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Boulder advisory board reviews costly options to repair or replace three aging recreation centers; asks staff for clearer trade‑offs
Summary
City staff presented condition assessments and scenario bundles for South, East and North recreation centers with cost ranges (tens of millions per site) and a timeline tied to ballot funding; the advisory board urged clearer explanations of what each investment would deliver, asked staff to preserve service levels where possible, and supported continued study ahead of Council budget and ballot decisions.
Boulder’s Parks and Recreation Advisory Board (PRAB) spent more than two hours on April 9 reviewing staff scenarios for long‑term investments in the city’s three aging recreation centers, with staff warning that continuing to defer work would raise costs and threaten services.
“All three require significant investment just to maintain our current levels of service,” said Allie Rhodes, Director of Parks and Recreation for the City of Boulder. Rhodes told the board staff presented scenarios—not recommendations—and asked for PRAB input on indoor recreation levels of service to inform City Council and upcoming budget decisions.
Staff outlined condition assessments and two high‑level scenarios for each site: a lower‑service Scenario A focused on modernization and code compliance and a higher‑service Scenario B designed to preserve or expand capacity for the next 50 years. Chief Architect Michelle Crane said South Boulder Recreation Center “is not a good candidate for renovation” and that the staff options for South therefore assume a full replacement rather than a major renovation.
The estimated cost ranges are large and site‑specific. Staff presented order‑of‑magnitude figures that include building modernization, code compliance…
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