Title
Recommendation to Approve the City Aquatic Center Project and the Recommended Funding Plan for a Total Project Cost of $35.5 Million. The City of Alameda has prepared an Addendum to a Mitigated Negative Declaration pursuant to Section 15164 of the California Environmental Quality Act Guidelines and no further environmental review is required. (Recreation 10051400)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
From: Jennifer Ott, City Manager
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (City) Aquatic Center (Aquatic Center) project includes a 30-meter competition pool, an activity pool, and supporting mechanical and administrative offices. The project has experienced increased costs of $5.5 million over the original $30 million budget due to a convergence of economic and site-specific challenges. This additional cost was included in the Fiscal Year (FY) 2025-27 Biennial Budget and while costs increased beyond original estimates, these investments are necessary to ensure the project's safety, resilience, sustainability, and long-term success to provide significant public benefits to the Alameda community.
BACKGROUND
The Aquatic Center, located on the west side of Sweeney Park Open Space Park (Jean Sweeney), will provide critical additional pool space to meet the increasing and unmet community needs for competitive and recreational aquatic programs. The City's community aquatic programs are currently held at the two swim centers at Alameda High School and Encinal High School through a Joint Use Agreement with the Alameda Unified School District (AUSD). However, these pools do not provide sufficient space to meet all community needs for youth and adult swim and water polo teams, lap swim, aqua fitness, summer camps and year-round swimming lessons. Since 2020, the Alameda Recreation and Parks Department (ARPD) has provided year-round programs with significantly increased participation numbers and continued waitlists that highlight the limitations o...
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