In a few years, Bell Street Park in East Palo Alto will be transformed into a community center for classes, a place for artists and dancers to work, a place for seniors to do arts and crafts and aerobics, and a place for children to take classes and play sports.
The City Council Monday unanimously approved spending $5.1 million to $5.9 million to build new facilities at the park. Bell Street Park is now home to the East Palo Alto Senior Center, a play area for small children, an unusable swimming pool, an old gymnasium building in need of work, and an open field in need of grass.
Under the plan, a new swimming pool will be built in time to be used this summer. That will be followed by construction of a pool house, a new gym and a community center, and renovation of the existing gym.
The work at the eight-acre park is scheduled to be completed by the year 2000, mostly using federal funds.
The park, which is centrally located off University Avenue, is now used for the city's most important cultural celebrations.
Council member Myrtle Walker said the architects had several meetings with community groups and adjusted plans to the suggestions they heard.
One of the changes is that the senior center and its parking lot will get a fence which, organizers say, will help separate frail seniors from more energetic young people.
"We just wanted to keep the kids away from the seniors for safety reasons," said Ellwood Jackson, executive director of the center. He was pleased by the changes, but also unhappy because the plans mean that the small, 6,000-square-foot senior center will never be able to expand. The center now has one large multipurpose room that is used for meals and all other activities.
"They are taking our expansion area away from us," Jackson said.
The city's solution is to make space in the new facilities available to seniors, on a shared basis, for aerobics, ceramics classes and other activities.
Seniors and young people sharing rooms in the new buildings and renovated gym won't be a problem except in the summer, when school is out.
"We took the seniors into consideration," Walker said. "They will have access to the pool, walking areas and classrooms. There is a way for the seniors to be accommodated, but it isn't what they wanted."
Walker said the city and designers had to balance requests from cultural, youth, recreation and other groups.
Because of the small amount of space for the many demands, Walker said, "Everything is going to be multi-use."
Jackson said the other aspect he is worried about is that the new gym will be built near the senior center's parking lot, and that users of the gym may park in spaces reserved for the senior center.
City Manager Jerry Groomes said several city commissions were given a chance to comment on the plans, in addition to the community meetings that were held.
--Don Kazak
"We just wanted to keep the kids away from the seniors for safety reasons." @id:--Ellwood Jackson
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