The Goleta Parks and Recreation Commission heard an update Wednesday on the Goleta Valley Community Center’s renovation and repair needs.
In its review, city staff also presented a variety of potential new facilities that the Community Center could eventually accommodate.
The city has owned the Community Center since 2013 and has acted as its landlord since its incorporation 14 years ago. The seven-acre Community Center was founded in 1927 as Goleta Union School.
Due to the building’s age, numerous health and safety issues have arisen, which have increasingly demanded City Hall’s attention.
Investigations into the full range of the center’s renovation and repair needs are still underway but so far, studies have revealed an estimated $1.8-million worth of short-term improvements, including parking improvements, structural improvements that address earthquake vulnerabilities, and accessibility improvements.
Long-term improvements include more structural upgrades and repairs, façade work, new safety and technology equipment, and more complete parking lot fixes.
All of the identified long-term capital-improvement needs total an estimated $7.2 million, the city determined.
According to GVCC data, the center sees 90,000 to 120,000 visitors each year, and 61 percent of programming participants are seniors. Another 20 percent are under 18.
Additionally, 56 organizations contract with the GVCC for regular use of its facilities, 82 percent of whom are nonprofits.
The city currently looks after the center’s maintenance and repairs and contributes $25,000 toward senior programming each year. Since 2002, the city has forgiven $470,000 in lease payments.
The eponymously named Goleta Valley Community Center manages the center and the nonprofit primarily deals with providing space for senior activities and leasing space for other organizations.
With the center’s maintenance and repair costs piling up and increasing in urgency, most city councilmembers expressed their desire for a change in management at a public workshop last month.
Under the council’s direction, staff have started looking for an operator that can ensure the center’s financial viability and reduce the city’s financial contribution. Aside from the status quo or bringing in a third-party to run the place, the city’s only other management option is to take full control of the center.
City staff are in the process of drafting requests for proposals, which would allow other organizations, including the GVCC, to bid to be the center’s management entity.
“The Goleta Valley Community Center is certainly encouraged to participate in that RFP, but it was kind of, ‘Let’s see what’s out there; let’s see if there’s any fresh new ideas as well’,” said senior project manager Claudia Dato. “Or, let’s see what the Community Center comes up with in terms of providing a vision for future additional programming.”
When asked about the current management’s financial viability, Dato admitted that they are not up to snuff.
If a new party is eventually chosen for the job, it would be responsible for “all programming, staff, general maintenance, and subleasing,” according to a city staff report.
One of the programming priorities has been that for seniors, 250 of whom routinely participate in Community Center programming.
“I think we should have some kind of an open minded idea of how the site could be used,” Parks and Recreation Commissioner Anne Linn said.
“I just think it really would be worth every minute of study to try to figure this out, because it will be symbolic of the City of Goleta,” she said.
“We should really try to maximize (the Community Center’s use) — every square inch of it.”
One of the balances, the commissioners agreed, was continuously supporting long-time Community Center organizations while embracing new facilities.
“I want to advocate for the long-time nonprofits who are dedicated to serving those groups of Goleta residents in need,” Commissioner Daryl West said. “And I think it would be sad if we move forward with trying to make them find a new home.”
Commissioner Kyle Richards agreed.
“We don’t want to displace people, and we want to honor the good work and what’s happening there already,” he said. “I think what we want to do is just expand that and allow more opportunity for more programming to happen and to better serve the needs in Old Town and beyond.”
City staff proposed five potential new facilities for the center: a youth soccer field, a new recreation center, a skate park, a swimming pool or aquatic center, and a community garden.
The idea of turning the Community Center into a civic center and new City Hall was recently floated around Council, but a $37 million price tag quickly caused it to be tabled.
Neighborhood services and public safety director Vyto Adomaitis wrote up a matrix tabulating each of the commissioners’ rankings of which facilities they would most like to see go forward.
Five of the six commissioners named a new recreation center as their No. 1 choice, with Chair Gregg Hart listing it as his No. 2 behind the pool/aquatic center. Four other commissioners listed a pool/aquatic center as their second choice.
The facility-priority matrix, Adomaitis said, will be forward to the City Council as the commission’s recommendations. Council, however, may not act on the recommendations for months while the remaining Community Center studies continue.
West proposed that the commissioners visit the center to see the lay of the land with their own eyes and meet with the center’s directors, to which her colleagues and staff agreed.
— Noozhawk staff writer Sam Goldman can be reached at sgoldman@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.