City drops grant funding into downtown center

Elise Gee

COSTA MESA -- Under pressure to use or lose the federal grant

funding it has had for three years, the City Council this week approved

$1.7 million in additional funds for the Downtown Community Center

construction project.

The city was in jeopardy of losing the federal grant funding, which would

pay for the majority of the project, because deadlines for spending the

money were either near or had passed.

The $1.7 million in additional funding accumulated because the council

had asked to add amenities and redesign the center a number of times in

the last year.

The entire cost of the project to rebuild the World War II-era building

at 1860 Anaheim Ave. is estimated at $4.7 million.

“It started out kind of as a rebuild of what was there. Then we added the

pool, we expanded the gym, we added this, we added that,” said Mayor Gary

Monahan. “I think it’s a good investment overall. I think it’s very much

a center that needs to be redone.”

There was very little debate Monday about the amount of additional

funding needed because the council has been approving the various

additions to the project for the past year.

As of May 1998, construction costs were expected to be $2.2 million.

Construction costs now are estimated to be $3.8 million.

Some of the increases in cost are due to the following changes:

* Increasing the center by 4,000 square feet for a separate room to house

the city’s gymnastics program and additional space for Childs-Pace, a

child-care program that has been at the center for 22 years.

* Adding a new swimming pool.

* Adding sidewalks to meet federal requirements for wheelchair access.

* Completing a redesign to meet new earthquake safety standards.

* Landscaping, gutters, curbs and an altered parking lot.

When construction costs are combined with costs for services and

contingencies, the total estimated price tag comes to $4.7 million. The

city will pay for 25% of the project, with the remainder being paid

through state and federal grant funding.

“Part of it has to do with (Community Development Grant Funding), and if

we don’t spend the money, we’re going to lose it all,” said Councilwoman

Heather Somers.

Somers said adding the sidewalks was mandatory and that she supported

increasing the size of the center to accommodate the gymnastics and

Childs-Pace programs, both of which are “incredibly good.”

But she questioned installing a swimming pool and said she would have

preferred investing the city’s effort and money in one at Costa Mesa High

School.

Monahan noted the center was designed in response to what users said they

wanted the center to look like.

John Levere, director of Childs-Pace, said the city made a good effort to

involve him in the planning process.

“We’ve been part of it since they started, and even narrowing it down to

programs that would be in the building -- we were part of that process,

too,” Levere said.

The city has set an ambitious goal of having the center built by

September 2000, but it’s probably more realistic to expect it to be

completed in February of 2001.