Rancho Colorados l 3016 Rohrer Drive l P.O. Box 246 l Lafayette, California l 94549
Clubhouse: (925) 299-6993
Rancho Colorados Renovation - 2008
November 15, 2007
To All Members of Rancho Colorados,
I am pleased to inform all members that the Lafayette City Planning Commission voted last night to approve our renovation application and updated use permit that we have sought in order to upgrade our club facilities.
The process has been long and at times exhausting. I want to thank the many members who have been supportive of this project, and who have participated in some way to move this project forward. The recent meetings with the various city boards; Circulation, Design Review, and Planning have been well attended by Rancho members and neighbors during the past 6 months. These discussions had been at time contentious, yet in the end, I believe that our entire community benefits from various input, and well thought-out solutions.
I’d like to specifically recognize Seth Moldoff, for his detailed work as the Planning Commissioner for Rancho. His focus has kept this project on track throughout the city review process. Also, I want to recognize board members Ken Kisner and Brad Fox for their additional support and efforts that have been crucial to this successful application process.
There are so many others to thank, particularly all of the members who spoke on behalf of Rancho at the many meetings with the city. Prior to the application process this year, several years’ worth of board members deserve credit and recognition for shepherding this project forward. Additionally, many members provided crucial work and volunteer time to keep the renovation idea moving forward year after year. The planning commission vote tonight was a major milestone towards making it a reality.
The Board of Directors looks forward to sharing more details with you about the renovation project at the Rancho Colorados Annual Member meeting on Wednesday November 28th at Burton Valley Elementary School. Please plan to attend.
Sincerely,
Todd Mullins
President – Rancho Colorados
August 30, 2007
Dear Members,
The City of Lafayette held a Design Review Committee meeting on July 10th and a Circulation Commission meeting on July 16th to review appropriate parts of our Renovation Project. We are continuing to plan for upcoming city meetings.
The Design Review Committee deals with design issues. Based on neighbors strong negative feedback and input from the city planner, Rancho's Board decided to remove the request for tennis lights from our proposed renovation project prior to this meeting. The Committee made a number of comments about our proposed design. On August 21st, our architect and builder met with two Committee members and a city planner at Rancho to walk the property, view proposed changes and discussed modifications to address their concerns. Final review and approval of our modifications by the Design Review Committee is required.
The Circulation Commission deals with traffic and parking impacts on the community. Based on comments by neighbors and Committee members, we prepared, then revised our Parking and Traffic Management Plan, which is posted on our website and on page 4. We also asked tennis members to park only in assigned spaces at the upper courts (not on the side of the road) or park in the lower lot and walk to the upper tennis courts. Final review and approval of our plans by the Circulation Commission is required.
A number of our neighbors attended these meetings to voice their objections to parts of our renovation plans. They raised concerns about: 1) Increasing membership by 50 members; 2) Parking requirements related to additional members; 3) Accessibility on upper Rohrer Drive by emergency vehicles; 4) "Commercialization" of the club; 5) Wait list use policy; 6) Definition of a "member"; 7) Traffic Study findings; 8) Increased hours of use; 9) Noise emitted from our club; 10) "Recruiting" members from outside of the area. We are continuing to meet with neighbors to listen to and address their concerns and will consider modifying our plans as appropriate.
There are two meetings scheduled for early September. On Tuesday September 4th, we follow up with the Circulation Commission (traffic). On Thursday September 6th we meet with the Lafayette Planning Commission at 7pm at the Lafayette Community Center, Manzanita Room. We encourage members to attend these meetings and voice your support for our renovation project. Some neighbors will be there to voice their concerns or objections to certain parts of the proposed plans, so your support for this project is needed and appreciated. If you cannot attend, please consider writing a letter to the City of Lafayette about the renovation project. It is helpful to state your name and address and how long you have been a member of Rancho, along with your thoughts about the renovation project. Letters should stress the positive role of Rancho as a community resource, a family oriented club, and a non-profit organization and what membership has meant to families over a long period of time. The facility is in need of modernization to insure it stays an asset in the future. These improvements are required to bring an aging facility into line with modern standards for accessibility, sanitation, seismic resistance, fire safety, and standards for public pools. The swim club and its associated swim team are part of the fabric of the community and the land use permit needs to be updated to reflect its value and protect and insure its future. The membership increase should be emphasized as not really changing the status quo in terms of traffic. We are just absorbing existing users and proposing to not grant use privileges to future wait listed families. Your letters in support of the project can really make a difference.
Letters should be emailed to Michael Cass at mcass@ci.lafayette.ca.us or mailed to:
Lafayette City Offices
3675 Mt. Diablo Blvd., Suite 210
Lafayette, CA 94549
Attn: Michael Cass
Reference: Rancho Colorados Club Renovation.
We are committed to providing timely information about this project to members. You can find the following information on the Rancho Colorados website:
- Clubhouse and tennis building plans
- Parking and Traffic Management plan
- Aerial sketches of the Renovation Plans
- Financial Models
- Renovation Cost Estimate
- Renovation Expenses Paid To Date
Information is updated regularly as new or revised information becomes available. Please keep informed about the status of the project. If you are interested in becoming a part of the planning process, please contact Seth Moldoff at moldoffs@comast.net
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
Rancho Colorados Club
February 12, 2007
Dear Members,
During the last three months, we formed a planning committee, including Seth Moldoff, Todd Mullins, Ken Kisner, Mark Parry, Craig Bocks, Cammy Krznaric, Barbara Gallagher, Dave McKenzie, Kelsey Kobayashi, and Murray Sanford, and met four times.
We would like to thank these Rancho members for committing their time and knowledge to assisting with this renovation project. Their input and advice has been valuable.
In November, we retained an architect (Fred Divine Architects) and contractor (Millennium Construction) to assist with the renovation project.
They have been busy with the following tasks:
- Preparing schematic site and floor plan designs
- Meeting with Rancho planning committee
- Meeting with Lafayette planning committee
- Making multiple site visits
- Preparing floor plans for kitchen and pool equipment rooms
- Reviewing proposals from geotechnical engineers
- Providing information for traffic engineer
- Coordinating with electrical engineer on tennis court lighting
- Meeting to determine pool equipment room requirements
The architect is currently finalizing the third set of draft plans and working with the contractor to obtain a firm cost estimate for the proposed project. Total payments to Fredric C. Divine Architects, Inc. through December were $13,656.42. The retainer paid to our contractor, Millennium Construction, was $7,500. We also retained a legal firm, Bartko Zankel Tarrant & Miller, who worked with Rancho on previous assignments, to review contracts with the architect, contractor and any other large contracts.
Payments to the law firm through December were $3,230. The committee reviewed contracts and retained the following firms to provide required reports: Neil O. Anderson and Associates for Geotechnical Investigation Report ($6,100); Timothy C. Ghirardelli for Tree Survey and Report ($1,620). We also retained a firm to provide additional survey work.
At this time, we expect to have all of the necessary reports and estimates to present to the Lafayette planning commission by the end of February. We will provide additional updates on a quarterly basis to let members know about the progress of this renovation project.
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
Rancho Colorados Club
September 18, 2006
Dear Members,
We know it has been some time since we have last updated you with regards to the status of the project. However, after receiving the cost estimates that were nearly $800,000 over budget, we had a lot of work to do! During the past four months, we have reevaluated the scope and cost of the project, consulted with our friends in the construction industry, met with and interviewed a number of architects and builders, consulted with lenders regarding our financing options and, ultimately, devised a plan pursuant to which we can deliver a quality project within a budget that, we hope, is acceptable to the membership. We have even found a team comprised of a builder and architect who are ready and willing to undertake our project!
Our proposed plan is to retain a design/build team who will construct, for a budget of $1.5 million, one L-shaped building at the pool level which will house the kitchen, office, bathrooms, pool equipment and storage room, one tennis building at the lower courts, a barbeque deck, a new kiddy pool and a sport court. While we are still working out the financing with the lenders, our preliminary numbers suggest that we can deliver this project by increasing your annual dues to no more than $1000 per year and implementing a one-time assessment of between $1000 and $1500. (Please see Section “What This Means to You” for further detail.)
Our next step is to get your approval to move forward. Accordingly, we have called a Special Meeting of Members to be held on September 28, 2006. At this meeting, we will conduct a vote of the members to determine whether or not there is sufficient support to move forward with the renovation on the terms proposed above. Thus, if you want the renovation to proceed (or not to proceed), it is imperative that you attend the meeting and cast your vote.
So that you may make an informed decision as to whether or not you would like the Board to proceed with the renovation, we have provided below a detailed summary of the project from its inception, including all costs to date; a summary of our proposed plan to move forward within a design/build structure; and a discussion of what our plan means to you in dollars and cents.
We look forward to seeing you on the 28th!
Sincerely,
The Board of Directors
Rancho Colorados Club
HISTORY
The renovation has been considered by five boards over a four year period. The following is a summary of the actions taken and the costs associated with the renovation in each year since the inception of the project.
2002/2003
- Board evaluates the physical condition of the club facilities and explores the idea of pursuing a renovation.
- Board retains an architect to design renovation plans.
- Architect produces plans that do not reflect needs or wants of the club, and is thereafter let go.
- Board forms a planning committee and authorizes them to lead the effort to develop a master plan for the club.
- Committee prepares a request for proposal which it sends out to numerous architects.
- After careful consideration, the Board retains the architectural firm of Noll and Tam.
- Approximately $8,500 is spent in connection with the renovation. (Actual number will be provided at the meeting.)
2004
- Survey sent to entire membership in order to gauge interest in the renovation and receive input from members.
- Noll and Tam conducts interviews with “key users” of the club who represent various groups (e.g., swim team, tennis, maintenance, café, etc.).
- Structural, electrical, mechanical/plumbing and pool consultants, working with Noll and Tam, conduct site visits and prepare reports to aid Committee with decision of whether it is more economical to repair/enhance existing facility or replace facilities altogether.
- Structural engineer concludes that modifying or expanding the pool building would trigger seismic upgrades which would be neither economical nor practical. Also concludes that connection of pool building roof to top of concrete block wall is marginal and that both the roof and free standing shower wall would most likely fail in a large earthquake.
- Electrical engineer concludes that our existing services does not meet our current usage and that the overloaded circuits represent a fire danger.
- Pool consultant concludes that our pumps do not meet current required flow and turnover rates.
- Based on the consultants’ reports and feedback from members, Noll and Tam recommends that the building be demolished in favor of new construction.
- Noll and Tam completes conceptual drawings of a “base” plan and a “preferred” plan and provides initial cost estimates.
- Board retains an artist to prepare a rendering of the master plan for display at the club.
- Conceptual drawings and the cost estimates presented to the membership at the annual meeting in November.
- $35,002.31spent in connection with the renovation.
2005
- Financial analysis completed based on the initial estimates received in 2004.
- Eighteen neighborhood meetings conducted to provide members information with regards to project and to gather input from the members.
- Over 125 member surveys collected and reviewed.
- Based on feedback from the neighborhood meetings and surveys, Board determines that there is membership support to move ahead with the preferred plan based upon a $2.1 million budget and votes at the annual meeting to proceed with contract negotiations with Noll and Tam.
- Board enters into a contract with Noll and Tam for the development of detailed schematic designs of the preferred plan and for updated cost estimates. Noll and Tam’s fee for this phase is $36,340.00.
- Board authorizes $60,000 for payment of costs associated with the schematic design phase.
- Noll and Tam begins work on the schematic designs.
- $4,109.74 is paid towards the $36,340.00 fee.
2006
- Board receives schematic designs and revised cost estimates. Estimates come in nearly $800,000 over budget.
- Noll and Tam reconciles cost estimate with the initial 2004 estimate so that Board can determine where, specifically, the costs increased and whether those costs could be reduced enough to bring the project back within budget. Costs decrease only minimally.
- Noll and Tam provides Board with estimates for pared down plans (i.e., a plan with two smaller buildings at the pool level and a plan with one building at the pool level). The estimate for the one building plan still exceeds our $2.1 million budget.
- Board puts the plan on hold in order to investigate alternative approaches to our renovation.
- Members of the Board meet with several builders and architects over the summer to determine if we can work within a design/build structure to deliver a project within a budget acceptable to the membership.
- Board spends $2,595.86 in connection with the renovation. ($2400 of this amount was for a utility survey and 194.86 was for plan copies. )
- The 2006 Board remits payment in the amount of $32,196.13 for the services contracted for by the 2005 Board (i.e., the schematic designs). Fees were paid from money authorized by 2005 Board.
OUR PROPOSED PLAN
After receiving the cost estimates that were well over budget, our architect, Noll and Tam, suggested that we move into a design development phase during which they would pare down our plans and deliver to us revised plans that we could take out to competitive bid. However, we were uncomfortable moving forward without assurance that these new plans would come within our budget. Accordingly, we decided to put our future plans with Noll and Tam on hold in order to determine if a design/build approach would better suit our needs.
A design/build approach differs from our original course of action in that instead of having plans drawn that we would take out to competitive bid, we would retain a contractor from the outset who was willing to work with an architect to design a plan that comes within a budget WE determine. The obvious advantage to this approach is that we would be able to control our costs and, working together with the contractor and architect, would be able to ensure that we don’t go over budget again. The disadvantage to this approach is that we would have to engage yet another architect. However, after soliciting proposals from two other architects, we realized that while we may lose a little time with a new architect, we would not lose any money. In addition, as the builder and architect we would like to hire (see below) have a long working history together, we believe engaging a new architect, in this case, would actually be advantageous. Another possible disadvantage to the design/build approach is that we would not receive competitive bids from multiple contractors (because we would be engaging a contractor from the outset and setting the budget to which the contractor must adhere). However, we believe that the advantage of knowing from the outset that the facility we design will be affordable outweighs any disadvantage there may be in not sending our plans out to bid. In fact, we believe if we proceed with drawing plans without involving a contractor and then send those plans out to bid, there is a very real possibility that we would end up right back where we started, i.e., over budget.
Once we determined that a design/build approach was our best, and most prudent, option, we set out to find a team who could design a facility, consisting of one L-shaped building at the pool level housing the kitchen, bathrooms, office, pool equipment room and storage room (essentially eliminating only the multi-purpose room and expansion of the grassy area at the south end of the pool from the preferred plan drawn by Noll and Tam), one building at the tennis court level, a new kiddy pool, a barbeque deck area and sport court, for a budget of $1.5 million. After interviewing three potential architects and builders, we believe that we have found such a team in Millennium Construction Group and Frederic Divine Architects.
Millennium Construction is a commercial contractor that was recommended to us, and personally known by, one of our members. John Newman, the co-owner of Millennium Construction, and Fred Divine have each visited Rancho, reviewed our plans and have met with and made a presentation to members of the Board. John has provided us with a very rough estimate, well within our budget, and a proposed time line. (Our target construction date would still be August 2007, but it is possible, depending on how quickly the permitting and approval process goes, that some work could be completed prior to that date). Fred has already made inquiries to the City of Lafayette to determine the permitting and approval requirements. They are ready, willing and eager to proceed with the job.
The Board has authorized $2,500 to retain Frederic Divine and $7,500 to retain Millennium Construction; however, we have not yet entered into contract with them as we would first like to get your approval to move forward with the renovation.
WHAT THIS MEANS TO YOU
We are currently working with a number of lenders to determine the best way to finance our renovation. Our current mortgage is approximately $250,000. We will need to borrow an additional $1.5 million to finance the project; thus, our total mortgage would amount to $1,750,000. We are working on several financial models pursuant to which we can deliver the project outlined herein by raising your dues by no more than $200 per year and implementing a one-time assessment of between $1000 and $1500 per member. We also are considering presenting you with several options as to how you will be able to pay for your assessment (e.g., over a period of years or, perhaps, by forfeiting your $1500 initiation fee). We will discuss these options and the financial models we have put together in more detail at the meeting on the 28th.
CONTACT US
Please contact us at ranchorenovation@comcast.net if you have any questions or comments regarding the renovation, or if you would like to volunteer your efforts towards the project.
Financial Documentation
Renovation Information
Parking at Rancho
Rancho Parking Plan
