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Channel: Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission – Mark Maynard
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After five years of promises, Ypsi’s downtown rec center pronounced dead

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This past May 2nd, Bob Tetens, the director of the Washtenaw County Parks and Recreation Commission, came to Ypsilanti at the behest of Washtenaw County Commissioner Ronnie Peterson, and explained to us why it was that, after five years, he and his team still hadn’t broken ground on the downtown recreation center that we’d all been led to believe would be the “new civic anchor” that would help us jumpstart meaningful development on our 38-acre downtown brownfield known as Water Street and turn our city around. Well, despite his assurances at the time at he was looking for a way to salvage the project, it looks as though he’s going to officially pull the plug on the whole thing this evening, at the monthly meeting of the Washtenaw County Parks and Rec Commission. The agenda for said meeting includes a memorandum about the Water Street project with this recommendation from Tetens.

“Given the current status of the estimated cost of this project, and the uncertainty with the significant remediation of the entire Water Street site, I recommend that the Commission authorize staff to officially notify the City of Ypsilanti and the Ann Arbor Y of our intent to withdraw our interest in the East Side Community Recreation Center project on the Water Street Redevelopment Area.”

According to Ypsilanti City Council member Pete Murdock, “They had made this decision some months ago, but delayed telling us officially until after the election.” [As you’ll recall, we just failed by 35 votes to pass a Water Street debt reduction millage last week.]

I don’t know what good it is at this point to vent, as doing so likely isn’t going to bring the project back to life, but I think it’s appropriate to once again share the following excerpt from my coverage of the May 2 public meeting referenced above.

…The most interesting response, I think, came from State Representative David Rutledge, who, after saying that he hadn’t intended to voice his opinion publicly, said that this was “the most frustrating thing” he had ever gone through. “And that,” he said, “is coming from someone who works in Lansing.” He went on to say, “This center should have been built two years ago, minimum.” He then said that it wasn’t the contaminated land that was stopping this from going forward, but a lack of will on the part of Tetens and his organization. “If there were a will right now, and the administration said ‘get this done,’ it would get done,” said Rutledge. “We can do something for $13 million,” he added, suggesting that Tetens had the wherewithal to invest more than just $10 million. “There are all kinds of ways that this could happen now if there was the will to do it,” he said. He then he went on to remind Tetens that they’ve been collecting the millage for this for some time now. He also suggested that some of the things that had slowed the project to date, like the negotiations with the Y to manage the center, may have just been “red herrings” intend to slow the project…

Tetens and his staff, in the opinion of many, never wanted to build a recreation center in downtown Ypsilanti, and have just been stalling these past several years, waiting for the right moment to pull the plug on the development, which regional politicians had strongly encouraged them to pursue more than half a decade ago.

Tetens, for what it’s worth, defends his recommendation to the Washtenaw County Parks and Rec Commission as follows.

A number of issues surfaced as staff proceeded with due diligence and design development that significantly increased the cost of the project and put the proposal in jeopardy. First, the 3 ½ -year delay in reaching an agreement on the land resulted in an increased estimated construction cost of over $2.5 million. Changes in the design, most notably a second pool and babysitting/teen areas, added an additional $1.2 million.

Second, the cost of necessary infrastructure had also increased significantly. The additional infrastructure costs were compounded by delays in the MSHDA residential project, Water Street Flats/River Walk Commons, which would have shared the cost of extending the necessary roads and utilities. Consultants estimate an increase in projected infrastructure costs from approximately $340,000 to nearly $800,000.

Finally, soil borings for the foundation revealed the existence of buried construction debris. Estimates from the environmental engineer and design team suggest the cost to remediate the site (remove and replace with clean compacted soil) to be between $700,000 and $1.2 million. City staff had previously indicated that the building site had been excavated to a depth of thirty feet and filled with clean sand that was compacted and ready for construction. The soil borings have proven otherwise. Even more disturbing, contamination elsewhere on the site has resulted in the City barricading access to the new Border-to-Border trail segment shortly after the Heritage Bridge was installed. The Commission provided nearly $600,000 in matching funds for the bridge\trail projects, and helped secure an equal amount from the DNR Trust Fund grant program. It is unknown when the new trail will be available for public use.

Staff has also been working for several months to find additional financial support from the private sector and/or corporate entities. WCPARC and City staff explored the possibility of pursuing a public-private partnership to help deliver the facility at an affordable price point. Working with a private development team that specializes in integrated health and wellness facilities, staff explored the concept of developing a wellness center that would include a fitness component among other health related services. The private developer is not based in Michigan, but has successfully built similar facilities in several communities nationwide. Ultimately these discussions stalled due to an inability to get a firm commitment from a large health care provider.

As mentioned earlier, the original budget for the building was $10 million. The current estimate for completion is approaching $16 million. While the Commission remains committed to providing quality recreation opportunities on the east side of the County, it has become increasingly clear that constructing a new recreation center on the Water Street site is not practical, nor is it a prudent use of WCPARC resources.

We could quibble over the details. And we could point fingers. We could point out that much of the delay that Tetens references above was his own doing, as he chose to wait until a new millage could be passed before breaking ground. We could ask why, if they found “buried construction debris” on the site, as they claim, they’ve never shared evidence of it with the City. And, I suppose, we could make the case that we’d been lied to, as we voted to support the millage in good faith, thinking that it would result in a recreation center on Water Street, when it’s not clear that Tetens and his Commission ever really wanted to pursue it. But what would it get us? As Murdock noted above, it looks as though this has been a forgone conclusion for some time now. [It’s not likely at this point, but I suppose there’s still a remote chance that the Commission could be persuaded not to accept Tetens’ recommendation at this evening’s meeting.]

I’d just like to know where we go from here, and what the Parks and Rec Commission intends to do for the people of Ypsilanti now that they’re likely walking away from the promised recreation center. [On May 2nd, as you’ll recall, Tetans said, “If we can’t build something (on Water Street), we’re not going away,” after it was pointed out that his Commission had no black members and just two members from our side of the County.] Furthermore, I’d be curious as to whether or not they ever seriously looked into the suggestion made by Depot Town restaurant owner Linda French during the May 2 meeting that they move forward and build something smaller on the site right now, that we can afford, but build it in such a way that it could easily be added to at a later date, when additional funds become available. [For instance, French suggested, we could build a rec center now, without a pool, and then add one later.] At the time, Tetans said that this might work, and promised to look into it. And I’d like to know how seriously he took that promise.

And I’d love to know if Ronnie Peterson, who just won the Democratic primary to represent us in the State House, is planning to attend this evening’s meeting of the Washtenaw Parks and Rec Commission, given what he had to say to Tetens on May 2.

From my coverage of the public meeting discussed above:

…Then, Ronnie Peterson questioned whether or not the project would happen at all. In another two years, he said, our $10 million may just be worth $8 million. “What will we do then?”, he asked. “You owe the community an explanation,” Peterson demanded. “They supported the millage. A promise was made. And we deserve an answer (as to whether or not a rec center is going to be built).” Peterson then went on to add that Tetens and the County, if they wanted to, could make this happen, as they have both financial reserve and the ability to borrow for things such as this. In response, Tetans said that he did not have sufficient funds to make this happen, and reiterated that he was dedicated to the eastern side of the county…

And, for that matter, I wonder if anyone else will step up at the meeting on behalf of our community. Will Yousef Rabhi, David Rutledge or Conan Smith be on hand to ask Tetens if this Ypsilanti development was ever really a priority for him, and what, if anything, he intends to do for our community now?

update: Washtenaw County Commissioner Conan Smith just posted the following to Facebook. I suspect he’d be OK with my posting it here at well.

Mark, as you know, I’ve been a champion of this project all along and a proponent of the Water Street site. Even I find myself struggling to justify its continuance. I think it was wise for the Parks Commission to close out this iteration of this particular project. It is confronted with too many complexities (from cost to contamination to a lack of clarity about what exactly the investment would be anchoring) for anyone to honestly say it would move forward to completion. What the commission did tonight was officially notify the city that we would not proceed with our project. That allows both governments to start fresh. Parks is committed to investing in recreational opportunities on the east side, and the second half of the motion directed staff to start a community conversation about what the priorities are for east side recreation. You should know that this specifically leaves the door open to work on Water Street and we continue to negotiate with St Joe and others around the possibility of a joint facility there. However we will also look at other options. Staff today toured several YCS buildings that may be considered as alternatives to new construction. We’re also talking with partners about various programming opportunities and more diffuse capital investments (e.g., shoring up existing facilities that are in disrepair could be an option). Essentially, we’re looking for a clean slate, not walking away.


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