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10.1. SR 07-05-2016 EGty1� ,.,�� Request for Action River To Item Number Mayor and City Council 10.1 Agenda Section Meeting Date Prepared by Work Session July 5, 2016 Cal Portner, City Administrator Item Description Reviewed by Community Center Site Analysis Michael Hecker, Parks and Recreation Director Reviewed by Action Requested Discuss and provide direction regarding proposed Community Center site. Background/Discussion JLG first presented the site analysis portion of the Community Center feasibility study report to City Council at the June 6 work session. City Council discussion preferred the two sites at Orono Park/Dave Anderson Athletic Complex and Lions Park. Consensus of Council was to continue moving forward and discuss further when the soil testing is completed for the Lions Park site. The soil borings have been completed with preliminary cost estimates for soil corrections. This analysis is included in the final draft of the Site Analysis. Based on the additional information,JLG is recommending the best site for a future potential Community Center facility be the Orono Park/Dave Anderson Athletic Complex site. Adam Barnett from JLG will present the site options and consultant recommendations at the July 5 work session. JLG will also present their overall recommendations and final report at the July 18 regular City Council meeting. It will also be at this meeting the City Council will discuss if they wish to place the Community Center project on the ballot for this November. Financial Impact N/A Attachments ■ Community Center Site Options and Analysis Report POWERED 6T A IR ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS NEW BUILDING SITE OPTIONS: SITE ANALYSIS The process of selecting a proposed site suitable for a new facility began with the completion of finalizing the program of spatial needs for the project. Using this program information as the guideline for what would shape a new facility, we were able to determine the approximate amount of space a site would require in order to contain a building sized to meet the program needs as well as support the parking requirements a facility of that size would need. The total available site area needed for this project is around 10 acres (building footprint plus parking lot and exterior support space). Narrowing in on acceptable sites within the City of Elk River proved to be challenging based on some of the unique attributes that shape the city. Identifying sites that met the size requirement but also worked around multiple rail lines, two significant vehicle arterial roads (MN State Highway 10, MN State Highway 101/169)as well as the Mississippi River made the site selection process even more difficult. Through discussion with the Steering Committee, the process began by looking at six or seven various sites scattered around the Elk River community. The initial criteria for narrowing down the number of potential sites was largely based upon a potential site's size (with the target of 10 acres) and also whether or not the potential site already had existing city service infrastructure (sewer, water, gas, electrical services). Using these two primary criterion, the design team and the Steering Committee were able to shortlist the number of potential sites down to five: Oak Knoll Athletic Complex, Pinewood Golf Course, Elk River Golfhon's Park, and Orono Park/Athletic Complex. These four sites were then analyzed on a more in-depth level that started with the design team generating some conceptual site layout options, or "bubble diagrams" that focused on the main program elements of the potential building and how they could be organized on each potential site. Once these conceptual layouts were developed the options were discussed in depth with the Steering Committee. The more detailed analysis at this point included factors such as site access, vehicular and pedestrian circulation, building orientation, building visibility, overall site location within the city, relocation of existing site amenities, as well as some additional characteristics unique to individual sites. The following pages contain the overall summaries of each of the four shortlisted sites,including the conceptual layout option diagrams,along with a breakdown of the pros and cons of each site, as discussed through multiple meeting sessions with the Steering Committee. There are very likely other factors that may be considered for each site option however items listed were believed to be the most critical and influential in analyzing when trying to determine the most suitable site for a new facility, as agreed upon by the design team and steering committee. SITE ANALYSIS 31 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 1 : OAK KNOLL MW r .—tow OAK KNOLL - oP ww r ver ATHLETIC 133)0 Orono Parkway N.W. The Oak Knoll site, although being large enough to handle the proposed program building footprint and required parking, has an additional list of challenges that make it one of the least preferred options by the design team and Steering Committee. The initial challenge for this site is trying to locate a building and parking lots while trying to have the least impact on the existing ballfields currently on the site. The Option 1 concept would require relocating a number of fields (with some belonging to the district) at a proposed cost of around $700,000. Option 2 would manage to retain the existing Varsity baseball field but will still carry an approximate cost of$500,000 to rebuild the youth fields elsewhere. One positive of this site is that it is somewhat centrally located in town and also located at a close proximity to a number of schools, including the Elk River High School. The site has adequate access with potential for two access points and intersections with existing stoplights. There is potential for decent building visibility on Proctor Avenue with Option 1, however Option 2,although retaining the varsity baseball field, would push the new facility and parking further from the main access street. Other large drawbacks for the Oak Knoll site include the unpleasant surroundings on largely 3 sides of the site. These include a main railway on the south and west sides of the site as well as a number of unsightly city maintenance structures and lots, including the compost site, immediately north of the potential site. Taking into account these factors as well as the issue of potentially displacing school district fields, the Oak Knoll site is not a viable option for a potential new city facility. Proposed cost figures are based on the cost to reconstruct ballfields of similar size and scope, on new green field sites that are fairly level and ready to develop for this purpose. Costs also do not include land acquisition costs. It was discussed that the city would likely have land available if needed to relocate existing ballfields. 32 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS OAK KNOLL OPTION 1 PROCTOR RD NW KGF; PARKING PARKING 1- -1. PARKING I 1 , 1 I RINK 2- R K 3 1 1 4 LOCK€RS } LOBBY � RINK 1 x MULTI• `. MMONS PURPOSE ¢ y ENIORS KITCHEN BANQUET U t. ■i 4 Ilk M r PARKING f SCHOOL ST NW iall., r OAK KNOLL OPTION 2 _ PROCTOR RD NW PARKING RINK 2- f _ i RINK 3 LDCKERS LOBBY a RINK 1 COMMONS a SENIORS MEETING BANQUET KITCHEN MULTF PURPOSE PARKING z a SCHOOL ST NW SITE ANALYSIS 33 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 2: PINEWOOD GOLF COURSE RIF"t IN w E �.K fi The Pinewood Golf Course site made the shortlist of sites as it is a large parcel of land that the city already owns, and also has existing infrastructure and services on or near the site. The biggest hurdle with the Pinewood site is that, although it is a large parcel of land, it is bisected by a residential street, meaning that the parcel is not contiguous but rather broken into two parts. The two conceptual layout options explored using the southernmost section as it is the larger of the two. Being that the land is two smaller halves, it makes fitting the required building footprint and parking onto one section rather tight. The resulting building would encroach quite close to the existing residential neighborhood properties. The fact that the project would need to be shoehorned onto the land makes the Pinewood site a poor candidate for a potential site. Other negatives to this site include the fact that it is the farthest site from the center of the community and the project here would not fit in well with the surrounding buildings. One positive aspect of the site is that since it rests on a corner, the site could have multiple access points which would be convenient for vehicles and pedestrians. However with the residential neighborhood consuming the west and north borders of the site any large building here would really only be able to put its main entrance facing east as shown in the option 1 layout. This layout works well for the entry but does not fit in well with the angular border of the residential neighborhood. Option 2 better aligns with the residential neighborhood but faces the primary entrance and community spaces toward the southeast,which would reduce their visibility from the north and reduce the effective accessibility. 34 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS PINEWOOD GC OPTION 1 r w �Ap 182ND AVENUE NW v PARKING -0 I] PARKING . •'�. LOCKERS 1 ?x-.��. ;�!• . .�_`1. +��... - . '♦* RINK 1 LOBBY COMMONS I- O NS MALTBNOOET SEN IORS�0, t PARKNKi PURPOSE t o" ,Y, t • KITCHEN • ' MISSISSIPPI ROAD NW aoo' sa PINEWOOD GC OPTION 2 � .�' .�- #�• ;� 44,j r 182ND AVENUE NW LOCKERS •'' • .ti RINK 3 V r INK R--r.ov �'� x. MINK�� COMMONS•..y.;,Vr.' w *y., �i / BANQUET '"k MULTI- b PURPOSE w b ..r KITCHEN ! SENIORS � . PARKING r PARKING I s MISSISSIPPI ROAD NW ® SOU' TO 2®U' �sO SITE ANALYSIS 35 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 3: ELK RIVER GOLF CLUB The Elk River Golf Club/Woodland Trails site was considered because of its location within the city, and for the fact the additional land at the golf course could be purchased for a reasonable price (much less than other potential site refinement costs such as relocating ball fields or soils corrections). This land is also adjacent to the already city owned Woodland Trails park. At first glance this site seems to have many opportunities: it's location is fairly close to the existing schools and arena, additional park functions such as an interpretive center could be a part of the project,and the golf course could be run by the city with management taking place on the same site as a new community center. Additional support for this site as a new home for a community center include the fact that the new banquet space would be located to the already existing banquet space at the country club facility. Locating the project here could also lead to some synergies between the two sites in terms of parking, storage, and maintenance. Although there are numerous positives to locating a new project on this site, there are also some important arguments against this site. The first challenge for locating a project on this site is the lack of city services and infrastructure. Currently city services do not reach this far out from the existing municipal facilities. Furthermore, the services that head from the city toward this site are not sized appropriately to accommodate a new facility of this size, thus all new service lines would need to be run from this site back to the main distribution locations. This would be a very costly and disruptive undertaking for the city. The second challenging aspect to this site is that it is not conducive to the potential size of the new project. Although the site boasts a large amount of land, locating a new community center with all potential phases on it would mean that some space would need to be sacrificed either in the park or the golf course, or potentially both. The golf course would ultimately give up their existing driving range and likely 2-3 holes, meaning the course would likely have to operate as a 9-hole course. The steering committee was in agreement that if the Golf Club course would be reduced to only 9 holes, it would be a great detriment to the city and this already highly successful 18-hole course. It is for these two primary challenges at this site that it would not be considered a viable site option for the project. 36 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS ELK RIVER GOLF CLUB OPTION 1 rr, PARKING "• ,.�- ._. - _ +, - „ '�Se'. j ® LOCKERS im FIELD HOUSE RINK 3 a =� MEADOWVALE • ` ROAD NW •}1' 1 1 - PARKING RINK 2 1 " r } RINK t 1 - ►�� PARKING , 3 LOBBY SENIORS MULTI-PURPOSE 4 r KITCHEN , a COMMONS Y BANOIJET i IBa' �. ELK RIMER GOLF CLUB OPTION 2 s PARKING - - s LOCKERS RIK SO ; r RIND 1 PARKW 111111111"1 1!'r' K LOBBY FIELD HOUSE ._ COMMONS SENIURS z PARKING MULTI-PURPOSE "• RANOUET KITCHEN o - lip 41 J 2OO' ASO' SITE ANALYSIS 37 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 4: LION JOHN WEICHT PARK 0"i" .. N View of Lion John Weicht Park from atop the existing sledding hill. The Lion John Weicht Park site is a very valuable piece of land for the city. It is the most centrally located site for the community and is in very close proximity to existing schools, churches, and other amenities. The site has a well developed trail system and offers some of the community's most desirable green space. The existing pond and green space on the site offer great opportunities for desirable views from a potential new facility, especially for the senior and community spaces. This opportunity is better reflected in the Option 2 layout for this site, where the building is laid out in a linear fashion, parallel to the pond to allow as many spaces in the building a good view. Both options are sited to have the primary entrance facing eastward. This site also has great opportunities for vehicular and pedestrian access and circulation. Vehicle access to the building could occur from both School Street on the north and Jackson Avenue on the east. Both layout options are shown to capitalize on this flow of traffic. Each option takes advantage of the large ice sheet volumes being placed on the north west which would help buffer the colder northwest winter winds from the rest of the building and the entrance side. Locating the ice program spaces on the north side of the building also offers some convenience for access to student athletes coming from the schools directly to the north of the site. The Lion John Weicht Park Site does come with one major drawback that cannot be overlooked. The existing soils are predominantly soft and organic, and ultimately are considered unable to carry the loads of a modern building. Preliminary cost estimates for soils corrections were completed by the design team utilizing existing outdated data provided by the city. In order to more accurately analyze the soils issue on this site, the city procured a geotechnical team to conduct soil borings to supplement this study. Results of the soil borings came back with the soils being poorer for supporting a building than initially considered. Poor soils exist throughout the site at depths varying from 6.5' to 15',which equates to approximately 200,000-250,000 cubic yards of poor soil material that would need to be removed from the site and replaced with select granular material. Based on these approximate volumes, the cost to complete the soils corrections would be between $4.8M and$7M, depending on the final size and scope of the project. One potential option to mitigate some of the corrections cost would be to find a contractor willing to harvest the poor material and donate the suitable fill. This option could save up to 1/3 of the overall corrections costs but would only cover the cost of the waste and new material (additional costs include equipment, hauling, mobilization,and dewatering). Another site issue that would need to be addressed is the existing sledding hill on the west side of the site. All 3 of the layout options greatly encroach on this hill. This would require the hill (constructed of rubble from an old highway) to be removed and regraded to accomodate the project. Although the hill's material could potentially be re-used on site for fill beneath parking lots, there would still be costs associated with moving and crushing this material (costs associated with the sledding hill were not estimated as a part of this study). 38 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS Althoughthe Lion John Weicht Park site boasts LIONS PARK OPTION 1 ScroanEsr.�nr a number of strong attributes for a potential L facility, and the multiple options presented have some advantageous characteristics, our ; recommendation would be to avoid building ; on this site.This recomendation is based on the r� t extremely poor soils conditions and high water table that currently exist on this site. Even Lm k- undergoing a costly soils correction process stillPMMG a 1, will not mitigate the risks of the soil and water conditions on this site. The risk of this site isrrcm TM extremely high, especially when one considers "---_- _ _ _ _ ___ that one of the predominant program items \ M — of the building is multiple ice sheets, which ` - - require extremely flat and technically designed ruv m and constructed slabs and sub-grade. Building on this site could compromise the long term LIONS PARK OPTION 2 SMOL Si.RW performance of the building components and result in costly corrections in the future and should be avoided. ° r PAWING s e c STGUGi PINK d FN Dm�' R4iiP ie 4ANNM6 • Rim IJ' 3DnX613 MEEiI"C FG4E6+^ 7 . 6iVi4ltE� BFNIAfl4 N \ —-———————a r r———► �:7 Epl'59 240' SSR LIONS PARK OPTION 3 SGKOOL Si.RW t ,®r MMM 1% a t -= FELd HIMI4E � Lion's Park Option 3 was laid out to Y COMM y include all potential phases of the project: three sheets of ice,and a fieldhouse. This -------------- sExwrx ► 7 layout represents the largest footprint that NAAI ' the project would include on this site. r MMG + m ruu �s4 SITE ANALYSIS 39 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 5: ORONO PARK - DAVE ANDERSON ATHLETIC COMPLEXbk 4 z _ er ORONO PAM 18559 Gary Street L The Orono Park site offers a great multitude of opportunity for a potential new facility in many regards. Although it is not as centrally located as Lion John Weicht Park, it is largely accessible by vehicles and pedestrians alike, with access to Highway Ten from both Joplin Street and Gary Street. The site is located directly adjacent to Lake Orono and would have access to the park amenities currently in place at the beach side Orono Park. Pedestrian access to the site will be improved in the future as the city constructs the trunk Highway Ten trail that will connect Orono Park to Proctor Avenue. The Orono Park site also provides convenient proximity to other existing city owned community buildings including City Hall, The Library, Police/Fire Department, and the YMCA. Locating the facility here would continue to develop a 'campus' of city owned and ran community buildings. Perhaps the greatest advantage to this site is it's proximity to Orono Park and Lake Orono. This could be captured in the facility by taking advantage of the views eastward toward the lake and even including some outdoor patio or garden space off the building that could tie the building to it's adjacent exterior community spaces. Both concept options 1 and 2 would provide views of the lake from the community and commons spaces. The site's flatness and expansiveness make it prime and ready for building construction (pending the relocation and new construction of existing ballfields) which could save money on site development costs. The site also provides opportunities in the future for other development on or near the site in the open area to the south,and the existing county fairground property to the east. The existing openness on the site and adjacent fairgrounds could also save money upfront by allowing the potential for the new facility to use existing open space for large event parking. The fact that the site doesn't have a lot of existing constraints translates to multiple opportunities and options for orienting the facility. Option 1 explores the idea of aligning a main entry commons to be focused on the Lake as one enters the building. The negative to this is that it puts the largest and tallest volumes of the building (the ice spaces)on the south side of the building thus shading the entry during the winter months. Option 2 is optimally sited with a south facing entry which capitalizes on the southern daylight and exposure in the winter months but would still allow the commons and the community spaces views of the lake and park to the east. The openness around the building provides greater opportunity in laying out the parking, building access and drop-off points. 40 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS ORONO PARK OPTION 1 NEW tyTS SENIORS N�A�pp PARKING PARKING PARKING MUM LAKE ORONO gypV r L PURPOSE I KITCHEN BANQUET � r�COMMONS LOBBY � I RINK 2 I I I RIMK 1 LOCKERS PINK 3 x + PARKING Y / a / o / r ' - r i - 206 �sa ORONO PARK OPTION 2 ������ i PARKING 10311, TIAIRKING — LOBBY I RINK 2LAKE ORONO SENIORS —MULTI-PURPUSE —KITCHEN BkNQUET 1 I' CQMM..,ONS v~s ' PARKING ;Awl 1.I 1!1.1.1 r111 I I t'I �- IOU' 0 20 I!1111111150 SITE ANALYSIS 41 ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS SITE OPTION 5. .. ORONO PARK - DAVE ANDERSON ATHLETIC COMPLEX (cont. The Orono Park site, although having a wealth of support for being the preferred site of a potential new facility, does have one primary drawback. This drawback however can be viewed as an additional opportunity for the city and community of Elk River. Currently the Orono Park is home to the Dave Anderson Softball Field complex, which is an array of 4 softball fields complete with lighting, bleacher seating, support buildings and a gravel parking lot. If the Orono Park site were selected to be the future home of a new Community Center facility this complex would need to be relocated. Preliminary budget estimates determined a cost of approximately$1.2 million*to recreate the existing fields at a new site. The proposed location for the Dave Anderson complex to move would be the current Youth Athletic Complex (YAC) located in the southeast portion of the city. Relocating the complex would provide a new opportunity for the community to have access to newer, larger, better constructed fields, dugouts, and support buildings. The YAC site also provides opportunity to create an additional fifth field to better serve the community and accommodate larger tournament and competitive events. Additional upgrades to the softball fields at the YAC site could include a paved access road, a paved parking lot and support buildings as required. Relocating the existing Dave Anderson softball fields to the YAC site not only provides immediate opportunity for improved community field space, but would be another piece in the overall development of the YAC site in becoming one of the premiere outdoor athletic complexes in the region. Proposed cost figure is based on the cost to reconstruct ballfields only of similar size and scope,on a new green field site that is fairly level and ready to develop for this purpose. The proposed cost does not include any land acquisition or asset transfer costs,or the costs for addiional site upgrades. These costs could be determined in the future when additional project scope can be defined. SITE ANALYSIS SUMMARY Through the process of analyzing and studying conceptual layouts at each site option and at-length discussion with the Steering Committee, it is recommended that the best site for a future potential Community Center facility be the Orono Park/Dave Anderson Athletic Complex site. The Oak Knoll site and the Pinewood site would both accommodate a new facility adequately, however both these sites have limited opportunity based on location, site surrounding character, and limited building/site layout opportunity. The Lion's Park site, the Elk River Golf Club site, and the Orono Park site all have strong support as options for housing a future facility, including site access, site surroundings and character, and layout opportunities. The lack of infrastructue and required downsizing of the golf course make the Golf Club site a non-viable option. The biggest issue with the Lion's Park site is the inadequate soils and poor subsurface water conditions,and the associated costs to remediate them. Due to the large up-front cost of soils corrections,and the unpredictability of how soil corrections would perform over time, the risk of investing a large sum of money on a new facility at this site is too great. The Orono Park site is therefore the location with the most opportunity for a long-term successful building project,with great site access and surrounding amenities,and would be a step in developing a strong complex of community buildings and park space in this part of the city. The relocation of the Dave Anderson fields also becomes a new opportunity to provide an additional asset to the community in new and improved ball fields,and further develop the Youth Athletic Complex. C 42 SITE ANALYSIS ELK RIVER COMMUNITY CENTER CONCEPTUAL SOLUTIONS The concept diagram at right shows a potential layout for relocating the Dave R .� _ Anderson softball fields to the current YAC PARKING 165th AVE, NW site. Access to the site could come from 165th Avenue or 161 st Avenue. The new EXISTING layout could add a fifth field as well as SOCCER FIELD paved parking and drives,and necessary support structures for the new fields. EXISTING FIELDS EXISTING FIELDS ir RELOCATED DAVE ANDERSON FIELDS -4 LIGHTED 000'SOFTBALL FIELDS. * 4 •DUGOUTS AT EACH FIELD •BLEACHER SEATING 0 ' •CONCESSIONSJRESTRODlu1S PARKING SUPPORT `} 161st AVE. NW BUILDING ■� SOFTBALL ; LOCATION FOR OPTIONAL ., FIELD 5 _— f —T 5TH SOFTBALL FIELD YOUTH ATHLETIC COMPLEX 200' 400' 100' SITE ANALYSIS 43