Senior center budget cuts sought

City officials want to shave $1.2 million off the cost of the proposed Community/Senior Center on Third Street due to escalating construction costs.

One way to do that would be to substitute fake rocks for real. Other ideas include eliminating a fireplace or reducing the size of rooms.

The City Council on Tuesday directed staff to begin the design review process for the long-planned project but wanted more time to consider proposed changes such as those mentioned above that would lower construction costs. Without the recommended $1.2 million reduction, the cost of the center is estimated at more than $15.7 million, which does not include a contingency fund.

“As a result of cost pressures, the city staff, the program manager and the architect, in conjunction with representatives of Laguna Beach Seniors Inc., have value-engineered the project to reduce program costs to a more manageable level, “ City Manager Ken Frank said.

“Value engineering” appears to be a fancy name for reductions in size and quality and the attendant costs that could be deducted from the project budget.

“We urge you to approve the project ? with or without value engineering,” Laguna Beach Seniors Inc. President Lee Anderson said.

He said the seniors have three primary goals: a center with parking, a light and cheerful place to have lunch and a comfortable place to socialize.

“That is not too much to ask of our community,” he said.

Seniors Inc. has pledged to fund $2.5 million of the construction costs. Donors can choose to fund rooms that will be named for them, including rooms in the adjacent community center.

The city purchased the land on which the center will be built and will foot the rest of the bill.

Roger Torriero, principal of the design and project management firm LPA, said costs for the center have increased about 10% a year since the original budget was discussed in 2003. He attributes the increases to a record number of bond issues floated to construct public buildings, catastrophic events that allow construction companies and workers to be picky, and a shortage of materials flowing out of the country.

“The cost of the project keeps going up because time is passing by,” Mayor Elizabeth Pearson-Schneider said.

Proposed cuts to offset the increased costs included eliminating 1,304 square feet from the community center, reducing the sizes of the conference room and art studio at a savings of $433,000. No cuts in the size of the seniors’ space were proposed.

Other recommended cuts dealt with changes in materials and structural and architectural features ? such as using fake stone on the façade, which would save $144,000.

“If you can’t afford real stone, don’t have any stone,” former Mayor Ann Christoph told the council. “I don’t think fake stone should be something the city promotes on public buildings.”

She also favored operable, wood-framed windows, which would give the building a more residential look, she said.

“Ocean breezes are a part of the Laguna experience,” Christoph said.

Other recommended changes included using plaster instead of natural stone on the Third Street entry wall, saving $131,000; eliminating the fireplace proposed for the senior’s library/ lounge, automatic sliding doors, skylights and covering for rooftop mechanical equipment; and substituting asphalt shingles for the standing metal seam roof, painted drywall for wood paneling and acoustical tile for an exposed truss with tongue and groove sheathing in the seniors card and board rooms.

“We would be cutting the soul out of the building,” Council Toni Iseman said.

Councilwoman Jane Egly suggested the council decide how much it can append and then let the committee decide what goes and what stays in the plans.