Redondo Trims Back Plans for Sports Complex

Plans for a state-of-the art recreational complex at Redondo Beach’s old Aviation High School campus were scaled back considerably this week amid City Council concerns that the city is overextending itself in the face of a potential recession.

Despite broad public sentiment in favor of the council’s original plans for the defunct school, which is now called Aviation Park, the council voted 3 to 2 Tuesday to settle for two swimming pools instead of three, a more modest locker room and no new entry road onto the site from Aviation Boulevard. To improve marketing possibilities for the site, the council also decided to replace the old gym with a larger facility.

The revisions will go before residents at a public hearing on a date to be announced, the council decided. City Engineer Ken Montgomery estimated that the pared-down plan will cost the city $7 million to build, about $3.6 million less than the original proposal.

Although the project is a popular one and has been anticipated for years by North Redondo residents, the council has fretted in recent weeks about its construction costs and its long-term price.

Aviation Park lies in a redevelopment area, and the improvements to the old campus and buildings are to be financed with bonds. But the tax increment on which the city can base its bond issue can support only enough debt for a $9.5-million project, and the council was concerned because any cost above that amount will come out of the city’s general fund, as will the cost of operating the facility once it is built.

Mayor Brad Parton said it was essential to minimize spending because, even under the best of conditions, the facility will operate at a loss, and construction cost overruns could bleed millions from city coffers.

He noted, for example, that initial estimates indicated that the city’s original plans would cost $9 million to build. But as time passed, prices rose, and by this summer, the estimates had risen to $10.6 million.

Pessimistic financial projections have added to the concern. In July, the city manager warned that the city cannot continue to rely on booming local growth to balance the municipal budget because the regional real estate market is softening. Moreover, in recent weeks some economic analysts have predicted a national recession for 1990 and beyond.

Council members Stevan Colin and Kay Horrell were particularly concerned about the investment the city is preparing to make in Aviation Park and voted against the revised site plans, noting that even the stripped-down version would need a $580,000 annual subsidy from the general fund to operate.

“Sure, we’d like to see bigger and better and finer, but none of us likes seeing the price tag,” Horrell said, addressing the audience. “When your streets don’t get fixed because we’re using the money on this, you’re not going to be very happy, and I don’t want to be a party to that.”