Consensus for Foster City rec center

Officials are almost unanimous in their preference for a flexible, multipurpose community space that includes an outdoor food and beer garden or café, and not a full-service restaurant, or a dedicated theater space — three big-ticket ideas that have been kicked around throughout the planning process.

The council’s vision for the outdoor food and drink area includes pop-up spaces for aspiring chefs to set up shop for maybe a year or two at a relatively low overhead cost. That way the food offerings would regularly change and the flexible space could be converted into something else at a minimal cost if the concept didn’t pan out.

The rec center building itself would be two stories tall and divided into two wings joined by an open lobby and two courtyards. The wings include spaces for events, art and ceramics and dance as well as a preschool, kitchens and a large multi-purpose community space. That space would be tucked into the hillside and could open up onto the adjacent meadow to create an indoor/outdoor performance area.

The building would be surrounded by a garden with gaming infrastructure — for example permanent chess boards — and enhanced and enlarged bocce courts, waterfront overlooks and flexible picnic areas. And a walking path to the amphitheater would be lined with sculptures.

The facility would also connect to the library, civic buildings and Foster Square. It would be located adjacent to the amphitheater at Leo Ryan Park, occupying most of the existing rec center’s footprint, and would entail about 250 parking spaces while another option that includes the full-service restaurant and dedicated theater calls for 400 spaces. There are currently about 186 parking spaces for the existing rec center.

During the meeting, Councilman Herb Perez said a new rec center is needed because the existing one, which includes 3,600 square feet, is old and rundown: the roof leaks, there’s mold and mildew and the air conditioning system doesn’t work, he said.

As for the proposed rec center, Perez wants to see less space devoted to bocce ball — the preferred concept entails four bocce courts — and he also doesn’t want trees in the parking lot because the roots might damage the pavement. In the proposal, the second floor occupies a smaller footprint than the first floor, but Perez wants the second floor the same size.

“It’s better to suck it up and do the second floor build now so you don’t have to rebuild later,” he said.

Some speakers felt the design disregarded the city’s senior population suggestively because there was no dedicated senior area, a concern that Mayor Sam Hindi addressed.

“The idea is to incorporate our senior citizens in the same complex rather than having a segregated place for our seniors,” he said. “Our seniors belong with all of us and we want to actually give them more space by having the entire center available to seniors, not just a senior wing. So this is a center for the entire community.”

Vice Mayor Gary Pollard wants to see the marquee located on the project site maintained and possibly upgraded so that it can be used for outdoor movie nights.

Councilmembers Catherine Mahanpour and Charlie Bronitsky were both absent from the meeting, but they liked the same rec center concept for similar reasons, according to statements that Hindi read.

The city has already pitched in nearly $300,000 for the conceptual design phase of the project. Refined project concepts with estimated price tags will be presented at a City Council meeting Nov. 26.

zachary@smdailyjournal.com

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