News

A new vision for the Community Center

by Chris Kotterman

Two months after being taken by surprise by the ballooning costs of the much anticipated Takoma Park Community Center, Takoma Park residents are reshaping the project to fit their vision.

The Citizens’ Liaison Committee, along with Ward 3 Takoma Park City Councilmember Bruce Williams, the council’s construction liaison, have been working to address concerns regarding aesthetics and project oversight. Williams is delivering weekly updates on the project, reviewing costs, expenditures, and proposed square footages. Williams also highlighted upcoming decisions.

According to documents provided by Williams, the city has $8,394,157 in revenue dedicated to the community center. Of that, nearly $7,560,000 has been spent, leaving a balance of nearly $835,000 for further change orders and additions to the project.

On April 26, the council approved a $331,000 proposal from Knott Construction, the city’s current contractor, for a reorganization of interior space. The redesign will move the entire city staff into offices on the third floor, allowing the cur-rent office space to be used for community purposes. The redesign would consume nearly 40 percent of the remaining budget, but the council expressed a desire to move forward while Knott’s price was locked in.

"I think we would just be throwing away the best opportunity to get this done at the lowest cost," Williams said.

The council placed a call for bids on the redesign, but none of the bids returned was less than Knott’s. Three outside bids ranged from $389,000 to $632,000.

Ward 5 Councilmember Marc Elrich cited the interior as a priority over aesthetic concerns.

"If you do the exterior stuff but don’t do the inside, you don’t have a community center," he said.

Ward 4 Councilmember Terry Seamens objected to the decision, while Ward 1 Councilmember Joy Austin-Lane said that she had reservations, but stopped short of opposing the move.

The precise color of the roofing materials and exterior brick were also chosen in April. The roof will be a gray tone that more closely matches the original concept drawings, and the building’s exterior will be an aged red brick. A sample of the brick can be found on the lawn outside the Takoma Park Municipal Library.

The Citizens’ Liaison Committee will make decisions about colors in the future, and the council will ratify them, except in cases where there is an extreme difference in cost, said Mayor Kathy Porter.

Committee chair Howard Kohn said that the committee would like to stick as closely to the original colors as possible.

In coming weeks, the council must also make a decision on the so-called "Option A," which would renovate the main floor of the municipal building for use entirely as community space.

Additional costs may also rise out of renovating aging heating, ventilation, and air conditioning systems. While original plans called for the reuse of two of the building’s four air handling units, the old equipment may not be completely up to the task without some work, Williams said.

Meanwhile, the committee is working to restore as many of the original design elements as possible, including the gym. At a meeting on April 13, Kohn estimated that even if all of the proposed funding comes forward, the city will still need $250,000 to complete the original interior design.

The committee’s own rough estimates place the unfunded exterior pieces, such as the library façade, "green" roofs, and other decorative items at $850,000. The Takoma Foundation has begun raising funds, and had raised $60,000 as of April 13.

"We’ve just begun to ask for money, and there are a lot of people out there that would like to give money to this," said Linda Norkin of the Takoma Foundation. "But they need to see a commitment that we are moving forward."