AURORA | Updating the decades-old Moorhead Recreation Center in Original Aurora will be difficult even with $9 million, according to the city’s Parks, Recreation and Open Space department.
That’s due to an error made by a consultant who underestimated what it would take to make improvements to the outdated rec center. Last October, Aurora City Council approved a $9 million plan to expand Moorhead as part of the 2015 budget based on estimates by the consulting firm Ohlson Lavoie Collaborative.
Parks Director Tom Barrett told city council at a study session in April that the Parks department would need double that amount to make all of the improvements residents want for Moorhead. The proposed plan calls for expanding the center from 5,000 square feet to 30,000 square feet. New locker rooms, a community kitchen, a teen center, a full-size gymnasium, a second-level jogging track, and year round pool were included in the plans.
Barrett said Ohlson Lavoie only drew plans for the facility without estimating its cost. The city said it paid more than $22,000 for the plans.
“They never got down into the sticks and bricks stage, saying here’s the material and the precise square footage, the HVAC system,” Barrett said.
He said that is not the case with Denver-based Barker Rinker Seacat Architecture, who was selected through a competitive request for proposal process this year to dig into the project.
That firm came up with the $18 million dollar estimate, and attributed a large portion of the cost to putting a roof over the existing outdoor swimming pool.
The firm also came up with an alternative that the Parks department is behind, where for $12.75 million, the city could make all of the improvements residents want except for enclosing the outdoor pool and building the jogging track. Barrett said the additional money would come from extending a Conservation Trust Fund loan three more years. That fund comes from lottery revenue allocated to the city’s Parks department. About $7 million from that fund is already being used to build the center under the $9.1-million plan.
The mistake does sit not well with some Aurora City Council members, who voiced their concern over spending additional money at an April 13 study session.
“I’m disappointed and really surprised that Ohlson Lavoie messed up by 51 percent,” said Councilman Bob Roth at that meeting, referring to the amount doubling from $9 million to $18 million. “From what we thought we were getting, it’s a 51 percent increase. The construction industry is volatile right now, but not 51 percent in one year. It’s maybe five to seven percent in one year.”
The council members agreed to defer approving any more money for Moorhread until the spring workshop May 2, where they said they wanted to look at what money could be funneled from capital improvement projects or potentially from marijuana revenues.
Too bad this project is on hold due to consultant and city council incompetence and ineptitude. Decades ago the land where Moorhead is situated was deeded over to the city by city booster Billie Preston, a colorful character out of Aurora’s past. I remember her horse, Patches, whom Billie allowed the neighborhood kids to groom and ride.
how about getting another bid? If this company failed to estimate the costs, why wouldn’t they come up with
cost overruns when the project is being completed? Get another bid Council!
Why didn’t anyone know exactly what they were getting before they paid for it?
Does this really surprise anyone, given Moorhead’s location. Prioritie$, dear people. Thi$ neighborhood i$n’t one. Know what’$ lacking in thi$ neighborhood?
Oh, come on … most of Aurora’s neighborhoods are on par with Moorhead. Consider the millions of dollars spent at the Del Mar rec center.
Tom Barret the Parks manager will throw anybody (employee, staff, an old lady) under the bus rather than take responsibility for work coming out of his shop. Classic example of excuses being permitted to take the place of performance metrics and accountability. He should step down.
“Classic example of excuses being permitted to take the place of performance metrics and accountability”.
It’s gone endemic in the City of Aurora from top to bottom.