The old William E. Walker Recreation Center at Leo J. Ryan Park.
Plans to rebuild Foster City’s recreation center are moving ahead, despite initial ambivalence over the high price tag and long-term structural deficit.
Construction bids for the project — which would include solar panels, the addition of a bocce court and playground — came in around $55 million, which does not include a 10% contingency, or allocated funds for unexpected costs.
The estimate is lower than the most recently anticipated $65 million cost, and with new budget calculations for fiscal year 2023-24 showing a better financial position than just a couple months ago, Councilmember Sam Hindi said he was more comfortable supporting the project, despite lingering apprehensions.
“At this point, I’m letting these new developments on the fiscal side, as well as the lower bid, alleviate my concerns currently,” he said. “But that does not eliminate my concerns for the financial situation of the city and the future. We do have a structural deficit coming in for the next five years and, quite frankly, I do not see a financial strategic plan that addresses how the city is going to tackle those financial challenges.”
Plans to rebuild the city’s recreation center, located in Leo J. Ryan Park, have been in the works since 2016, with the process punctuated by budgetary and pandemic-related delays. Though the recent fiscal year showed a $4 million surplus per the most recent estimates — up from the originally projected $6 million shortfall — the city still anticipates a long-term structural deficit, which had given several elected officials pause on whether to move ahead on the rec center project. Hindi and Mayor Patrick Sullivan had floated ideas for a bond measure or other financing mechanisms to fund the project in previous council meetings in light of fiscal concerns.
“Am I pleased to see it’s way under budget? Absolutely. Do I think it’s the state-of-the-art? No. Do we want the state-of-the-art? Maybe we do, maybe we don’t. But it’s not going to be revenue generating,” Sullivan said.
Room rentals are one of the recreation center’s primary sources of revenue, and the new facility would provide more than double the current rental capacity, which was an important consideration, Parks and Recreation Director Derek Schweigart said.
“We looked at opportunities. If we were going to generate revenue from this particular facility, the one thing we generate a lot of revenue from is our rental business, so how can we capitalize on that, to help it cover the cost for other things that perhaps doesn’t pay for itself?” he said.
The council also unanimously agreed to direct remaining project balance funds back into the Capital Asset Acquisition and Replacement Fund.
(650) 344-5200 ext. 102
Daily Journal staff
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Dirk van Ulden said:
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(1) comment
Well of course they would – gotta reward those union folks with jobs and generous wages. Don’t worry, Foster City, you’ll see more fees and taxes and assessments to pay for this expensive albatross even though the city is already deep in the red. BTW, don’t count on this project costing $60 million. I’m predicting it’ll be a minimum of $70 million when all is said and done.
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