The City Council Tuesday voted to spend $4.7 million to develop a new Alviso Adobe Community Park, a development that will showcase the Ohlone Indian, Spanish ranching and early European influences that have dominated the Pleasanton area for hundreds of years.
The action, recommended by City Manager Nelson Fialho, will make use of city financial reserves and funds earmarked for other projects to close a funding gap of more than $1 million to start work on the project.
Jim Wolfe, director of Parks and Community Services, said the project will go out for bids within the next few months and work could begin late this year. He estimated that the project would be completed and in operation in 2008.
The Alviso project was originally estimated to cost $1.2 million. Costs rose over the last six years as the size of the development was increased and construction costs rose.
Council members unanimously favored the project, but several expressed concern that the alternate funding being used to pay for it could trim or cut other pending capital improvement projects. These include:
* Renovation of the Veterans Memorial Building, with an estimated cost of just under $4 million, $1 million over original cost estimates
* Three lighted baseball fields on the Bernal property, now estimated to cost $5.7 million, compared to the original costs estimate of $4.7
* Kottinger Creek restoration and improvement, estimated to cost $1.4 million, compared to an original estimate of $300,000
* Firehouse Arts Center, estimated to cost $10.8 million, compared to an original cost estimate of $6 million.
Councilman Jerry Thorne urged Nelson and new Finance Director David P. Culver to search for grants and other available funds so that all five projects, including the Adobe, can get under way shortly. Others on the council, however, asked for a review of the four still-pending priorities to see if they are still at the top of a much longer list of city capital improvement proposals, and to reorganize the list in order of priority.
Councilwoman Cindy McGovern questioned the high cost of re-working Kottinger Creek, which is now priced nearly five times over what planners and the Parks and Recreation Commission first approved.
Fialho said that the recommended funding plan for Alviso Adobe and other projects would not incur any additional debt for the city nor would it mean borrowing from other city funds.
To complete the five top priority projects on the council’s list, including the Adobe, would cost $26.7 million, compared to total estimated costs of $18.7 million. That leaves the city with a shortfall in funding of just over $8 million, Fialho said.
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