Tumwater City Council authorized Mayor Debbie Sullivan Tuesday, July 2, to sign a contract with Barker Rinker Seacat (BRS) Architecture to design a community center.
The community center would feature space for meetings and events, as well as provide areas for sports and recreational activities. The project calls for the consultants to consider that the site make room for land which could possibly be used for a swimming pool in the future.
BRS Architecture’s contract is for a not-to-exceed amount of $221,733. The contract’s scope does not include preparing any design documents at this stage of the project.
According to the scope of the contract, the architecture firm will analyze four potential sites where the facility might be built, conduct a market analysis and survey to determine the needs of the public, provide recommendations for the facility’s programming, and develop revenue projections for the facility.
“Duplicate effort?”
The city hired BRS Architecture to design a similar facility back in 2004. The community center would have been sited at an airport property off of Tumwater Boulevard, a location that the city is still considering.
One resident took issue that designing the facility again would be a “duplicate effort”
“There is an old plan that was spent money on, so unless there's anything that has significantly changed, I don't see any reason to spend almost a quarter million dollars on a contract to study this again,” said resident Pamela Hanson during the public comments section of the council’s meeting
Parks and Recreation Director Chuck Denney explained during his presentation later on that the facility would be different.
“This will have a few of the same elements,” Denney said adding, “I would remind you that in 2004 Tumwater had about almost 16,000 residents and today we're just over 28,000. It's a different community, different needs.”
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Southsoundguy
If Tumwater didn't need it then why does it need it now? Bureaucrat make-work.
Monday, July 8 Report this
olyhiker
I don't see this as necessary. But if it is, please have enough sense to build it where the water won't reach.
Tuesday, July 9 Report this
mathisje
Tumwater needs a community center. Olympia and Lacey have one. They are hubs that enable activities and events to bring the community together.
Tuesday, July 9 Report this