- November 17, 2024
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Palm Coast may build a $2.5 million community wing at its planned City Hall this coming year instead of in 2019, and delay work on the Community Center on Palm Coast Parkway until the 2017-2018 fiscal year.
The change in construction schedules would save the city money, city staff told City Council members at a Dec. 9 City Council workshop, and would mean that community events and City Council meetings now held in the Community Center could continue there throughout the City Hall construction.
“The net result is some cash savings — put it all together, about $1 million overall — and perhaps a more workable sequencing,” Palm Coast Mayor Jon Netts said.
Under the proposed schedule change, the Community Center project would be completed in one phase instead of two, as initially planned. Doing it all at once would bring the project cost from $7.26 million to $6.7 million and shave several months from the construction schedule, Palm Coast Projects Coordinator Carl Cote told the council at the meeting.
Public relations problem?
Councilman Steven Nobile said he expected blowback if the council fast-tracks the community wing of the City Hall. “I can see emails after this meeting on the fact that there was opposition to City Hall, and now we’re adding to it,” he said. “I know it’s coming. I’m just trying to get out of the way of the rolling boulder.”
How it would proceed
The construction management firm handling the Community Center project recommended closing the building during construction, Cote said. If the city builds the community center addition to City Hall — the Town Center Community Wing — first, it will be able to move events like City Council meetings there while the Community Center is renovated in 2019, Cote said.
And they’ll need a place to go: Last year, the center had about 780 reservations, hosted more than 40,000 visitors and brought in more than $30,000 in revenue, said city Parks and Recreation Director Luanne Santangelo. She said renovations are sorely needed, and that city residents want facilities in older parts of the city to be kept up. “The community spoke, and they wanted our recreational amenities in those areas to remain, and be revitalized,” she said. She added: The Community Center was built in the 1970s when the county’s population was 4,400, and has remained 5,781 square feet even as the city’s population has grown to approximately 76,000.
Council members will vote on the new capital improvement projects schedule Dec. 16.
Impact on Holland Park
As a result of the new City Hall plan, work at Holland Park would be broken into two phases, one to proceed as planned and the other put off to an unspecified time in the future.
“By doing that, and bringing in the funding from the (Town Center Community Redevelopment Agency) that would pay for the community wing over that time period, we’re able to actually stay in positive territory within the capital fund,” Palm Coast Finance Director Chris Quinn told the council.
Work at Holland Park, the city’s oldest, has been planned since 2008 but delayed due to the recession. Changes planned for the first phase include drainage, lighting and parking improvements, and a complete renovation of the dog park.
“You won’t recognize that area when it’s finished,” Palm Coast City Manager Jim Landon said at the meeting. “It’s not just a little cosmetic thing.”
The second phase of the Holland Park project — the one that would be delayed under the proposed schedule change — would include the addition of a splash park, zip lines and an expanded playground.
