|
Getting your Trinity Audio player ready...
|
The Shoreline Lake boathouse and café in Mountain View are slated for major renovations next year after the City Council agreed this week to put an extra $3.1 million into the long-awaited project to cover a funding shortfall.
In a 6-0 vote, the City Council approved the increased allocation for renovations and repair work at the Shoreline boathouse and café as a consent item at a Sept. 9 meeting. The total project budget is now $14.8 million. Council member John McAlister was absent from the meeting.
For years, Mountain View has been planning to upgrade the Shoreline boathouse, a two-story building by the lake where people can rent equipment for recreational uses like kayaking, paddleboating and sailing. Next door to the boathouse is a café called the American Bistro, which the city also intends to renovate. But the plans for the boathouse and café were put on hold during the pandemic.
“This one got put off during COVID so I think we’re all glad that we’re finally getting to that,” Council member Pat Showalter said at Tuesday’s meeting.
While the project is back on track, it is costing the city more than originally anticipated.
In 2020, the city proposed upgrading the American Bistro after more than 25 years of use by expanding the kitchen and serving areas, as well as adding new restrooms to comply with accessibility regulations.
At first, the city thought that “standard construction practices” could be used for the project, according to the council report. After further investigation, the city determined that construction would be more complex due to the soil conditions. Shoreline Park is built on top of a landfill and is near the San Francisco Bay. Given these challenges, the estimated budget for the project in 2020 was $9.8 million.
Since then, the project’s scope has expanded to include more elements, like replacing the use of gas kitchen equipment with all-electric equipment to comply with city regulations.
The city also has proposed improvements to the Shoreline boathouse, most of which relate to maintenance issues, including installing a new PG&E transformer, making walkway repairs, and painting and reroofing the building, including the café. The boathouse will have renovated restrooms and a public art installation as well, according to the report.
Prior to the council meeting, the city had appropriated $11.7 million for the boathouse and café project. According to the council report, the extra $3.1 million is now needed due to a combination of deferred maintenance issues, additional design work and an extended construction period.
Construction at the café and boathouse is scheduled to begin in January and is expected to take a year to complete. The café will not be open during construction, but the boathouse and rental services will continue to operate during this time, according to a city memo.
The irony of a self inflicted rise in costs due to mandatory all-electric appliances is funny.
They will also now need to increase their utility budget because guess what….electricity costs more than gas.
When my husband and I converted to all electric, we couldn’t believe how much our overall utility bills went up…for supposedly cheaper energy (solar).