day scheduled timeframe on the pervious concrete parking lot design. BLRB will meet with the City to put together a firm timeline/schedule to include permitting. Regarding the Activity Center parking lot, Member Norman recalled that it was the opinion that if we decreased the buffer to the west we would not be getting a lot more parking spaces. Tom Bates of BLRB responded that they did add quite a bit more parking (28 stalls) and it can be expanded at a later time, as well. Vice Chair Singer mentioned that a few months ago it was brought forth at a King County Library meeting to expand the existing Library parking lot on Auburn Way South and make improvements. Page 3 CommunitV Center Committee Minutes December 23. 2009 Committee members discussed this and it was decided that the plans that are in place for the parking lot for the Community Center/Activity Center would remain intact since they meet current requirements. The project is the entire Les Gove Campus, and the count for legal parking stalls is included in the plans. Pervious concrete design will be both parking lots and will be separate plan bids and include storm water upgrades. BLRB will put together a proposal within the next sixty days (Tom Bates and Steve Burke will work on). ProjecUConstruction Manager Steve Burke reported on LEED status and that both projects are registered with the US Green Building Council (USGBC). BLRB needs to formally submit work on pre-construction and during- construction phases and pay fees. The Community Center is registered at forty points which is LEED Gold status but is at the lower end of LEED Gold and we may lose points along the way. Pervious concrete may not give us additional points as we are already doing many best practices with the rain gardens and infiltration. The Activity Center is registered for thirty-six points which is firm in LEED Silver standard but we are still targeting LEED Silver standard in both projects. Cultural Arts Manager Laurie Rose reported on the status of the three components of the art project. The artist for the Community Center project, Virginia Paquette, has partially completed two parts: the wood mantle piece which replicates the White River and the glass piece which is to replicate the Green River. Laurie will follow-up with the artist in January. Regarding Virginia Paquette, storage of her materials/project would be difficult, so the Committee decided not to move forward with her portion until the Community Center phase is ready to go for certain. Laurie Rose also reported on Bruce Myers, one of the artists from the finalist process who has indicated an interest in creating an artwork version of the already budgeted security gate for the Activity Center climbing wall. The committee agreed that they would like to move forward with investigating this part of the project. The artist who created "Threshold", the sculpture near the Community Center site, is very interested in potentially relocating it to blend in better. The artist who created the Community Campus sign may also be interested in relocating the sign. Chair Rich Wagner will work with Cultural Arts staff to explore both of these relocations. The Committee agreed to move forward with the phasing of the Community Center/Activity Center project. Member Norman made a motion to phase the Les Gove Campus project with the Activity Center (first phase) followed by the Community Center (second Page 4 Community Center Committee Minutes December 23, 2009 phase) contingent upon having legal issues resolved and financing in place. Vice Chair Singer seconded. The drop dead date for bids is April 30, 2010. A Resolution regarding the phasing of the Les Gove Campus project will be brought to the City Council at their meeting on January 4, 2010. A decision regarding phase two of the project, Community Center, will be brought to the January 18, 2010 meeting of the City Council. A Community Center Committee meeting will be scheduled for the week prior to the January 18th Council meeting. IV. ADJOURNMENT There being no further business, the meeting adjourned at 3:24 p.m. APPROVED THE c/Nr4~- DAY OF MARCH, 2010. ficujo~a-. n Rich Wagner, C air Terry Mex~doza, H.R. Assistant C/ Page 5