ROCKVILLE — The county council’s economic-development committee recommended additional funds for Silver Spring’s planned civic center, but not without dishing out a little grief.
“I’m just annoyed with the process,” council president and committee member Michael Knapp told his colleagues at their meeting Thursday. “We’re ten days into the new fiscal year, and already we’re being asked for $2.5 million.”
The District 2 Dem and his committee colleagues — Nancy Floreen and Marc Elrich, both at-large Dems — were miffed at the appropriation’s timing. Construction bids were received in mid March, but MoCo exec Ike Leggett’s request for the extra cash hit the council only last month. A public hearing is scheduled for Tuesday, and the construction bid expires Thursday.
“No one said, ‘Hey, this one might come in on the high side.’ ” Knapp complained.”The fact that we came up with bids that were higher [than anticipated] never came up.”
Elrich threw his two cents in and wondered why value engineering (read: designing on the cheap) didn’t trim the project’s budget. According to the council’s legislative analysis, value engineering trimmed 5,000 square feet of space from the building, which will sit along Ellsworth Drive between Fenton and Cedar streets.
That means no stage in the building’s great hall, and a community-use room that doubles as a conference room for Silver Spring’s regional center. Interior and exterior frou-frou have also been “simplified”, the analysis states.
Gary Stith, director of the regional center, later told Penguin readers in a posted comment that the civic center’s smaller scale was cooked up three years ago. Plans and renderings circulating throughout town already reflect those design changes, he said.
“It’s less of a project,” Elrich said. “It’s shrunk in size and grown in price.”
Blame the higher price tag on the rising cost of, well, everything. Building materials like steel and copper, plus the gas needed to schlep the stuff into Silver Spring, have impacted the project’s overall cost, Don Sheuerman, of the new department of general services, testified.
And the hits are gonna keep on coming, warned council member Valerie Ervin (D-District 5), who attended the meeting. Expect higher-than-expected tabs for downtown Silver Spring’s other big public projects — the transit center and the new public library, she said.
“Let’s get a look at the numbers,” Knapp suggested, seeking to avoid being broadsided again. “I don’t want to back ourselves in a corner and just agree to everything that comes across the street” from the county exec’s office, he said.
Lead image: Council president Michael Knapp, courtesy of the county council.
Updated Jul 16, 2008, at 8:00 a.m.
August 21, 2008
6 Comments at "Council prez likes the civic center, hates the game"
No stage in the civic center? How are we supposed to have forums and meetings? Doesn’t sound much like a civic center. Sounds more like a community building with an ice skating rink.
I agree with John. It is ridiculous that there will not be a stage in the civic center. Besides the forums and meetings, wasn’t the plan to have cultural and other entertainment events in the civic building? What kind of civic center will this be if there is no stage? Get rid of the ice skating rink and that ridiculous roof for the ice skating rink and use the money to build a stage.
It’s questionable if the majority of the community wants the dumb thing anyway…. now we’re getting less and spending more? Scrap it… build a park.. with real grass.. maybe some trees… add a “community use” room to the new library building if it’s gonna be missed that much… with the exception of the offices for the ss regional center are there any REAL uses for this building planned yet anyway? Not sure what the “great hall” is anyway.. but what about all these great community use opportunities that we negotiated with Live Nation?? Do we really ALSO need a “great hall” or is that live nation stuff never gonna follow through once they start booking the place for real?
It really is astonishing how long it takes to get anything built in Montgomery County. Between the Civic Center, Transit Center, Fillmore, Silver Place, the ICC & the Purple Line we could fund a third world country with the cost of planning, revisions, re-planning, re-revising and then all the extended political and court battles. I’m not saying these things shouldn’t be thoroughly thought out, but when you compare the timeline and costs of public development vs. private, it’s really a shame.
I recently had my own experience with the county about a pedestrian bridge between the Long Branch Library and Long Branch Community Center. About $200,000 was spent on design options and final route selection…all for a $400,000 bridge. Four years of planning and it’s still not in the ground. Hopefully, a reader will write in with the actual dollars, but I’m sure the greatly disproportionate cost of design/planning vs. construction will be evident.
The decision to change the building by taking out a fixed stage and having the Regional Center Office use a community meeting room as their conference room was made over 3 years ago. Eliminating the fixed stage in the 5,000 sf Great Hall saved a lot of money (over a $1 million) and made the space more flexible for a variety of uses. Most of the time the stage would sit empty and unused. Now the room can be divided into two spaces and can be arranged in a variety of configurations using a stage made up of platforms.
The project that is being built is the same that has been presented to the public for the last two years. This will be a quality project that will provide useful spaces for meetings, performances, conferences, dances, banquets, festivals, wedding receptions, parties, family reunions, any kind of community gathering. This building will become the center of the community.
Editor’s note: Gary Stith is the director of Silver Spring’s regional center. Thanks, Gary! — JD (Jul 16, 2008)
I disagree with the assessment that this will be come the center of the community. The civic center in rockville is hardly the center of that community and nor will this be. Sure it will have some specific uses, but nothing that can’t be served by community use agreements with fillmore, public rooms in the new library and a tent put in the park that should be there instead. The sense of community over the past decade has changed from indoor space to outdoor space. Walk through downtown silver spring on a weekend night and then walk through city place mall and try to keep a straight face when you tell me that’s not the truth. The community would be much better served my a park and perhaps a MUCH smaller building next to it, if need be. The commuity has been bitterly fighting against this project for 3 years now, ever since a silly piece of astroturf made the lack of park space in downtown sooo abundently clear, but yet everyone’s been pushing forwards and ignoring the very community they claim to be trying to serve.
Holler back.