04/09/1979 Meeting - Laserfiche WebLink

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II. Public Hearings A. Civic Center Project: Schematics, Budget--Materials Distributed. Manager said the presentation would deal with the schematics and cost of the project. The Council has the recommendations of the Civic Center Commission before it. Also for Council IS consideration is a recommendation from the Downtown Development Board to spend funds for foundation of the parking structure. In reviewing the history of Council action to date, he noted the Council had only acted on requesting an $18.5 million bond issue to be voted on by the voters, and authorized appointment of the architect. He said there will be several other action points for Council which were described in materials submitted. Those would come as recommendations from the Civic Center Commission. .-) Norman Pfeiffer, Hardy Holzman Pfeiffer Associates, said Council's actions on the recommendations being made this evening will have a great impact on the Performing Arts Center, which hopefully will be opened three years from now. Regarding the design process, he said the primary issue is the preservation of a two-hall concept. The plan as presently designed consists of two rooms: one large hall primarily oriented for professional/musical performances, and a small room designed primarily for speech/theater, which would be used more often by the community. The complex would consist of approximately 120,000 square feet. He said this represents a reduction from the original design of 20,000 square feet. This reduction was necessary to bring the project within the $18.5 million budget. He did not believe it possible to reduce the facility in area or activity space any further without compromising the notion of a two-hall facility. - The goals are extremely high, but the rewards to the community will be great. To achieve the goal of a two-hall facility would require some dollars in excess of the $18.5 million. There were a number of reasons cited by Mr. Pfeiffer for this outcome. The original numbers were lower than realistic to achieve these goals. The time schedule now is not the original one which resulted in increased costs because of inflation. There have been some line items for administrative costs that have to come out of the $18.5 million that were not originally anticipated. He said the choices for Council were simple: add the additional funds from the bond interest, or make major cuts in the program. He did not recommend the entire facility be reduced in size or quality. He said that Council was facing a very specific issue: obtaining additional costs to accomplish the goals it has set to obtain this facility. Other issues at stake mentioned by Mr. Pfeiffer were that the facility will be tailored both to professional and community performers. All are integral to bring vitality to Eugene that cannot be done with just one single facility. The community/professional performers' use of the facilities will complement one another. He felt this to be 4/9/79--2 .- \'\3