There are two major Los Altos Community Center Master Plan documents prominent on the home page of the Los Altos city website. The first is the 83 page executive summary .pdf file dated November 2009. The second the “Community Center Master Plan Graphics” .pdf file. The authors downloaded the two city documents on December 24, 2011.
Two City Posted Documents of Site Layout have Discrepancies
There are head-scratching discrepancies between the two documents. We have tried to
- present a summary of the current version of plan layout and traffic circulation of the Civic Center
- reconcile the small but significant differences between the documents’ competing visions of the site layout and circulation
- to digest the available project cost numbers and schedule dated November 2009
But first we wonder…Where is the update to this 2009 Executive Summary document? Why do the “Revised Preferred Scenario” graphics in the Executive Summary document not perfectly align with those of the other city document, the Master Plan Graphics .pdf? Why is it so hard for citizens to get information?
[doptg id=”1″]Parking Discrepancy?
In the Master Plan Graphics file, one can see that the area of the site which has been and is now the baseball field is shown in the plan as a green space with some nice trees or shrubs buffering the surrounding residences. (The baseball field is to move southward and will front on Hillview Ave.) The discrepancy is that in several places in the Executive Summary file that same green space is shown as parking. In fact, the Executive Summary lists this area as option 4B for mitigating parking issues, projecting 45 spaces could be placed here at a cost of $5.5 million. We encourage those living across from the existing baseball field to stay involved in the ongoing discussions about the future of this part of the site due to be part of Phase 3 and 4.
In the Executive Summary, the architect states that city council said surface parking was strongly preferred. Thus, the only underground parking included in the “Revised Preferred Scenario” is for the police department building. There are no above ground structures.
Scheduling of the Phases
Construction activity calendar midpoints are found on page 80 of the Executive Summary. We have gone to quite a bit of trouble to sort out which buildings/items are included in each phase of the construction of the Los Altos Community Center. Note that the ABC letters assigned to various elements of the project on the “Community Center Master Plan Project Graphics” document are not the same as the identification letters in the “Executive Summary.”
|
Phase |
Midpoint |
Includes |
| Phase 1 | May 2013 | Community center, police station, city hall |
| Phase 2 | May 2015 | Soccer, baseball fields, swimming pools |
| Phase 3 | May 2016 | Library |
| Phase 4 | May 2016 | Theater |
How long is a Phase? Up to 2 years
On page 57 we find the phrase “Single Phase Construction of approximately 18 to 24 months.” Looking at the construction costs, perhaps the $50M phase 1 will last two years, the $10M phase 2 about 18 months, and the $20M phases 3 and 4 will take two years total.
What about demolition?
It appears that for Phase 1 City Hall, Police and Community Center construction, the Youth Center will be demolished, while all other buildings remain open. Perhaps youth activities will be moved to the old Hillview Building. Only when the new buildings are nearly done, will the traffic circulation and parking require tearing down the old police station and old city hall.
It appears that for phase 2 pool and sports fields, the Hillview Building will be demolished. Fortunately, activites there will have already moved to the newly finished Community Center Building.
For the Phase 3 library, since the new building is to encompass the current site, library activity will have to move somewhere when the old building is demolished. Perhaps there will be room reserved in the new Community Center?
A Phase 4 Theatre – Really?
Wait – phases 3 and 4 will apparently begin and end at the same time or at least have the same midpoint?! Why are they treated as two separate phases? The executive summary chronicles the long process of the architect trying different “scenarios” ( layouts of buildings and traffic circulation) and being sent back to the drawing board by city council. One thing that stands out to the careful reader of the Executive Summary is that some 5 different locations for the Bus Barn theatre were bounced around before the one shown in the final(?) Master Plan Graphics file. The theatre location is as shown in the graphics file is taking up half of what was a spacious library parking lot in the prior scenario version. Are competing goals being realistically addressed?