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Alga Norte Park project faces more delays
By: BARBARA HENRY Staff Writer
Council considering eliminating swim complex - | ∞
CARLSBAD -- In an effort to cut costs, Carlsbad officials said Tuesday, the multipool swim complex planned for the future Alga Norte Park may be completely eliminated from initial construction work.
In a narrow 3-2 vote, Carlsbad's City Council indicated that it wants to take another look at the park project with the goal of breaking the job into multiple parts. A formal vote may be scheduled within the next few weeks.
Mayor Bud Lewis brought the issue up during the annual update on city goals. He argued that if the recent bad news about the state's economy is true, then "this park may be a hard sell" unless it is built in phases.
Councilmen Matt Hall and Mark Packard joined Lewis in the informal thumbs-up vote. Councilwomen Julie Nygaard and Ann Kulchin opposed the move.
Planned for a 33-acre site along Poinsettia Lane east of El Camino Real, the long-planned park would include baseball fields, a dog park, a skatepark and a swim complex with three pools and a water play area.
It's the play area with its water slides and "lazy river" feature that has captured most of the council debate over the last several years. There have been at least two unsuccessful council member proposals to eliminate it from the plans as a cost-saving measure, but city staff members have argued that doing so would require a complete revision of the swim complex construction plans. That's because all of the parts of the complex share a common water filtration system and piping.
The latest proposal, introduced publicly Tuesday, is to seek bids on individual parts of the overall park and eliminate the entire swim complex from the first phase of construction depending on the bid results. The move comes just as the city was about to go out to bid for a second time on the job.
In December, the council voted to reject the first round of bids because of problems with the contractors' offers. Among other things, the lowest bidder had failed to submit all of the required information about its subcontractors, city staff members have said.
There was good news about those construction bids -- they came in far lower than the city had expected. The lowest bid -- a $29.3 million offer from Consolidated Contracting Services of San Clemente -- was $10 million lower than the city anticipated.
Skip Hammann, the city's municipal construction project manager, told the council before its informal vote Tuesday night that he was planning to have the job back out to bid by early next week. Depending on the bids, construction could be completed by winter 2010, he said.
That now looks much less likely.
Speaking to a reporter after the vote, Hammann said it will take several months of city staff work to break the bid proposal into multiple parts. Then the job will once again go out to bid, but whether bid conditions will be as good then as they are now is unknown, he added.
-- Contact staff writer Barbara Henry at (760) 901-4072 or bhenry@nctimes.com.
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La Costa Resident wrote on Jan 16, 2008 9:33 AM:Funny we had money for the most expensive golf course around that some will use yet a multifunction park that most all can/will use gets put on the back burner. Perhaps because it brings in no revenue??
All wet wrote on Jan 16, 2008 10:24 AM:Good thing we "squeaked-in" the 77 million dollar golf course. Didn't they say it might break even in 30 years? I agree La Costa Resident, the local residents would benefit greatly from a multifunction park.
Dan wrote on Jan 16, 2008 10:53 AM:With only 1 other public pool in Carlsbad, the city would greatly benefit from the multi-pool complex. I don't know if the water park and lazy river components are needed, although I think they would get a lot of use.
Patrick B. wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:05 AM:Shame on Carlsbad! This pool complex has been promised for years for Carlsbad's children and families. It's been delayed before while 60+ million was spent on a very expensive golf course, that very few Carlsbad children will ever use. I hope the Carlsbad City Council will find the funds and do the right thing!
parent wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:13 AM:My 2 kids are already crying about the possibility of eliminating the lazy river and water slide. So the council finally sees a slowdown coming? Do they read the Wall Street Journal? This was predicted in March of 07, before pouring more monty into the golf course. Interesting the first thing they want to squeeze and cut is recreation for children.
Go Figure wrote on Jan 16, 2008 11:39 AM:With a bid $10 Million under budget, Carlsbad was basically getting most of the swim complex for free.
Typical Cbad Move wrote on Jan 16, 2008 12:00 PM:It is sad that the park continues to be delayed. The pool is needed, the waterpark and river can be used year around and the playfields will be full. I would also like to see an "open" field where kids and adults could play baseball or soccer without signs saying "keep off" like all the city fields in Encinitas. If we want to play baseball, football or soccer with a group of friends on Sunday, we will get a fine!
Karl wrote on Jan 16, 2008 4:23 PM:To all the naysayers of the 77 million golf course, have you considered that it may actually make money and save you tax dollars? Just wondering.
to Karl wrote on Jan 16, 2008 7:30 PM:Are you serious? $77,000,000? oh what the heck, lets go hit a bucket of balls.
Morons, I'm Dealing With Morons wrote on Jan 16, 2008 8:46 PM:What do you folks in Carlsbad expect from the brain surgeons that you elected to your city council? Have you forgotten that your Mayor found every excuse he could to keep portions of newly constructed roads blocked off rather than allow vehicles to use them before HE felt the surrounding areas could handle the traffic? Keep re-electing these fine folks and you will continue to get decisions that reflect THEIR views, not those of the citizens of Carlsbad. Just glad I live in San Marcos.
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