Capital Bond Exploration

• Bob L. Burger Recreation Center (BBRC): A renovation and expansion of the existing facility which would enhance and expand aquatics, fitness, older adult programming, and other services to community members of all ages.

• Civic Center: A new civic facility on South Public Road to replace the existing City Hall to provide a more accessible and welcoming public building. This new facility would provide inclusive community spaces and improve access to municipal services, staff, and government decision-making.

• Service Center: A renovation of the existing facility which would improve the efficiency, delivery, and sustainability of key City services, including snow plowing, utility repairs, and maintenance of our parks, streets, and open spaces.

Throughout this exploration process, the City is committed to three guiding principles to inform project development and desired outcomes: investment in quality service delivery, fiscal responsibility, and sustainability and environmental stewardship.

Fiscal Responsibility: Ongoing repair and replacement of aging facilities is costly, and critical repairs may be cost-prohibitive. Some improvements may not be the best use of tax-payer dollars and further prolong larger scale improvements that would meet current and future community needs. A more fiscally responsible approach is to modernize the facilities as opposed to continuing the current stop-gap approach. The current level of investment is not sufficient to address mounting capital deficiencies and complex facility project upgrades and repairs. This exploration process seeks to better understand residents’ interest in debt financing and the various methods of increasing revenues in a fiscally responsible manner.

Sustainability and Environmental Stewardship: Lafayette is committed to fostering a resilient community and building solid sustainability practices into our services and operations. The conditions of these three aging facilities, including the buildings themselves and the equipment used inside, frequently do not allow for sustainable practices or energy efficiency. Further, without one-time debt financing, the City does not have available revenues to meaningfully retrofit existing facilities to meet environmental and sustainability goals identified by the community.

Project Scope	Cost Estimate	Timeline
Expand by approximately 30% and renovate some portions, including the aquatics complex and community programming space.	$34 million for design, construction, and other associated costs.	1 year of design informed by community input and 18-24 months of construction.

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While the overall structure of the recreation center remains usable, the 35-year-old aquatics complex has reached the end of its life. The current complex routinely experiences significant leaks and mechanical failures resulting in closures. The proposed renovation would improve services for residents by replacing and expanding the entire aquatics area and installing a new water slide, a warm water pool for therapeutic aquatics, an indoor whirlpool, and a larger lap pool. It would also include additional space for individual workouts, fitness classes, older adult programming, preschool and after-school programming, and flexible community space.

The current facility will continue to require costly stop-gap repairs to address mechanical failures and leaks resulting in significant water loss. The facility’s outdated design requires disruptive work, such as tearing up the pool deck, to reach mechanical equipment and repair leaks. Improved equipment and modern design would not only address current deficiencies but improve the City’s ability to repair leaks and equipment in the future.

The aquatics facility leaks water and is not energy efficient. The renovation and replacement would address these concerns and improve the building envelope – including walls, windows, doors, foundation, and insulation – to increase energy efficiency.

Project Scope	Cost Estimate	Timeline
Construct a new 33,000 square-foot building on vacant land owned by the City in Old Town to increase community space for residents, build capacity for future growth, and improve building efficiency.	$34 million for design, construction, and other associated costs.	1 year of design informed by community input and 18-24 months of construction.

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A new Civic Center on South Public Road would provide a more welcoming community space and better access to government resources and services. It would also provide a southern anchor in Old Town, support a variety of Lafayette’s adopted plans to implement the community’s vision, and further activate the South Public Road corridor.

Municipal services have evolved since construction of the current City Hall in 1985. In the past 40 years, existing services have expanded, and entirely new services have begun based on community interest or regulatory requirements. Examples include communications to increase engagement, economic development to support economic diversification and resiliency, planning and building services to meet demand for development review and inspections, sustainability to implement community climate action goals, and professional engineering staff to improve the reliability and safety of Lafayette's infrastructure. A new Civic Center would provide the space necessary to meet current and future service needs as well as relocate the Municipal Court from the Police Department.

The current City Hall has inefficient systems and a multitude of deferred maintenance needs, including a fire suppression system, a redesign of the parking lot and building entrance to meet ADA requirements, and a roof replacement. Constructing a new facility would address these deficiencies and reduce overall operating costs through modern equipment and an efficient building envelope.

A new Civic Center would improve energy efficiency by an estimated 27%. These energy efficiency measures come from improving the building envelope and installing energy-efficient equipment and lighting systems. The new Civic Center would also allow additional electric vehicle (EV) chargers available for public use, expanding Lafayette’s public EV charging network.

Project Scope	Cost Estimate	Timeline
Restructure and renovate the building interior to improve efficiencies, staff safety, and expand the building’s fleet maintenance bays and storage.	$6 million for design, construction, and other associated costs.	6 months of design and 12 months of construction.

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The services provided from the Service Center are essential to maintaining a high quality of life, safety, and convenience for all Lafayette residents. The Service Center provides the space, equipment, and materials necessary for maintenance of all utilities, streets, fleet, parks, and open space. Improvements to this facility would:

• Enlarge fleet bay areas to accommodate fire engines, snowplows and large equipment to reduce City vehicle down time for maintenance and repairs.
• Update electrical system to provide electrification for electric vehicle (EV) chargers, diagnostic equipment, HVAC, lighting, and additional technology.
• Modernize basic workspaces and expand personnel areas such as showers, bathrooms, and cleaning stations for staff working in unsanitary conditions.
• Expand storage space to avoid outdoor storage and extend the lifespan of equipment stored at the site, including snowplows.

Facility improvements would reduce building operating costs by improving energy efficiency, reduce premature damage to equipment currently stored outside, and increase operational efficiencies by co-locating similar maintenance functions currently located throughout the City.

In its current condition, the Service Center lacks basic energy efficiency and environmental stewardship measures. Portions of the building do not have insulation, the aging building systems consistently fail, and the site suffers from poor drainage, resulting in building flooding and potential safety hazards and environmental concerns.

Additionally, the City is currently transitioning to an EV fleet but the transition is limited by electrical capacity at the Service Center, which is the central hub for fleet operations. The proposed renovations include right-sizing the electrical capacity serving the site to further support the transition to EVs.

The projected cost of these projects is $74 million, and the City is exploring debt financing through a bond measure and property tax increase. Lafayette's estimated property tax addition would be $48 per $100,000 of residential home value or $296 on the average residential home valued at $685,500.

Estimated annual cost to residential homeowners

Estimated Annual Debt Service Needed	Annual Tax Increase per $100,000 Residential*	Annual Tax Increase per $685,500 Residential **
$5.9M	$48	$296

*Does not include $55,000 value adjustment approved in HB 24B-1004. **Average home price for Lafayette; includes $55,000 value adjustment