The City of
Pasadena is proposing to develop an ice rink facility or jointly develop it with a private partner.
Where is it?
The
official project site is on city owned land between Eaton
Wash on the west and the Southern California Edison land (power lines)
on the east, south of the new Viña Vieja Park and north
of city water and power land north of the power substation. (If
you extend a line west from the end of Alameda, it would be north of
that.) The project
site is said to be 3.13 acres. It is on
"dedicated parkland" in an area zoned as "open
space".
Here is part of
an illustration
of the ice rink
project location (303 kb) prepared by the city.
In order to access the project site, some of the Southern California
Edison land to the east and south of the city parcel and the Pasadena
City College driveway from Foothill Blvd are also required.
Why do it?
The
impetus to do this project initially came from a desire to displace the
"out of date" ice rink in the Convention Center in downtown Pasadena
prior to the end of the
agreement with the Pasadena Ice Center (it's operator). The goal
was
to free up the current location so it can be returned to its original
use as a ballroom as part of the much larger Convention Center
expansion
project. The city needed to
make the Pasadena Ice Center want to agree to termination/replacement
of the existing contract which runs until fall of 2011. The City
Council decided that the city should continue to have an ice rink
facility.
Under the original proposal, the
city would build this commercial "state of the art" facility using
tax-favored municipal revenue bonds and it
would be operated under contract by the current ice rink operator, which would give up its lease on the current facility.
Current State
At its September
14, 2009 meeting the City Council was unable to reach a decision to
direct staff to continue work on the project. The project is
effectively dead for now. It could be rejuvenated if someone puts
forward a proposal that requires fewer financial resources
from the city. Or at a future time when the fiscal situation is
less severe. This will remain a possibility until the land is
used for some other purpose and/or a full ice rink facility is built
somewhere else.
The ice rink
facility design was considered to be complete. It was presented
to the
city's Design Commission for comment three times, and was expected go
before the
City Council for approval when the the final approval for the entire
project was made. However, at the time the Council was being
asked to make the decision, neither the design nor the Design
Commission's comments were presented to it.
As of October 2008 the City had signed an easement with PCC for
access and agreement had reportedly been reached (but nothing signed)
on terms for using the easement for both operational and construction
access. This tentative agreement needs needed to be confirmed prior to
the Council approving the project to go forward, but that was not done when the Council was asked to approve construction.
There was reportedly agreement in principle with Edison for the
site plan of using its property and the financial terms.
From 2007 to 2009, the main holdup was construction financing
because the expected revenues did not cover the cost. In July
2009, City Staff was recommending using taxpayer general fund
dollars to cover the difference between revenues and financing costs
for an expected 10 years. They projected having extra revenue
after that (presumably to pay the
general fund back, although it isn't actually stated that extra revenue
would be used to pay back the general fund).
In pursuit of additional revenues, the City began talking with the Los
Angeles Kings in 2008. This resulted in the current ice rink
operator being replaced in plans for the new facility by a corporation
named Polar Ice Ventures, LLC. It promised to bring in
considerably more revenue and utilize tie-ins with the LA Kings for
promotion.
At its August 3, 2009 meeting the City Council was presented an
alternative plan under which the city would "ground lease" the site to Polar Ice
Ventures and in return for any profit
they would take on the risks of construction and revenue shortage or
over
expenditures. However, in challenging
financial times the City Council was reluctant to spend general fund
money on the project and so far no proposal has been able to project
that a subsidy would not be needed over the first 10 years. So a
decision was put off in hopes of additional information changing the
calculations. At the September 14 meeting, a somewhat revised
proposal for ground lease negotiations with Polar Ice Ventures was
presented. With one member absent (Gordo) the
Council came one vote short of agreeing to go forward, effectively
ending work on the project. Voting against were Council members
Tornek, McAustin, and Holden. Voting to go forward with
negotiations were Council members Madison, Haderlein, Robinson and
Mayor Bogaard.
If the
City Council had approved construction in August 2009,
city
staff projected the project would be completed about September
2011, just in time for the end of the lease on the current Convention
Center facility. (Considering that every other time estimate has
been short, this one probably would have been too.)
Project Description
Concept
The stated
purpose of the facility is for recreational use. Public skating,
amateur hockey games, and ice skater practices. The environmental
report states that only two to four major events will be held each
year.
Only such major events would be expected to draw substantial numbers of
spectators and traffic. Potential major events that have been
mentioned are hockey tournaments and ice skating shows.
The building will house two NHL sized ice rinks. The notion is
that organized events such as hockey games can be played on one surface
while the other remains available for public skating. City Staff says
that two rinks brings in more then twice the revenue of one and costs
less then twice as much. Amenities include locker rooms,
restrooms, pro shop, skate rental, snack bar.
There was also a "party room" in the plans, which could be rented for
such things as birthday
or company parties. It is not clear whether that is still in the
plans after the January 2009 interior redesign (no details of the
resulting design have been made public). The room was also
expected to be available for
community group meetings, but with the change in operator this may no
longer be true.
The building was designed to be a "green" building, including meeting
environmental certification for a high level of energy
efficiency. It is designed to let enough sunlight in and redirect
it to light the facility during the day, but not enough to heat it
up. When the building was redesigned in 2008, some of the
efficiency of the original design was lost - a trade of lower
construction cost for higher operational cost.
Building Size
The building is
to be about 500 feet long (north to south) and 116 feet wide (east to
west). On the east side, the roof ranges from 34 feet above grade
on the north end to 40 feet above grade on the south end. (This
is because north to south the roof is continuous at one elevation while
the land slopes down north to south.) The roof slopes slightly
down to the west for rain runoff. The building entrance is
in the middle of the east side. Above it is a "parapet" which
extends to 54 feet high. Viewed from the east side, the parapet is
an empty rectangular shape. Viewed from the south or north it is a
solid rectangular shape above the east side of the roof.
Access/Parking/Traffic
Vehicle access
to the ice rink facility is to be from Foothill Blvd via the PCC-CEC
driveway, through the PCC parking
lot, then along the eastern side of the ice rinks building to the ice
rinks parking lot located north of the building. The first
portion of
the route is PCC
owned land, then Edison land leased by PCC for its parking lot, then Edison land under a lease
agreement with the city.
The city reportedly has reached agreement with PCC for access.
The
actual contract will not be finalized until after the City goes forward with construction. Details of the
agreement
have not been made public. However:
The
Conditional Use Permit for the ice rinks facility requires a new
traffic signal to be located on Foothill at the entrance to the PCC
parking lot. This will make it possible to left turn out of the
lot
and make the other turns safer, a benefit to PCC visitors as well as
ice rink patrons. As of July 2006, the city was anticipating
making
the driveway and the intersection of Foothill with Titley into an
intersection controlled by one set of lights. (There is a
separate
capital improvement project to cut Titley through to Walnut and
Kinneloa using the existing fenced off freeway underpass.)
The layout of the parking lot is to be reworked to improve the route through it and the interaction with PCC students.
On a site location
drawing
provided at the Design Commission concept review, there is a box just
south of the water well (on Pasadena Water & Power land west of the
north end of the PCC lot) labeled as a City/PCC warehouse,
approximately 22,000 square feet. There was a rumor in spring of
2005
that one of the things PCC wanted in return for allowing access via the
parking lot was for the city to build a warehouse for PCC.
It
was mentioned in a Finance Committee meeting on July 13, 2009 that in
consideration of allowing construction access the City has provided PCC
with some kind of help in upgrading a ball field.
The August 3.
2009 City Council Staff Report identifies the cost of Edison lease as
being $15,000 per year. No detailed information has
been publicly released about the proposed "site plan", but Edison was
reportedly very close to approving it.
The
parking lot for the ice rinks facility is between the ice rinks
building and the off-lease dog area of Viña Vieja Park.
The lot will
contain the city ordinance required 143 spaces.
The environmental Initial Study states that the intention is to arrange
for overflow
parking for major events using existing parking facilities such as the
PCC lot or elsewhere with a shuttle service, but states that if that is
not feasible, additional parking could be developed under the power
lines. To develop additional parking under the lines the
Conditional Use Permit would have to be modified. The August 3,
2009 City Council Staff Report indicates that the Edison lease may
provide for additional parking under their lines; there has been no
acknowledgment that doing so would require changing the CUP.
Parking will be
free for the ice rinks. PCC
charges for parking in their lot. City comments indicate a belief
students won't be willing to park so far away just to get it free, and
that it'll be up to ice rink security to keep students from parking in
the lot.
There was going
to be pedestrian only access between the park and the ice rink parking
lot, but that has reportedly been removed from the plans. (We had
hoped it would offer a relief valve for dog park parking.)
The current pedestrian
path
from our neighborhood to the park is supposed re-located soon with an entrance where Las Lunas intersects Alameda.
Plans and the environmental study indicated there will be two
emergency
access gates, one to the park, and one to Avocado at
Alameda. These are to be controlled by the police and fire
departments. However, one of Edison's issues with a site plan
they were presented by the city was reportedly emergency access, so it
is possible that basic plan has changed.
According to the
environmental Initial Study, the city
completed a "traffic analysis" in July 2004. According to it, the
expected increase in traffic due to the ice rinks facility is:
Weekday PM
commuter
hour: 27 cars in, 33 out
Weekday 24 hour
period: 315 cars in and out
Weekend mid-day
peak hour: 147 cars in, 45 out
Weekend 24 hour
period: 434 in, 434 out (this is supposed to be the maximum
- for a sold out hockey tournament at most twice a year)
Layout
Inside of Building
Inside the
building, the rinks are laid out lengthwise north to south on each end,
with spectator seating, locker rooms, offices, and janitorial rooms to
their east. From the entrance between the rinks is a ticket
booth, lobby, restrooms, party room, skate rental, pro shop, snack bar,
and office. On the west side of the middle of the building are
mechanical, electrical, and maintenance equipment areas and a loading
dock which is entered on the west side of the building from the south. The north rink's
elevation is 3 feet higher then the middle area which is 3 feet higher
then the south rink.
Spectator
Seats
The exact number
of spectator seats is unknown. As the building was repeatedly
redesigned it went from a total estimate of 500, to 300, to maybe 400
something. Part of the reason for this is that there will
potentially be additional temporary seating above the
locker rooms/offices and it will be up to the operator to furnish
that. There was also some interior redesign in early 2009.
The revised plans have not been seen publicly.
East
Side of Building
The eastern face
of the building is the primary face because that is where the entrance
is.
The
building structure is concrete block, most of it described as "smooth
face masonry block... black...with exposed color aggregate."
The entrance is in the middle of the east face of the
building.
The entrance is described as a "storefront glazing system", in other
words, glass windows and doors. On each side of the
entrance is another set of big glass windows in front of some stairways
on the inside.
Adjacent to the rink areas of the building are six large "projecting
boxes" which are described as "enclosed in Polygal, a solar-grade
polycarbonate multi-wall system". Their function is described as
being to "break up the horizontality of the building", but apparently
they let light through too
Beneath the projecting boxes are black smooth masonry blocks with a few translucent glass
blocks randomly interspersed. The glass blocks allow light into
the locker rooms and offices on the inside during the day, and will
emit a faint glow to the outside when lights are on at night.
Skylights are to allow daylight into the interior where
it is to bounce from the metallic coated ceiling.
On either side of the projecting boxes, a "green screen" extends up the
wall from a planter box at the base of the wall. A "green screen"
is essentially a metal lattice
designed for use as a trellis. The width of the green screen
varies in blocks between 4 and 8 feet, supposedly creating a semaphore
that spells out "Pasadena". Violet trumpet vines are supposed to
grow onto the
green screens, eventually completely covering them.
The entrance/lobby/etc area is framed by some dark red fiber cement panels, and the
dark red parapet. A large shadow box sign with 9 foot tall letters
that say "Pasadena
Ice" is attached to the outside just above the entrance. It was not to be
internally lighted, but it was said that light filtering out through the windows from
the
inside would somewhat back light it at night, and there might be a light at
the base of the building directed up onto it.
A sidewalk runs the length of base of the building on the east side.
West Side of Building
The west side of the
building faces the wash, and is intended to be partially screened by
the existing oak trees and additional ground level landscaping.
No drawing for the west face of the building was provided to reflect the redesign as of August 2008.
It is described as being "a largely blank wall with slight modulation,
with the exception of a metal mechanical equipment screen".
In the previous design there were a few
emergency exit doors. The
middle of the building is the back of the mechanical area and the
loading dock. That was to be screened by green painted metal louvers
to allow for airflow, with sound absorbing coating on the inside of the
louvers.
The base of the wall is black masonry block, except for two (probably
emergency only) exit doors from the south rink. A stairway starts
at the sidewalk in the middle and rises to the east. It appears
the stairway goes to the area above the locker rooms which may be used
for spectator seating.
Most of the wall is taken up by a "Polygal" window which will let
diffuse light in. Surrounding most of the window are "projecting
elements" clad in brick color stucco and white polygal.
The artist conception shows an electronic/LED sign adjacent to the top
of the stairs. This concept first appeared with the
redesign presented to the Design Commission in August 2008. It
was described as just a possibility, if there was enough money, and
subject to the yet to be done Master Sign Plan.
Above the roof on the right side, the red box of the
parapet in the middle of the building is visible. To the left
of the south wall, some of the loading ramp and/or louver screening for
the mechanical equipment may be visible.
Along the base of the south side of the building is a fire lane access
road to the rear of the building and the loading dock.
The north face mirrors the design of the south face except that the window on the north side is clear glass.
Landscaping
The existing
oak trees along the wash are to be left in place.
Additional trees and shrubs around the perimeter of the parking lot
are supposed to prevent car headlights from shining into the adjacent
neighborhoods. A wall or fence could be used instead of shrubs on
the eastern side, but the footings for a wall on the western side would
damage the oak tree roots.
Drawings provided to the Design Commission (LP1.1 and 1.2) on 8/11/2008
show:
the existing oak trees to the west of the building and parking lot
dwarf coyote brush for ground cover west of the lot and the
building
In the parking lot
Australian willow trees
The drawing legend identifies California Bay trees and Chitalpa trees, but the staff report says Chinese Flame trees.
LP1.1 shows ground morning glory for ground cover, but LP1.2 shows several varieties of "native plant" grasses
four trees are shown south of the building,
none are shown east of the building.
None of the
drawings presented to the Design Commission show anything beyond the
city property boundary. So we
have no indication as to what might be to the east of the access
road, except that the city planner has said Edison would not allow any
trees (although they allowed them in the park). Some kind of
plant screening will be important since cars exiting the parking lot
will be facing directly east.
In May of 2005, a request was
made by Councilman Haderlein for a buffer between the ice rink project
and Avocado Avenue. City staff stated in their staff report for
the August 8, 2005 council meeting (where the council approved numerous
items) that a landscape
buffer could be included
for around $65 thousand. But the council did not discuss
it
and indicate it should be included in what was approved. But
after the meeting the
councilman said it is included. There has been no written
evidence of it
in anything from city planners, but the planner stated at the August
11, 2008 Design Commission hearing that "the city has committed in
writing that there will be some
landscape screening along Avocado." And "have budgeted that".
A preliminary
rough estimate of cost was 12 million. But the city needed to get
schematic plans
before making a better estimate. They said some amenities could
be cut from
the proposal to reduce costs to fit within the estimate since that is
the amount the revenues were expected to support.
As of December
2006, the City Council was presented new estimates that the
revenues would support 13.2 million and an
additional 3 million in costs will come from the Civic Center expansion
budget.
All along it was expected the city would issue municipal revenue
bonds (called Certificates of Participation)
to pay for it. These are bonds
which
are supposed to be paid back by revenue from the project. We were
told in 2005 that taxpayer funds would not be used. If it
couldn't pay for itself, it wouldn't be built.
When put out for construction bid at the end of 2007, the lowest bid
was over 21 million. So the building was redesigned for a lower
cost of construction. Between the redesign and the soured
economy, the lowest construction bid in March 2009 was just under 18
million. With a 10% reserve, it comes to 19.6 million.
In July 2009 the cost is projected to be 26 million,
including the already spent 3 million from the Civic Center.
After a couple years of ramp up, city staff is projecting annual revenue of nearly 2
million. That of course has to pay for the bonds, maintenance,
operation expenses, and operator profit.
In mid-July 2009 city staff was recommending issuing $21 million in revenue bonds.
During the first 10 years the projected revenue would be less then the
expense of paying on the bonds, so the city would need to subsidize the
project from the general fund. In other words, spend taxpayer
funds. However, staff projects that after that time revenues will
exceed costs and by the 17th year the city would be coming out ahead.
Due to the poor financial climate and the risks to the city's finances
with it as a city controlled project, at the August 3, 2009 city staff
instead recommended pursuing a different financial scheme. The
city land would be leased to Polar Ice Ventures (PIV) and it would
construct and manage the rink. The city would issue tax exempt revenue
bonds, but responsibility for paying them would reside with PIV.
In return for taking the risk, it would also get any profit. The
city would take care of the access route, agreements and leases with
PCC and Edison, and getting utilities to the site, and probably also
need to put some up front cash in. This proposal did not fare
very well once the Council realized how much they would probably need
to put into the project up front.
On September 14, 2009, city staff presented to the Council a somewhat
revised version of the proposal. The city would lease the land to
PIV and PIV would be responsible for
both building and running the project. The proposed lease would
be for 30 years with two 10 year extensions. PIV would select their own
building contractor (one they have
worked with on another rink), would assume the construction costs
risks, "reduce construction costs through value engineering",
provide construction management and oversight (thereby reducing those
costs). As a result it is believed that "capital costs" might be
reduced to $18 million (more study required). But he
staff report indicated that PIV was only willing to take
on responsibility for $10 million of debt. The city would have to
be responsible for the other $8 million. Additionally,
projections showed the cash flow coming up a million dollars short of
what was needed to pay off the bonds during the first 3 years so the
city would have to pay that difference also. The Council
was unable to agree to go forward with negotiations on the terms
outlined, so the project essentially died, at least for the time being.