Title
Recommendation to Receive an Update and Provide Direction on a New City Aquatic Facility. (Recreation 280)
Body
To: Honorable Mayor and Members of the City Council
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY
The City of Alameda (City) and Alameda Unified School District (AUSD) are currently working collaboratively to address immediate health and safety repairs at Emma Hood Swim Center, located at Alameda High School, as required by the Alameda County Department of Environmental Health (ACDEH). Both agencies are also working to finalize a long-term pool replacement plan with timelines and milestones to present to ACDEH. This plan must be provided to ACDEH by May 31, 2019 or, if an extension request is approved, by June 30, 2019.
This report provides a financial analysis, details of possible city owned sites, land options, analysis of fees and usage, and a draft Memorandum of Understanding with high-level concepts.
BACKGROUND
In February 2019, staff from AUSD informed Alameda Recreation and Parks Department (ARPD) staff that ACDEH would be closing the Emma Hood Swim Center, located at Alameda High School, as of May 31, 2019 for health and safety concerns.
City staff met with ACDEH staff to discuss options and came to a general agreement that ACDEH may allow the pool to remain open with two primary conditions required of the City and AUSD:
1) Provide a plan by May 31, 2019 to make repairs as approved by ACDEH to address the primary concerns.
2) Commit to building a new City Aquatic Facility (City Facility) and by May 31, 2019 to submit a long-term plan with key milestones and a timeline to open a new facility.
On March 5, 2019, City Council received an update on the status of the Emma Hood Swim Center at Alameda High School, including immediate repairs required, the ACDEH requirements and opportunities for a new City Aquatic Facility (Facility). Mayor Ashcraft and Vice-Mayor Knox White were appointed to serve on the Pool Ad-Hoc Committee (Committee). The Committee has met weekly and is comprised of two AUSD Board Members and one student liaison, two City Council Members, three aquatics community members, Alameda High School (AHS) Principal, Encinal High School (EHS) Athletic Director and other staff. There is also the Alameda Aquatic Alliance, which includes representatives from across all aspects of the Alameda aquatic community. They meet weekly to discuss community priorities for the new Facility development and the three community representatives serve as liaisons to bring that information back to the Committee. This collaborative approach has served all parties and has enabled the Committee to have in-depth respectful and productive conversations.
On May 7, 2019, City Council heard an update on the current recommendations from the Committee and approved $250,000 for the immediate repairs required.
Staff met onsite with ACDEH staff to confirm the repair scope of work and request a one month extension for the repair and timeline/milestone plan. It is anticipated that ACDEH will provide a written response by May 17, 2019. The AUSD Board of Education is discussing issues related to land options in closed session and the repair funding in open session at its meeting on May 14, 2019.
DISCUSSION
There are several key issues on which City Council requested more detailed information for discussion.
Financial Analysis
A financial analysis is detailed on Exhibit 1. New aquatic facility construction is expected to cost $12,000,000 including soft costs and construction escalation. This estimate does not include an indoor component. If the new Facility were on AUSD land and an agreement was finalized, the land value is estimated to be $2,350,000 for 43,000 square feet (just under one acre) based on a very draft conceptual design at the Emma Hood site that expands the existing area.
The ongoing City costs will increase including the new Facility maintenance and utility costs plus an annual replacement fund for repairs and to put funding aside for future renovations. A full-time Aquatics Program Coordinator will be required to provide staff capacity to program year-round swim lessons, rentals and activities. Currently, only portion of one staff person’s time is dedicated to spring and summer swim lessons plus scheduling aquatic user groups. This staff time allocation would not be sufficient for expanded programming needed both to fulfill community interests and to raise revenue that is needed to offset maintenance expenses. The revenue shown is an estimate based increased swim lessons and rentals, birthday parties, recreational swim and activities, and concessions.
Staff anticipates that if a new Facility is opened, then it will provide sufficient capacity for all City programs. In this case, the joint use agreement with AUSD for continued maintenance and use of the Encinal Swim Center will no longer be required.
Potential City Owned Sites
The Committee has reviewed ten potential locations and the top recommended location is an expanded area at the current Emma Hood Swim Center. Exhibit 2 shows a rough estimation of a conceptual layout with the intent to show that the components requested by the community can fit at this site if the tennis court on Oak Street is moved to the underutilized baseball infield area and other smaller areas are pushed out, which in total nearly doubles the area.
At its May 7 meeting, some council members asked staff to review City-owned sites as a back-up plan. The two most feasible city owned locations are shown below with pros and cons listed for each. Aerial layouts depicting the total area required for each site is shown in Exhibit 3.
The old pool area to the west of the O’Club
Pros:
• City ownership
• Available public transit and parking options
• No immediate impacts on neighbors from lighting/noise. However, this area is zoned residential as part of the Main Street Neighborhood for future Alameda Point plans.
• There is sufficient area for the elements requested by the community, especially if all or part of the old tennis courts to the west are incorporated.
• There is anticipated to be sufficient infrastructure for this site since utilities could be connected to the utility mains in Main Street. A new EBMUD meter would be required and a permit for this can take up to one year.
Cons:
• This location is not centrally located and is therefore less accessible to residents on Bay Farm Island or on the east end of the City. With a newer swim center at EHS, a new Facility at this site would then create two new aquatic facilities on the west end of Alameda and none of the east end.
• It is too far to serve AHS students.
Lincoln Park, including the existing pool and additional area
Pros:
• City ownership
• Centrally located enough to serve all residents, especially if considered in conjunction with Encinal Swim Center.
• Existing utilities and water meter from the Lincoln Park pool.
Cons:
• Extremely limited parking. Site layout shown does not add a parking lot.
• Poor public transit
• Many neighbors live immediately adjacent to the park and this would be a new impact with increased noise and night-time lighting.
• Providing enough site area requires removal of numerous very large, well-established trees.
• Potential impact on the current Lincoln Park pool that is managed and operated by the Alameda Swimming Pool Association. There have been no discussions with this organization.
• A closer site to AHS but not within easy walking distance.
Land Options with AUSD
On May 14, the AUSD Board of Education is discussing the legal issues and options for any land use or transfer of the Emma Hood pool site to the City. A sale of the land would require a “7/11” process in which AUSD would need a committee to first declare the area as surplus and the site then goes up for public sale. The Committee considered this option as far less than ideal as it’s not guaranteed the City would even be able to purchase the land since it would be sold to the highest bidder. Another potential option is a long-term lease. Staff is requesting direction on whether City Council would be willing to consider a long-term lease for the new Facility.
Fees and Alameda High School Usage
ARPD’s Athletic Facility Allocation Policy stipulates that all Alameda schools, including AUSD, have priority over community organizations to reserve time at a City facility. The Committee agreed that for a Facility built on AUSD land, Alameda High School aquatic teams should be guaranteed priority use at least equivalent to their current usage. The current Swim Center Joint Use Agreement (Exhibit 4) prioritizes AUSD use from one hour prior to the beginning of school to one hour after the end of a school day and the City has priority use before and after these hours. However, actual AUSD usage is during the water polo season (late January to late May) plus diving and swimming season (August to mid-November) on weekdays from 3:00pm to 7:00pm, some weekday mornings and some Saturday mornings. In some of these instances, the team is using the Dive Pool and a community organization is using the Comp Pool. City staff agrees that in a new Facility, AHS aquatic teams will remain prioritized for all of their games/practices and weekend tournament use.
Both the Committee and Council have discussed fees and whether to charge AHS for the use of a City Aquatic Facility. The Committee discussed options for putting parameters on waiving fees so there is clarity for future use.
Staff recommends that fees are waived for all AHS team games/practices plus one weekend day tournament per team per season for those hosted by an AHS team. Currently, each team participates in two tournaments each season. One is hosted by AHS (fees waived under this proposal) and one tournament is hosted by the school’s divisional League. Fees are proposed to be charged for League hosted tournaments because the League, not the school district, pays these fees and these tournaments are hosted in rotation throughout the area, such as at Chabot College, which charges fees for these tournaments. In addition, any other revenue-generating tournaments hosted by AHS teams will be charged the regular fee. These are not currently occurring but may in the future. The City will also retain revenue from Concessions. AHS does not currently provide its own concessions during meets so this will not impact the teams but will provide a key revenue source for the City.
As shown in the financial analysis, this new Facility is anticipated to recover approximately 58% of total costs. This is average for a public aquatic facility. Therefore, it’s important to carefully balance waiving fees with the overall cost to operate and maintain the Facility.
Memorandum of Understanding (MOU)
A draft, high level outline of a potential MOU is attached as Exhibit 5. This has not yet been reviewed by either the Committee or AUSD Board of Education. Both the City and AUSD Board will need to finalize and authorize this MOU by either May 31, 2019 or hopefully June 30, 2019 if ACDEH grants a one month extension as requested.
ALTERNATIVES
If no further action is taken to build a Facility, then the ACDEH will “red-tag” and close the Emma Hood Swim Center at AHS. AUSD and City will continue to jointly operate and fund the Encinal Swim Center.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
There is no direct financial impact from this report and direction. The construction cost to build a new Facility, dependent upon location and final design, is roughly estimated to be $12,000,000. The ongoing annual maintenance and operation costs will increase from $136,000 (funded from the Recreation Fund 280) for the joint use agreement to maintain both EHS and AHS swim centers to approximately $315,000 to maintain a new Facility and include a replacement fund and program staff.
MUNICIPAL CODE/POLICY DOCUMENT CROSS REFERENCE
There is no municipal code reference for this report and direction.
ENVIRONMENTAL REVIEW
Status reports and studies that do not commit the lead agency to a specific development project are statutorily exempt from the California Environmental Quality Act.
CLIMATE IMPACTS
There are no climate impacts from this report and direction.
RECOMMENDATION
Receive update and provide direction on a new Facility.
CITY MANAGER RECOMMENDATION
The City Manager is seeking direction from the Council on how the City Council would like to move forward with the School in determining a site location for a new facility. A partnership with the School District would be beneficial to both public agencies and the public.
I believe that the staff recommendation provides a fee proposal that attempts to serve both agencies’ needs. However, staff is seeking alternative thoughts from the City Council and School District. The major concern from a staff perspective is to provide for adequate ability for the City to obtain cost recovery of at least 60 percent of its costs while providing the School District an affordable amenity for its use.
Respectfully submitted,
Amy Wooldridge, Interim Assistant City Manager
Exhibits:
1. Financial Analysis
2. Layout Option at Alameda High School
3. Potential City Sites
4. 2016 Joint Use Agreement
5. Draft Memorandum of Understanding
cc: Eric Levitt, City Manager