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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.
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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?
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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.
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Rich Wagner, C air Terry Mex~doza, H.R. Assistant
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