(April 25, 2017, 5:15 a.m.) -- LBCC's planned Aquatics Center is not on the April 25 agenda for LBCC Board of Trustees discussion regarding the possible feasibility of joint uses with the City. At March 28 LBCC Board of Trustees meeting, Trustee Sunny Zia extemporaneously requested that potential joint uses of the LBCC Aquatics Center, among projects listed for funding using a June 2016 voter-approved LBCC bond measure (Measure LB), be placed on the Board's agenda for information and discussion (factors pro / con) at next month's (April), or the following month's (May), meeting of LBCC's Board of Trustees.
LBCC's next regularly scheduled Board of Trustees meeting is on May 23, six days after a scheduled City Council vote on appeals filed by a number of residents who cite various grounds to oppose approval of legal entitlements (draft EIR, related project approvals and a zoning variance, approved without dissent by LB's Planning Commission) to construct a $103+ million Aquatics Center along the beach in Belmont Shore. [scroll down for further] |
If a Council majority were to approve the legal entitlements on May 16, city officials would then seek Coastal Commission approval, and if approved at that level, would begin awarding contracts...which would disclose to taxpayers the project's now-expected total cost (likely in excess of $103 million projected several years ago.] LBCC Trustee Zia's March 28 request for information and discussion on possible joint uses with the City came after Gordana Kajer and Ann Cantrell spoke during the period for public comment on non-agendized items to urge LBCC to explore the issue with City Hall. Ms. Kajer and Ms. Cantrell are among opponents of the proposed Belmont Shore Aquatics Center, currently slated to consume roughly $60 million from LB's (shoreline restricted) Tidelands Funds, still leaving the project roughly $40+ million short of money from somewhere to begin construction. The LBCC Aquatic Center is funded (through the voter-approved LBCC bond measure) for a pool with the same dimensions as an Olympic-size, competition-level pool (50 meters by 25 yards) proposed for Belmont Shore...but without other elements proposed for the Belmont Shore Aquatics Center (including high diving boards, a warm up pool and other amenities.) In addition, major cost-drivers for the proposed Belmont Shore facility are measures needed to deal with shoreline seismic issues (which doomed the previous, now demolished Belmont Plaza pool. (Opponents have also cited forecast sea-level rise as a reason not to expend such a large sum along the shore.) Trustee Zia indicated that in response to the public testimony, she was interested in information that could invite discussion of a joint use...and noted that after receiving the information the Board may or may not wish to entertain the joint use issue further.
At the March 28 meeting, LBCC Interim Superintendent-President Ann Marie Gabel extemporaneously offered a quick overview of the matter, sparking a Board colloquy: Interim Sup't-President Gabel: ...The City approached us in wanting us to go in partnership with the City, so basically take the $28 million that we had allocated [from the bond proceeds] to build an Aquatics Center here on our campus, they had asked us to take those funds and put it into the Belmont Plaza project. We denied that request for many reasons but primarily because it's not in the best interest of our students. Our swimming pool is used from probably 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. almost every single day which includes weekends and so in looking at trying to do a joint use with the City, we don't have a whole lot of free time that would be available for residents of the city to use. The other aspect is we are building one swimming pool and the Belmont Plaza I believe has five swimming pools which includes a diving platform, a complex that seats over 2,000 individuals, a warm-up pool, I mean it is a complex. What we are building will be one pool that will meet the needs of college and will be in accordance with the competition needed for a college and not necessarily the competition needed for the Olympics, which is what is proposed at the Belmont Plaza. Since then, LBCC has hired a new Superintendent-President -- Dr. Reagan Romali -- who'll encounter the issue nearly immediately.
The LBCC planned Aquatics Center came to LBREPORT.com's attention through LBCC's Feb. 28 publication of its "2016 Citizens' Oversight Committee Annual Report" which included the following: Upcoming Construction Projects The Annual Report further states: [Oversight Committee Annual Report text and graphic] This project is the construction of a new 50 meter x 25 yard pool as well as a 12,000 sq. ft. (approx.) shower/locker facility in a location near the existing pool. The existing pool has extensive maintenance and repair problems that cannot be cost effectively addressed, thereby requiring this project...
The LBCC Aquatics Center was included in LBCC's "2041 Facilities Master Plan" issued in May 2016, listing and describing various projects that LBCC said it would fund using the Measure LB bond revenue (approved by voters in June 2016.) (Property owners within the LBCC District, including Long Beach, Signal Hill, Avalon and part of Lakewood, will now pay $25 per year for every $100,000 of their property's Tax-Assessor assessed value.) Among the Master Plan-described projects is the LBCC Aquatics Center: [Text in LBCC Facilities Master Plan]...BUILDING W- AQUATIC CENTER
In addition, LBCC's official Measure LB "Project List" -- the legal representation to taxpayers of items to be funded by the then-proposed debt-bond -- included the following: "...(ix) Repair, improve and construct additional athletic laboratories, including an aquatic center, to serve District students, members of the general public and qualified athletic organizations
The LBCC Aquatics Center is currently planned just south of Carson St., between Faculty Dr. and the Tennis Courts, close to the large parking lot at adjoining Veterans Stadium. Its planning and design phases are scheduled to begin soon, with planning anticipated to begin in the summer of 2017 and design to follow in 2018. During these phases, initial assumptions for a relatively simple pool could presumably be upgraded -- at some costs and with issues not yet examined or discussed -- to include larger spectator audiences, higher diving platforms and other amenities that advocates of the Belmont Shore location have argued could bring major events and produce revenue. Below is LBCC's Aquatic Center timing schedule showing planning scheduled to begin in summer 2017 (purple line) with design expected in 2018 (green line) and completion slated by mid 2021 (orange line).
On March 24, advocates of building the Belmont Shore Aquatics Center posted the following on their Facebook page: ["Rebuild Belmont Plaza" Facebook page text] We were pleased to learn this week that Long Beach City College is planning to build a new 50-meter by 25-yard pool and locker room on its main campus, using an estimated $28,000,000 in bond funds from the June 2016 voter-approved Measure LB. Any new aquatic facility constructed in Long Beach is a very good thing for not only LBCC students, but also the general public. Aquatics supporters have said the Belmont Shore Aquatics Center will enable major swim meets and competitive events that will draw visitors, produce revenue and build Long Beach's reputation as an Aquatics Capital.
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