Agenda - 10-30-2000-1 - Laserfiche WebLink

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MEMORANDUM TO: Dave Stancil FROM: Kathryn Spatz RE: Planned Chapel Hill Capital Projects DATE: July 19, 2000 This is in response to the recent meeting regarding planned parks and recreation projects in various jurisdictions, including Chapel Hill. The following is a narrative list of projects, funded and unfounded in Chapel Hill. Homestead Park/Proposed Aquatics Facility: The Board of County Commissioners agreed to provide $145,000 toward completion of the Chapel Hill Skate Park at Homestead Park. Funds were used to construct the restroom /concession building and to extend utilities to the site. Utilities were extended in a manner that could allow easy accessibility for the proposed aquatics center, if that facility is constructed. This leaves $855,000 remaining of the $1 million originally committed to Homestead Park by the County. Margaret Brown was appointed by the Commissioners to serve as the County representative on the Homestead Park Aquatic /Community Center Conceptual Plan Committee. We anticipate that approximately $1.2 million of the Town's 1996 Parks bonds will remain after completion of Homestead Park. If the balance of both Town and County bond funds were combined we would have approximately $2 million for any future project. We believe this is well short of the funding necessary to design and construct a quality aquatic /community center. We are not far enough along in the planning stage of this project to provide cost estimates. However, our consultants have noted that regional figures for aquatic facility construction range from $150 to $200 per square foot. Our experience has shown that, in the past several years, our construction costs tend to be on the high end (or beyond) of most standard ranges. Based on an assumption that an aquatics facility could occupy up to 15,000 square feet of a 30,000 square foot facility, we would assume that the design and construction of this proposed building could cost approximately $4 -6 million, not allowing for inflation. Southern Community Park: The County has provided $105,000 for the lighting and irrigation of the athletic playing field at Scroggs Elementary School. The remaining $895,000 committed by the County is the only current funding anticipated for the Southern Community Park project. In September 1998 the Council forwarded a suggested timeline for a bond sale to the County Commissioners. The timeline included $100,000 in 1999 for the conceptual design phase of the project. I am aware that the County Commissioners have recently approved the use of up to $50,000 for developing a master plan for the park, Although we have not started a conceptual plan process for the Southern Community Park, we believe that our experience at Homestead Park can be a guide in estimating the cost of this project. We estimate that $4 to $5 million may be a