"The Council will be asked to make a decision on the Community Building 10/22/20 to move forward so staff can continue without further delay. The Council has an active motion that was
postponed from the September 15, 2020 Council Business meeting and will be taken up on the October 22nd Council
special meeting.
The motion made by Councilmember Carson, seconded by Councilmember Kritzer is as follows:
Authorize the Mayor and staff to move forward on the construction of a community building on the existing site of the
Redmond Senior Center in the size of approximately 42,000 square feet with optional expansion capabilities with costs
not to exceed $46.7M and with the funding mechanism of capital improvement program funds and councilmanic bonds." Parks Council Comm. memo 10/6/2020.
Thank you CM David Carson and CM Vanessa Kritzer for your leadership in moving this project on, I've never seen a valuable Redmond project like this one get so bogged down by **bureaucracy. Yoder
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Bureaucracy
**"At the study session on July 28, 2020, the Community Stakeholder Group presented the
recommendations for the future of the Redmond Senior Center. Throughout the study
session discussion, and during subsequent Council discussion, Council had additional
questions, which were addressed at the PHS Committee of the Whole on August 4, 2020,
the PPW Committee of the Whole on August 11, 2020. The PHS Committee of the
Whole on September 1st, and the City Council Business Meeting on September 15th
.
Recently, there have been questions about the public engagement efforts, decision points
that will be requested from the City Council and the City’s bonding capacity.
The need for Community Center and Recreation space to serve everyone in Redmond has
been discussed over many years in Redmond.
In 2009, 327 people engaged in a
statistically valid survey to inform the Recreation Buildings Master Plan. This plan
called for an 80,000 sf facility and a $69-71M investment to adequately serve the
residents of Redmond. This effort was not implemented.
In 2015, 830 people engaged to
help inform the PARCC plan, of which the need for a larger Community Center space
was a high priority.
In 2017, 30-35 people made up the Recreation Stakeholders group
who engaged with 3600 people to help inform the Communities Priority for the Future of
Redmond Community Centers in 2017.
In 2019-20 the Recreation Stakeholders assisted
in engaging 2500 people to help inform their recommendation found in the report,
“Envision the Future of the Redmond Senior Center”.
This has been the longest and
most engaged public engagement process for any project in Redmond.
In order for staff and the community to move forward with the design and ultimately the
construction of the Redmond Senior and Community Center, Council will need to
provide direction on the size and scale and financial model to fund the project.
Provided
in the presentation and on the Council Question Matrix is a timeline of the capital outlay
and decision points needed from the City Council." Parks Council Comm. 10/6