Council hears $26.5M Lower Castaways park concept and $162M Civic Center police-facility estimate; staff seeks $1.5M seed funding
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Summary
Public Works outlined a proposed Lower Castaways harbor‑centric park (~$26.5M) as an alternative to an aquatic center, and presented multiple police‑facility site and cost options, including a Civic Center campus estimate of about $162M. Staff requested $1.5M in seed money to start design and environmental work; the council later recorded a 7-0 straw vote supporting funding set-asides to advance police and fire facility planning.
Public Works Director Dave Webb presented proposed changes to the Facility Financing Plan and a set of capital projects the city is considering.
Webb said the McFadden Plaza/Newport Pier rehabilitation funding would be deprogrammed for now and noted maintenance needs and a recent pile failure tied to storms. He then presented a harbor‑centric Lower Castaways park concept with expanded parking, a small restaurant or kiosk, restrooms and hand‑launch storage; the concept's estimated cost was about $26,500,000 compared with an aquatic-center estimate previously in the FFP of about $47,000,000.
On public safety facilities, the council ad hoc's consultant evaluated sites including city‑owned property at 1201 Dove Street and the Civic Center Park site. Webb said a new police facility on the Civic Center Park site would have an updated cost estimate of roughly $162,000,000 (excluding possible land-acquisition costs if a different site were chosen). Staff requested $1,500,000 in seed money in the current fiscal year to begin consultant work for design and environmental review should the council choose to proceed.
Webb also flagged looming refuse/disposal cost increases tied to county tipping-rate changes, estimating an initial impact of roughly $1.5M in the coming year and potentially up to $2.5M in subsequent years absent mitigation.
At the meeting's end the council took a straw vote to support funding set aside for the police and fire station efforts; the clerk recorded the motion as passed 7-0.
Next steps: staff proposed reallocating $500,000 already in the CIP toward Castaways concept design if council wishes to proceed and to return with funding options to advance police and fire facility planning.