IceRink - Redesign to Reduce Construction Costs

City Council on Ice Rink
Approval to Redesign to Reduce Construction Costs
June 2, 2008

Item 5B3 on the City Council Agenda for June 2, 2008

Streaming video of meeting

Once it starts playing you can go directly to the ice rink item by choosing "5.B.(3) AUTHORIZATION TO EXECUTE AN AMENDED..." from the list underneath the picture.

Staff Report

Asked the Council to approve another $406,000 for the architect to redesign the proposed building to try to save money on construction.
Additional expenditures will be made to rebid the contract and otherwise pay for city staff time, adding up to about a half million.
They are hoping to save $1.1 million or more on the construction cost.
The expected savings are via unspecified "structural foundation revisions" and making the exterior of the building of mostly "block wall construction", resulting in "reduction of expansion joint requirements and drywall finishes". (I.e. think of the fortress walls of Bed Bath & Beyond, Petsmart, etc, but the entire 450 feet of the ice rink wall would be on one vertical plane.)
The redesign is expected to provide about 5000 additional square feet for spectator seating. No mention of how many seats that equates to.
The resulting building is expected to be less energy efficient then the current design but otherwise the interior functionality is expected to be equivalent. The exterior will be less aesthetic but may cost less to maintain.
Now expect construction to start by spring 2009 and take about 16 months.
Mentions expecting to resolve construction access and "other agreement-related" issues between the city, Edison, and PCC by the end November.

Finance Committee Meeting

The item was heard first by the Council's Finance Committee at 3 pm. But this meeting was a joint meeting with the full Council because they were also discussing the City's Operating Budget for 2008. The only Council members absent from the committee meeting were Gordo and Madison. The item took about 15 minutes.

Public Works director Martin Pastoucha summarized.

Said expected $800,000 or more net savings.
Only "area of play" is structural system
"Side benefit" is additional seating on balcony.
Redesign is to be completed through summer.
He offered to show the "design elements", but no one took up the offer so no drawings were shown.

Councilman Tyler had some questions.

Tyler asked about financing. Pastoucha said they are working on it.
Tyler asked about "construction cost benchmark". Pastoucha said not applicable because of the unique issues with the site, but the benchmark is around 250 to 285 per square foot. This project is only in that ballpark if the $4.5 million footprint cost is not included. (He did not go into any detail, but what he was probably referring to is the difficulty in accessing utilities, ground stability issues that require the use of piles, possibly the extra cost for construction access.)
Tyler asked if the architect had done ice rinks before. Answer was yes, example given was Valencia ice center.
Tyler asked about the reference to reduction in energy efficiency. Answer included a few details about problems with air stratification and avoiding condensation. Mentioned block walls absorb moisture so additional work is needed to avoid sweating. There was more indirect daylight in former design which reduced need for indoor lighting and resulting heat generation. Council indicated they didn't want so many details.
Tyler asked if building would still be able to meet LEED certification requirements. Answer was that it could be difficult but staff was not yet asking for an exception to the city's requirement that all city building projects meet LEED requirements. Said they are still looking into ways to insulate the block walls.

Staff was asked about the mentioned unresolved problems with PCC and Edison.

Answer was that it is the construction access.
The existing agreement with PCC is just verbal and hasn't been taken to Council yet. It does not allow construction access via the PCC parking lot. Edison has given permission to go through the east side of the park. So that is the plan that was included in the defunct construction bid process last winter. PCC was "adamant" about not allowing construction access due to too much potential conflict with students. But city staff plans to re-approach them on that.

Haderlein asked how a stronger case can be made to PCC.
Acting City Manager Melekian indicated they would be coming back to Council regarding the financing. The PCC route would be better from a cost standpoint.
Pastoucha was asked isn't it necessary for the route to be decided before it is put out for bids again. Answer was yes, it should be.
Haderlein asked for an update on the PCC matter in two months. Tyler indicated it could come via a "green sheet". (That is a way the staff uses to distribute information to all the Council members without it being on a public meeting agenda.)

The finance committee approved increasing the architect's contract to do the redesign.

More Information

Afterwards, our association president met with Segun, the city's planner for the project and got more information.

City staff had looked at projections for three possible alternate designs and the block wall construction was the most feasible.
The proposed concrete block wall construction is much heavier then the previous steel column design, but the weight is spread out more. The structure will still need pilings but instead of them all being 40 feet deep, some inner ones will only need to be 30 feet deep.
The roof connections are much simpler for concrete block design.
Concrete is expensive, but steel prices have really been soaring. It is the saving on the amount of steel that really makes the difference.
The "extra" seating space comes from moving the east wall back out above the locker rooms instead of having a balcony. In other words, returning to the original configuration before they moved the wall in to save money on the roof and air conditioning costs. Expected to result in a potential seating capacity of about 500 again.
No built in bleachers/seats are planned on the "balcony". That'll be up to the operator.
Colors/patterns of block walls are part of what is to be determined during redesign. Expects the exterior of the blocks to be rough, probably painted. Translucent blocks are still expected in "random" pattern in the lower east wall to allow light into the locker rooms / offices.
Electricity to come to site either down the center of the park (under the lot) or around the park on the west side. PWP to determine which is best later.
Water and sewer are to come from/to our neighborhood, probably via upgraded pipes on Alameda.
Still plan to have a reservoir for ice melt which can be used for landscape watering, including a connection that the park could link to at some future time.
No mention of solar arrays now; none were in plan before.
Preliminary drawing shows some large windows which extend off the top of the east wall. These windows would allow light in, but not visibility. Same drawing also still shows green screen frameworks that plants would supposedly grow up on from base of building. There is also still the shadow box sign and wierd parapet, although it looks like different materials.
Probably no trees on east side because of Edison wires. (However, if the park can have trees so near the wires, why not the rink project?)
Segun said landscaping is still in the budget but agreed that might suffer as an easy target for cutting as a "do later" that may never happen. But he agreed that staff should not cut it on its own; should force Council to make any such decision and promises.

Council Meeting

There were a number of ice rink supporters who spoke about how much it is needed and how they need at least 500 seats to have the events they think they should have, and how they need a commitment that the current rink won't close before the new facility is open. Also mentioned that important to have it open before the 2010 winter olympics because of the interest that will generate.
Madison and Gordo both made very gung-ho statements about getting it done ASAP and supporting the speaker's statements about having enough seating and not skimping on functionality.
No one said anything about the stated purpose/goal of the rink not being to host large events and that isn't where the revenue is expected to come from. And the approved environmental documents specify 2 to 4 large events per year.

Next steps

Revised design expected to go to Design Commission in August time frame.
City staff may hold a community meeting prior to that.
City staff should be bringing financing revisions/options to Council sometime during the summer.